M1 helmet colour

Crushed cork is the best way to do it apparently, not sure about RAL colour for the helm tho.

Right,

Mix some fine crushed cork in the base coat and dab it on (others sprinkle it over the fresh coat of paint). I got the cork from a modelling-shop (or one that deals in model trains) and then ran it through a coffee-grinder .

After letting it dry properly, brush off the excess and give it a few more layers of paint to seal the rest of the cork in.

The colour I used was Modelmaster Dark Green (their Olive Drab is a bit to brown in my opinion)...When you're finished with it. Rough it up by playing football with it in the dirt, or dig a foxhole with it

Post-war American helmets got sand mixed in. European ones are smooth.
Originally they were baked after painting. This gave them a darker colour (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME UNLESS YOU DO NOT INTEND TO PREPARE FOOD IN THAT OVEN EVER AGAIN)

And as before, there was no set shade of colour at the time. Paint would always vary between manufacturers and sometimes from batch to batch.
Pick a shade of green and don't worry about it

Thanks, Flib and webby. If there were two people on here I expected to put me right...

Will have a go with the cork and paint when I get a chance, thanks again.

EDIT: forgot to ask, how did you apply the paint? Was it airbrushed on?

I mixed the cork with the paint for the base coat and then dabbed it on with the tip of a brush.
Others just give it a coat of spraypaint and then sprinkle the cork over it.

After a 2 or 3 layers of paint brushed or sprayed over it, the result will be more or less the same.

Someone recommended spraying some WD40 over the final layer to darken the paint, but I found this gave it a way to shiney finish.

On German helmets....... I've painted them in primer, applied the grit etc whilst that is wet, and then painted the colour over the top by brush . Work quick , no-one would have spent hours doing this in real life unless his name was Patton

Then I've dry brushed a little yellow ocre (from most art shops) in to simulate rust , followed by a run over with some black / brown boot polish (done gently) to get that greasy dirty look .
Then kick it around the garden and take some wet & dry to the edges , finally the odd bang with a 2lb ball hammer . I kid you not - Looks like it's been through the war now .
For yank helmets I believe the ally look of the time was to rub through the top of the cam net, ( showing you had been around a while and not a new recruit)

When you're finished with it. Rough it up by playing football with it in the dirt, or dig a foxhole with it

CiA accept no resposibility for broken metatarcel bones due to kicking steel helmet aroudn garden, nor claims for damages due to relatives falling in freshly dug fox holes in back gardens heheh!

Humbrol 155 is thought a good match for wartime M1 helmets.

Apologies for resurrecting the thread, but I'm having some trouble finding the paint I need for this job. The Humbrol, as far as I can see, is only available in 14ml tins, while the Model Master comes in 14ml and spray flavours. How many tins do I need? Do they come any bigger?

Don't forget to knock the paint off the rim if it's a front seamer to give that stainless steel a chance to SHINE through!

IIRC I used about 2 to 3 small pots of Modelmaster Dark Green.

The paint will chip of the edges fast enough on it's own

IIRC I used about 2 to 3 small pots of Modelmaster Dark Green.

The paint will chip of the edges fast enough on it's own

Great, thanks Flib. I'll order some today.

Resurrecting the thread again, to highlight my numptyness.

I finally got round to trying this last night, na dballsed it up proper, with the loss of a paintbrush and two tins of Humbrol 161 (US dark green - I forgot to refer to this thread before I bought it). For starters, I put too much cork in with the paint, rendering the first coat all but useless. The cork clumped together and clogged up the brush.

Any final ideas for preparation, mixture ratio of paint to cork bits? Hopefully I'll have this done by Friday morning, and my 29th Transfer on.

I used a different method - painted helmet with PVA glue, sprinkling cork bits as I went (dabbing as I went to push bits into glue).
When dry and stuck fast I rubbed over it with a cloth to remove unstuck bits then painted with final colour, two coats.
When that was dry I set about wrecking what I had done rubbing in oil & dirt in a random manner then scraping and whacking, then a bit more dirt!

Yes, definitely put the cork on after painting then paint a second coat over the cork.

I'll bring my original to Wotan so you can have a shufty.

S

That seems fairly idiot-proof to me, and therefore more likely to succeed! I know Flib said he ground his cork bits down, but mine are preety fine already, although the paint seemed to make them bigger.

I only mixed the cork and paint in small quantities, and by dabbing with the tip of the brush it spread the cork relatively evenly.

I messed up the first time too btw, had to sand off all the cork and paint by hand again

Last week I did another one with a buddy of mine. Spraypaint on, while wet drop crushed cork on it. Sprayed some more on the bare areas. Let dry.
Rub off excess, spray some more. let dry. add dirt. It wasn't a super finish, but the overal result was alright.

Finished the helmet, at last!

Started with a hand-painted coat of Humbrol 155, which was much more authentic looking than the blue-green colour I used before. I then sprinkled the crushed cork over the helmet and allowed to dry. When dry I wiped off the excess and gave two more coats. Finally, I added the 29th ID helmet transfer to the front (which, at the moment, looks a bit like a sticker).

I'll try and pick up some dirt on the way home, as it looks a bit 'new'. If anyone has a spare helmet net (a genuine US one) they can sell me, I'll have it off you at Wotan.

To resurface this thread yet again ....

Im having a go at this now. The paint is sorted and I'd already resolved to PVA it first (model makers method) but Im having to create my own ground cork with a floor tile and a grater (im too tight to actually pay for ground cork)

What sort of sized granules are we talking about here as the grating process produces a wide spectrum. I know I'll have to filter it all out but any ideas?

Heh, good point!
http://www.m-1helmet.com
http://www.m-1helmet.com/m-1%20helmet%2 ... month.html
http://www.m-1helmet.com/m-1helmet.html

And here, halfway down the page
http://jmurrayinc1944.com/www/refurbishing.htm
and here:
http://jmurrayinc1944.com/images/images ... ON%201.jpg
http://jmurrayinc1944.com/images/26th%2 ... signia.jpg