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CluelessTommy

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That looks much better, and sturdy enough, better to pad the top part, where the helmet rests.

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Her's a picture I saw in internet, these are commercially offered, specially for helmets,  in principle no different to your example, both are missing a softer padding, and considering they cost 28 Euros + postage, yours is just as good. And further examples, for caps, not the best idea, as the top will sag considerably.

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Thanks for the kind words. 

 I had thought of a cushion, just forgot to picture it, I cut 12 little pads out of a some foam that was used to package one of my helmets. I intend to glue it to the top as shown. I currently don’t own any caps so that’s a bridge I’ll cross if I come to it.

Regards,

Jack

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Looks good Jack, a bit of wood stainer or varnish might be an option too. 

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Yes it could be, I’ll give one a polish tomorrow to see how it looks and if I don’t like it I could always paint over it later.

Regards,

Jack

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I decided that I would try and stain one first, but the stem and base went different colours. Despite reapplying on the base multiple times to get it as dark as the stem it didn’t, so gave up and went with paint.

I went with white paint first, but didn’t really like that so painted it black looks quite good in my opinion so I think they shall all end up this way. Even if I later decide that another colour would be better it was only 43p per stand or I could sand them and start again.

All in all it was cheap, I think they look decent and was a good excuse to not do other work I actually had to do, so a good job all round.

Thanks for all the help and ideas,

Regards Jack

1st pic: Making sure all the stands work

2nd: The “final” look

 

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Thanks,

The one on the right in the picture above is a British mark II marked:

RO & CO EF 1940 on the shell

TTC II 1940 on liner 

The one on the left above is an American M1917 marked:

UC 304

Regards,

Jack

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Thanks for the photo's Jack, it's always nice to see the stamp marks on these helmets.

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I think the stands look great in black, your collection is coming along nicely too :thumbsup: 

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  • 1 year later...

Nice original Rubery Owen made MK4 dated 1952, not sure what the D stands for but the Police used these blue helmets during

the 1950s during the cold war period, I think the civil defence also used them. Looking at the black ring round the upper part of

the helmet  would  suggest that its been stored with more helmets on top for some time. 

The letter D may stand for Decontamination if this helmet was used by the Civil Defence, its only speculation though.

 

 

 

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  • Kenny Andrew changed the title to British MK3 & MK4 Turtle Helmets
  • Kenny Andrew pinned this topic

 I have a Mk 4 Turtle helmet which is marked Ro co FK 4 1945, the 4 is above the 1945. Looks to be in original paint, but no liner. One thing that is different to all the others is that it has the screw type fitting on the top, not the lift the dot stud. The screw looks original, it's the same colour and the wear marks fit it exactly, but i've not heard of any Mk 4's with screw liner. Either they did make some for the earlier liners, or someone has drilled it out to fit an earlier liner, but quite a long time ago.. I know some people have fitted the screw to pretend their helmet was ww2, when it's really newer, but this has the date in it so that doesn't make sense...

I have a Mk3 Turtle helmet too, which was used after the war by the Dutch PTT fire service, unfortunatley they painted it black. I'd ideally like to remove the black paint to show the green underneath, but not sure that's going to be possible, so I may end up painting it... Regards. Gary

 

Edit: since putting this here i've found a chap who also has a 1945 Mk4 with a screw type liner fitted !

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Welcome  Gary, I've not seen one with a screw type fitting could you post a photo of your helmet, we would appreciate  any you can. 

 

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My Mk4 helmet. Not sure if the screw is original, whether it's been added just to fit a liner someone had.. Did they do this when it was relatively new or more recently. It can't really be to deceive as the stamp in the helmet is clear enough to show it's date.. Did early Mk4's use the screw or were they still lift the dot..IMG_20210516_182836_706.jpg

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This is the Mk3 that i'd like to get the black paint off, not sure if that's possible.. I'd like to use this with our little ww2 display we do at shows, so the black wont fit in, but not sure if repainting it is considered sacrilege?

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Try a commercial paint stripper, this should remove the modern black paint, but the original paintwork should not be affected.

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7 minutes ago, Fritz said:

Try a commercial paint stripper, this should remove the modern black paint, but the original paintwork should not be affected.

I am going to try some weak paint stripper, but the black was probably painted in the 50's, so it's not that new.  It has a Dutch liner in it too, which is tiny, so It would nice to get hold of a bigger, more appropriate dated liner for it,  but they seem hard to find and costly..

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I've only seen MK4s with the lift and dot stud, but the screw could be original its hard to tell, have you looked on line for a used liner?

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Hi Gary, after a little research  I found that the lift and dot was a post war 1950s change, war time Mk4s had the liner held in place

by the screw on Simmons screw and nut and washer used on the MK2 and MK3.

I also came across a lot of MK4s that the liner had been replaced with the 1976 liner.

hope this helps.

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On 19/05/2021 at 12:58, leon21 said:

Hi Gary, after a little research  I found that the lift and dot was a post war 1950s change, war time Mk4s had the liner held in place

by the screw on Simmons screw and nut and washer used on the MK2 and MK3.

I also came across a lot of MK4s that the liner had been replaced with the 1976 liner.

hope this helps.

Thanks, that is excellent news. It did make sense for them to be able to use the liners already being used in the war.   I have looked for liners, there a quite a few early 40's ones but there don't seem to be any from 44/45, which is what would suit this shell. But now you've said about the screw being used, I had heard that Mk3's were often issed with no liner so the soldier could fit the liner from their existing Mk2 helmet, which would obviosuly fit, so perhaps an earlier liner would not be that incorrect... 

Thanks.. I like learning new things..

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Yes I've come across MK3 helmets with MK2 liners before, Your black MK3 helmet was most likely used by a member of the Civil Defence.

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9 minutes ago, leon21 said:

Yes I've come across MK3 helmets with MK2 liners before, Your black MK3 helmet was most likely used by a member of the Civil Defence.

The black one is green under the black paint. It was nicked/acquired by the Dutch after the war and reissued by them. In this case it was used by the PTT fire department, I know that as it has their stencil on the back. Apparently a lot of British Mk3's ended up in the Netherlands after the war. I, obviosuly, want to get it back to it's British army look.

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Has your MK3 have any stamp marks, I've come across British Mk2s used by the Dutch with their liners in side also re-painted in civil defence

colours, used by various departments after WW2.

 

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34 minutes ago, leon21 said:

Has your MK3 have any stamp marks, I've come across British Mk2s used by the Dutch with their liners in side also re-painted in civil defence

colours, used by various departments after WW2.

 

I've got to get some paint stripper as they've also painted the inner rim with black paint. Under the liner is the original green colour. I know it was in the Netherlands as I bought it from there.

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