Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 29, 2006 20:08:15 GMT -5
I was curious about the quality and functionalism of the plastic helmets you see for sale at Cushmanpaintball.com.
They're 16.00 each so fairly close to what you can typically buy an actual steel pot for so in many ways they don't make sense right from the get go for US. For the Germans they make a bit more sense as the german replica stuff is spendy or hard to come by or both.
At our recent Battle of the Bulge event several of the players complained about the weight of a real steel pot and by days end many had conveniently "lost" head gear altogether or were wearing soft caps or jeep beanies. Hardcore reenactors would never feel that way but the "lent costumes to get them to come crowd" are like that.
In my opinion the lack of helmets reduced the overall visual effect of the event. I figured if the plastic pots worked, the light weight would eliminate the excuse of too much weight.
I bought a couple of them. From order time to receipt time I heard horror stories about how flimsy they were. My first reaction when opening up the box was. "These aren't so bad" The color is a flat smooth light Olive so for realism sake that would have to be changed. There was a clear helmet seam indicating that they were clearly based on a real helmet and first glance suggested they looked pretty good. I pulled them out and realized immediately that there was no way they were going to hold from storage let alone field use. Even if you fit them over a helmet liner they would probably split and crack in short order. They came with black nylon straps literally glued to the inside of the helmet. The plastic hardware wasn't too far from realistic but the black nylon would have to go.
Never one to give up easily I first removed the straps carefully seperating them from the helmets. (The glue held better the I would have imagined but eventually came off) I cut or removed the plastic hardware for the straps and mounted them to Khaki webbing I bought at a fabric store (.98 a yard) I then used strapping tape and laid it inside the helmet to reinforce the plastic coating the entire inside with at least one layer of tape.
I then glued sections of foam both to the top of the inside of the helmet and on the side and front so the helmet would sit right without a liner and stay on comfortably. I glued the straps under the foam so they could either dangle, be secured across the back of the helmet or fastened under your chin.
On the outside of the helmets I spread a tin layer of resin paste (Bondo) and then dropped kitty litter in the wet paste to simulate the cork texture of a WW2 steel pot. Once all that dried I painted the helmet and Kitty Litter. I used a Tamiya dark olive which wasn't quite dark enough for my taste. Before the OD dried I oversprayed the color with a flat black from a distance insuring that the can was well shaken so it would be a fine mist and would cover the green evenly. I continued until the colors blended to the shades I wanted.
I then took a silver paint pen (You find at hobby stores) and emphasized the rim and helmet seam to approximate a look of stainless wear you typically see in actual period field used helmets. The result was very pleasing. I even cut in a front seam! To add the finishing touches I painted a 2nd Battalion Ranger diamond in the back with one helmet for a officer and one an NCO (Flat white helmet bars centered vertically or horizontaly))
I did both helmets completely from start to finish on Saturday along with other tasks. Labor intense (you bet!) Worthwhile (probably not) am I glad I did it. (Absolutely.) Will I do a few more (Yes) I'll probably buy four to six more so I can have at least six reasonably durable, good looking pices of head gear that I can lend out for the Carentan game knowing that they'll pass visual muster for all but the most anal of observers and stay on folks head throughout.
I'll keep you posted on any refinements to this process or recommended improvements. It's a lot of work but I look at is like doing a model on a one to one scale!
Me? I'll be wearing a real steel pot.
They're 16.00 each so fairly close to what you can typically buy an actual steel pot for so in many ways they don't make sense right from the get go for US. For the Germans they make a bit more sense as the german replica stuff is spendy or hard to come by or both.
At our recent Battle of the Bulge event several of the players complained about the weight of a real steel pot and by days end many had conveniently "lost" head gear altogether or were wearing soft caps or jeep beanies. Hardcore reenactors would never feel that way but the "lent costumes to get them to come crowd" are like that.
In my opinion the lack of helmets reduced the overall visual effect of the event. I figured if the plastic pots worked, the light weight would eliminate the excuse of too much weight.
I bought a couple of them. From order time to receipt time I heard horror stories about how flimsy they were. My first reaction when opening up the box was. "These aren't so bad" The color is a flat smooth light Olive so for realism sake that would have to be changed. There was a clear helmet seam indicating that they were clearly based on a real helmet and first glance suggested they looked pretty good. I pulled them out and realized immediately that there was no way they were going to hold from storage let alone field use. Even if you fit them over a helmet liner they would probably split and crack in short order. They came with black nylon straps literally glued to the inside of the helmet. The plastic hardware wasn't too far from realistic but the black nylon would have to go.
Never one to give up easily I first removed the straps carefully seperating them from the helmets. (The glue held better the I would have imagined but eventually came off) I cut or removed the plastic hardware for the straps and mounted them to Khaki webbing I bought at a fabric store (.98 a yard) I then used strapping tape and laid it inside the helmet to reinforce the plastic coating the entire inside with at least one layer of tape.
I then glued sections of foam both to the top of the inside of the helmet and on the side and front so the helmet would sit right without a liner and stay on comfortably. I glued the straps under the foam so they could either dangle, be secured across the back of the helmet or fastened under your chin.
On the outside of the helmets I spread a tin layer of resin paste (Bondo) and then dropped kitty litter in the wet paste to simulate the cork texture of a WW2 steel pot. Once all that dried I painted the helmet and Kitty Litter. I used a Tamiya dark olive which wasn't quite dark enough for my taste. Before the OD dried I oversprayed the color with a flat black from a distance insuring that the can was well shaken so it would be a fine mist and would cover the green evenly. I continued until the colors blended to the shades I wanted.
I then took a silver paint pen (You find at hobby stores) and emphasized the rim and helmet seam to approximate a look of stainless wear you typically see in actual period field used helmets. The result was very pleasing. I even cut in a front seam! To add the finishing touches I painted a 2nd Battalion Ranger diamond in the back with one helmet for a officer and one an NCO (Flat white helmet bars centered vertically or horizontaly))
I did both helmets completely from start to finish on Saturday along with other tasks. Labor intense (you bet!) Worthwhile (probably not) am I glad I did it. (Absolutely.) Will I do a few more (Yes) I'll probably buy four to six more so I can have at least six reasonably durable, good looking pices of head gear that I can lend out for the Carentan game knowing that they'll pass visual muster for all but the most anal of observers and stay on folks head throughout.
I'll keep you posted on any refinements to this process or recommended improvements. It's a lot of work but I look at is like doing a model on a one to one scale!
Me? I'll be wearing a real steel pot.