Obviously tropical, but what about where and when? I've looked at some of the better reference books and cannot find one that closely matches this "orange" color found on this one. Helmet came out of the Lake Trasimeno area of Italy. Help???
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I saw an original, unrestored Steib military sidecar - amongst a pile of spare parts for a friend's BMW R12 - which was overpainted in a mixture of green and sand camoflage...except that the 'sand' colour was very close to this rich, almost terracotta reddish-orange shade. There must have been a dozen layers of paint underneath.
Hope this helps.
Prosper -
Jack,
There are endless color variations to the paint used to camo helmets in tropical areas. Runs from a pink shade of tan to a mustard shade of tan to an orange shade of tan to the normal late-war ordnance tan. Anyone who tries to guess where the helmet was used based on the shade of tan is just guessing.......... Some helmets in collections did come from vets who picked them up after El Alamein, some came from vets who picked them up in Tunisia, and others came from vets who picked them up in Italy..still no clear absolute pattern of tan color.
What size is your FJ helmet? Would like to see a pic of the inside and the rear flange of the helmet.if possible.
Willi ZahnWilli
Preußens Gloria!
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Sapere audeComment
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Size
Willi, I believe the helmet to be a 71. The shell was recovered from the Lake Trasimeno area of Italy. It is fairly pock-marked. The darker spots are areas where the helmet has lost all of its paint and has some corosion. The shell had enough paint left though to make it worthy of throwing a reproduction liner by Eric Grigsby and chinstrap by germanparahelmets.com into it. Nowhere near the quality of helmets that you have. But, a fairly rare color from what I've seen and read (and I like the tropical stuff!). I'll post a few photos to you this weekend. Thanks for the comments.Comment
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Jack,
I feel better now.....as from the small photo of the helmet I was concerned about the chinstrap, but did not want to say anything till I saw a better pic. I just saw Eric G. over the weekend. He also makesa superb camo/wire jobs. I did not know he made liners. I just had a friend make me a liner and straps. Who runs that website you mentioned? It did not come up.
Yes, trop camos are also my favorite. Was just offered another by a friend in Rome. Sadly, I passed on another, a very unique tropical camo with some green sptos on it. Now I wished I had grabbed it.......I do know where it is so one day it will be mine...
Regards,
WilliWilli
Preußens Gloria!
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Sapere audeComment
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German Para Helmet Restoration
Willi, here is the site that I bought the chinstrap from: www.germanparahelmet.com. Eric makes an excellent liner, but hates to do them (Eric makes about anything in helmets top quality - it can get scary). He absolutely refuses to do the FJ chinstraps, though. Says there is too much work in them. So, I had to go to another source. I look at the ones on Manions each auction. But, not knowing them well enough, I am always afraid that I'll get stung with a postwar police chinstrap or something. I will see Eric this weekend. I wonder what he's making up to entice me. I'm his biggest sucker, I mean customer.Comment
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As promised
Willi, below are photos of the FJ liner that Eric built for me. The chinstrap was done by germanparahelmet.com.Comment
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Another Shot
Here ya go, what do you think?Comment
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