Cheap helmets .........

Although I've not seen one first hand I'd say they look ok in pics. The fact that the seller states they are primarily for display purposes suggests they may not be all that stong so I've have my doubts about them standing up to BB hits. At £30 posted I'd certainly consider them a false economy when you can pick up a second hand steel repro for around that sort of money.

I have one without the liner, (used on a reenacting display and now surplus to needs) they are a think plastic and look good once painted and weathered, they do withstand a bb hit as a couple of chaps at my local site use them with their kit, but agree that you can get a second hand repro for that price.

My youngest lad has one of these which he has been to several of our events.
They are OK, but it seems that he has made them from either a small shell or the inside of a real helmet consequently they are a lttle small. IMHO you need a splinter cover for them to make them sturdy and to hide the fact that htey are plastic, by the tiime you have done that you might as well have asked Santa to stump up the little extra and get a real metal one

6 out of 10

Thanks for the input, chaps

Response from the e-bay seller above -
... the helmets are the same size as the samllest real ones so you will need a small head! They are good strong plastic with a touch of flex. a bit like thick airfix kit plastic.

I think a cheap steel lid is the way to go .........

Bit of a necro posting, but I have used this guy from time to time: www.ahagreat.com

He sells surplus Chinese PLA kit, and repro WW2 kit. The repro stuff is so-so (his leather is rubbish, for example), but the PLA stuff is great. He also offers M35/40/42 helmets, in the price range of $59-65. Size 71 shell, size 61 liner. His M38 FJ helmets use are shell 71, liner 59.

His ebay nick is youchunhe (as per watermark below).

In the end I went with a £10-type fancy dress helmet, with a splinter cover which I already had and NBC boot top rubber band. Also applied smooth black tape around the elasticated chin strap so looked a little like ersatz leather.

See pic here - viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15773&p=228962#p228962

Looked ok and there were a number of others being used, so not out of place.

One big minus point for me, which I'd need to sort before using again, was that there is no padding/ventilation between the helmet and head so the inside was literally running with sweat after a short while. Other than that not bad for the price