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M40 Luftwaffe - brought home by 8th ID vet


josephc
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Here is my Luftwaffe helmet that was brought home by my great Uncle who was a medic in 121st inf reg of the 8th ID during wwii. His name is written on helmet skirt. The helmet was in much better condition when I was a child; its liner was more supple, the string was there and there was no surface rust. I recall playing army with it. Then it got lost in time and I thought for sure gone forever. i found it in the garage and its storage was not kind. Insides got wetted - cat pee? Not sure why but glad I rediscovered and saved it.

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Great helmet. To preserve it I would do two things, look up " Evapo-rust", by far the best artifact rust remover. I would apply some in stages to dissolve the heavy rust, stop when the roughness is gone ( not to bare shiney steel- keep the rust color base), then apply a museum wax called Renaissance micro crystalline wax. I would tape off around the decal area ( do not put tape on the decal). Do not use any mechanical means to remove rust......OR take a stiff hog bristle brush to remove the rust that will brush off and seal it with the wax. The wax will seal out moisture and arrest the rust, bring back some color, but give it a very little gloss to it. Try a test area inside to see what results you can live with.

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Great helmet with rare bring home info!!

 

 

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I remember as a kid - it was referred to as "the german helmet". Along with the helmet he brought home a wound badge, ribbon bar, binoculars, luftwaffe buckle and uniform eagle.

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Great helmet. To preserve it I would do two things, look up " Evapo-rust", by far the best artifact rust remover. I would apply some in stages to dissolve the heavy rust, stop when the roughness is gone ( not to bare shiney steel- keep the rust color base), then apply a museum wax called Renaissance micro crystalline wax. I would tape off around the decal area ( do not put tape on the decal). Do not use any mechanical means to remove rust......OR take a stiff hog bristle brush to remove the rust that will brush off and seal it with the wax. The wax will seal out moisture and arrest the rust, bring back some color, but give it a very little gloss to it. Try a test area inside to see what results you can live with.

I'm a German helmet collector and have to say this is absolutely HORRIBLE advice. Do not use any sort of rust treatment, wax or oil on a German helmet...period. It will irreversibly alter the helmet and completely destroy the value. If the helmet is stored properly, the rust will not get any worse. Just enjoy it for what it is.

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ww1collector1

I'm a German helmet collector and have to say this is absolutely HORRIBLE advice. Do not use any sort of rust treatment, wax or oil on a German helmet...period. It will irreversibly alter the helmet and completely destroy the value. If the helmet is stored properly, the rust will not get any worse. Just enjoy it for what it is.

Or, ANY helmet for that matter!

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  • 1 year later...

The most common TR Combat helmet. That said. That doesn’t make them any less beautiful. This is a nice untouched piece. Don’t ever put anything on your helmet. Just store and enjoy in a Stable temp environment. It’s perfect as is. Also you would hurt the value (historical and monetarily) if you applied anything to it at all. Collectors in the 70s did this and we see ruined leather. Laquered shells. Etc that serious helmet collectors won’t even touch anymore. Great Luft M40 

Z

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