M42 SS reverse DD restoration

[Nigromontanus]

Good morning. This helmet has been found by a guy living in a LAH endfightings area, who picked it up 30+ yrs ago and "restored" it for children use purposes. I got it for free, together with other items. Before throwing it away I gave it a chance and cleaned the decals area with acetone. The decal on the left side is white, the decal on the right side is clearly political (see the circle in the shield and traces of red). So it appears that this is what I wrote in the title. I put the whole helmet into acetone and brushed most of the paint off, but now I do not want to make a mistake.

I ask those who have more experience with helmet restoration how to put the rest of the green paint off without destroying the decals.

By the way, I note on the front side maybe traces of yellow paint, but this may just be a rust effect.

Thank you in advance

[TheCleaner]

Looks like you've been around the decal areas already and you got the helmet dipped in acetone so if you don't want to dip the other part then it's just the soft side of a kitchen sponge, paper towels and patience. As an alternative you can use a gel paint stripper and follow the instructions for the specific product.

Wanted to add that if you plan on clean ing the decals areas more then be very gentle with acetone and use Q tips to get in the pitted areas. It can be very time consuming

[Nigromontanus]

Thank you very much. I went a little faster by dipping a plastic brush into acetone, brushing and immediately wiping with a cloth, since the acetone dries too fast with leaving the color particles. Job is done, I gave it a eveaporust bath and conserved it with a mild film of owatrol. See the result. A LAH helmet which cost nothing

[Ironcrown]

It's a M42 double decal, but not SS, it's Polizei! The SS helmets had the political shield to the other side, and apart this fact, if M42 SS double decals ever existed they must be very very rare, while Polizei DD were rather common.

[Nigromontanus]

Thank you very much. Since there is a darker overlay over the white basis of the decal what you say may be very likely true.

[Ironcrown]

Yes, from the dug Polizei helmets I have in my collection I can confirm you that the shield have a white base. You can see in this example too some traces of the black overlay