M42 SS Camo (Opinions)

[Oregon]

Matt,

I made this one in about thiry minutes and allowed it to season for an Oregon winter. Scary...

Cody

[Matt M]

Hi Cody
That is scary

Guys, thanks for your opinions.......Matt

[Skip Pickett]

Here is my W.Wash...

Greetings. I felt I should post my treasured White Wash. I got it almost 2 years ago from Bill Shea. As you can see, much of the wash/paint is gone...I think Shea said it had about 30% left in his opinion, and I would have to agree.

The SS that Matt posted just does not give me the warm and fuzzy feeling. Too much of the wash/paint is there which I think would be very unlikley to have stayed like that for approx 60 years. My limited experience is that they loose most of the white as one fellow said before...I think most of it would have worn off or would have been removed once the snow was gone. Of course, a Vet could have sent one back that was fully or mostly white, but I've never seen one that I thought was right.

By the way, the string is original to the helmet...you can see where it was white washed over the string leaving lines in the finish...Shea found it still tied to one of the chinstraps and tucked under the liner...he pulled it out and re-strung it the best he could to make it fit like it once did.

Thanks for a great thread!

Skip Pickett

[Skip Pickett]

Right side...

The decal is in great shape...M-42 Army. The liner is totally untouched, a bit dusty and dirty, and named...My favorite.

[william r match]

Matt,

From any research I have done whitewash is a mixture of lime and water, it is never shiny in appearance but matt. It takes a number of coats with a brush to apply it therefore it should not be smooth in appearance. Over 60 years the whitewash would yellow to a biege colour and not remain white.

Real whitewash can be reactivated to its former colour by careful wiping although this may also take the whitewash off the helmet or leave it blotched with white and biege.

As for the runic shield unfortunately it is hard to tell under application.

Hope this helps.

Billy

[JOHN VD HEIJDEN]

matt isaw your helmet mine first oponionsay that the whitewas is not good ihave seen much original helmets inmine life and 80-90%of them also the mind ones has scratching and other use on the top of the shells this is a common future when soldiers rest there helmet it was always done (in the field) with the top to the ground so there came no mud or sand in it
for storage helmets were put on each others so unissiud ones can also have a lot of scrathing on the top
with best regards john