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It's unclear jack, my guess is some helmets that sat in army stores were returned back to the factories for repainting, while other new made helmets were painted blue from the start, It's unclear how many police helmets were needed.

They don't need to be "airtight", that is not advisable, just to protect against dust, etc. Airtight is never good, the materials need to "breath"

Thanks for the link it was very interesting, however unless I missed it somewhere I don't think it mentioned where they sourced the helmets from, did they come from the factories and just went to be repainted or from the army back to the factories and then out again. I'm interested in this because both my examples have a layer of brown paint underneath so I can assume were bound for the army but it would be cool to know how far they got, my guess is not far and was it the same story for the N.H.S.R helmets? I'm going to search the internet (properly this time) when I get back from getting another broom handle. I hope one day to get both a blue and white police MK II to sit next to there descendants on the shelf (once its built), but for now at least they are beyond my price range. I doubt my packing skills are good enough to be air tight but thanks for the heads up i'll check on them from time to time. Hopefully they'll all be out on display by Christmas so I shouldn't have to worry about it too much. regards, Jack

Try this site Jack has the history of police helmets from WW2 to the 1950s, ( avonsomersetpolice.blogspot.com/2015/09/ww2-british-police-helmet-html )

That's the right way. However, if the helmets are wrapped airtight, check occasionaly, as condensation under the wrap can cause corrosion. As you say, existing scratches are part of the history, you don't want any new ones.

Avoiding scratches is a big concern of mine, these helmets currently spend the majority of their time in bubble wrap and neatly placed beside each other in the draws under my wardrobe until I can make the stands and put up the shelving required to display them properly. Personally the existing scratches don’t really bother me just show the character and history these things have (however I don’t intend to add to them) and also make them easier to purchase which is always a plus. regards, Jack

Interesting, could you say where you read that as I have been looking for info on these but may of just been looking in the wrong places. I've also been searching for a photo of one of these in use but that has also been fruitless as of yet. I've attached a photo of my other police MK IV to show the colour difference, the second lighter blue seems to be the common type so I am leaning towards the idea that the darker blue could be because of the over paining and the striping of the paint. It is stamped RO CO AL 1953 and seems to have the same brown paint underneath the blue regards, Jack