That's exactly like the two I saw. Same raised area around the vent and same thick shell. Have these been seen in the past or are they some new fake coming from who knows where? 
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Decals I think are definetly fake. Helmets are unlike anything I'm aware of.
Chinstrap looks like gas cannister type straps...very curious helmet.Comment
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I wanted to resurrect this thread and see if anyone had come across any more of these strange helmets lately.Comment
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I don't have time to check right now, but Brian Ice made mention of them recently. I think perhaps on Lenny Warren's forum? www.milcol.com
If not there then it was on this one but I think not. Regards,
M.O.Comment
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Ooooppps! - That is milcol.net. Here is the link:
www.milcol.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5757
Apparently Brian believes these to be some sort of factory template.
Regards,
Mike O.Comment
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That link is interesting. His template theory sounds reasonable, but who knows what these things are.Comment
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Hallo
I got one of these too.
It's whit ss decals.
I think it's been whit me for close to 10 years now.
And I bought it as an movie prop.
And if I remember right it came out of california.
And for me I always belived it was made for some movie or tv show just after the war.
I think the seller said so to.
I guess if you needed a lot of helmet in the US just after the war the easyest way to go was to make them your self.
and alu was the cheapest metal to use back then.
Ok , hope thise was some help.
Best regards
Kjetil GulliComment
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Kjetil: I have the black one posted earlier along with two others. These are very heavy, maybe 3 or 4 times the weight of a standard M42 64cm. They are cast metal, not cast aluminum.
Movie prop helmets are usually lighter than a standard helmet, not heavier, for the actor's comfort. I can't imagine someone wearing one of these heavy things around for any lenght of time.
Also, is yours marked on the inside dome with something like:
N--43
D I E
I mentioned on the M45 helmets thread why I don't believe these were post war reproductions.Last edited by Brian Ice; 02-23-2006, 01:47 PM.Comment
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Calibration Tool
It would certainly be nice to have all of the information available concerning every aspect of WWII german helmets, but unfortunately that is not the case.
I have been thinking (darn it!--there I go again). I had once owned a M40 that had it's holes rotated slightly on the shell. The liner fit ok because the holes were the standard distance from each other, they were just rotated slightly. Looking at the helmet from a front straight on view, you could clearly see this. This would seem to indicate that the hole stamping machinery could get out of adjustment. I also owned a para helmet with the same problem.
Since this cast shell has it's holes in the proper position, it could very well be a calibration tool, used occasionally to re-adjust the machinery.
In hindsight, this theory to me sounds more plausible than the template theory.Comment
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Calibration Tool? Note that the 3 lower holes are too small to accept standard hardware but could very well have been used to align machinery. The two "vent" holes could have had a bracket of some sort attached to lift the tool out of the way when not needed. It seems unlikely that the tool could be lost or misplaced if attached to the machine. It appears to have a maker's mark and date of manufacture in a manner completely unlike an actual M42.Last edited by Brian Ice; 02-23-2006, 02:20 PM.Comment
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Gentlemen I am a manufacturing engineer this is a die designed to have a helmet shell pushed down on it. (after the vent holes were stamped which is what the raised taper under the vent hole is for so the shell does not get stuck on the die.
What is this for? My best guess is this has something to do with the liner hole alignment.
There would have to be a seperate die for each size of shell so several factorys times several sizes times several machines per factory means that there would have been a lot of these.
This is a part of the helmet production machinery.Comment
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Robert: The 3 cast shells that I have are all the same size. I have seen 3 others that also appear to be the same size.
Lets assume for a moment, that an actual helmet shell never touched the cast tool during the alignment process. What if the cast shell was simply a calibration tool to align machinery (an alignment helmet, if you will) and never came into contact with "real" helmets.
If what you are saying is closer to the truth, we would expect to see a variety of sizes of cast shells in the future.
If however, we only see one size of these things, then is seems likely that the above scenario may be closer to the truth.Comment
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Any news regarding this?Comment
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http://wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/s...d.php?t=836010
It's apparently a cast biker's novelty helmet. The raised area around the vent is to facilitate easy extraction from its casting mould. A raised bump without the ramped area would be trapped in the void of the mould.Comment
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Could the raised area ls, where the vent holes normally are, be for attachment of a visor.? Seeing these are believed to be biker helemts.
Mike
TSgt, USAF RetiredComment
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