TuskenRaider
Active Member
When putting together my FMJ helmet I just bought a vintage helmet cover from e-Bay - no need to age/weather it! :lol Can't remember how much I paid but it was inexpensive...
Weathering/Ageing M1 Reproduction Helmet Cover?
- Thread starter Drac
- Start date
Drac
Sr Member
I saw your thread, nice job, I was going to go vintage but for cost wise I went with repro lol mainly because postage was killing it
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TuskenRaider
Active Member
Thanks, in hindsight it was probably around £20 or so, I guess it is quite expensive for a small piece of material!
Just ran across this thread, also new here! Though this was a good place for me to start!
Anyway, the aging you do to the cover depends on the look you're going for. Many helmets that spent time in country in Vietnam being worn often usually have fading, tears, stains and so forth. Graffiti often faded away and was either written over with something new, redrawn, of left alone entirely. It isn't uncommon to see multiple layers of graffiti on a helmet. And the key to good looking wear is red dirt. If you're going for the Vietnam wear look red dirt/mud was always all over the helmets and stained them pretty bad in alot of cases. But if you're going for a home front type helmet they weren't nearly as beat up. I had one with graffiti from a marine who was a radio man but never left the states during the war and he was ordered to cover the graffiti at one point and blacked it all out then drew more later.
And a side note though not completely relevant to the original question. The helmet and liners you choose will add authenticity to your helmet and plus even be historically accurate.
Anyway, the aging you do to the cover depends on the look you're going for. Many helmets that spent time in country in Vietnam being worn often usually have fading, tears, stains and so forth. Graffiti often faded away and was either written over with something new, redrawn, of left alone entirely. It isn't uncommon to see multiple layers of graffiti on a helmet. And the key to good looking wear is red dirt. If you're going for the Vietnam wear look red dirt/mud was always all over the helmets and stained them pretty bad in alot of cases. But if you're going for a home front type helmet they weren't nearly as beat up. I had one with graffiti from a marine who was a radio man but never left the states during the war and he was ordered to cover the graffiti at one point and blacked it all out then drew more later.
And a side note though not completely relevant to the original question. The helmet and liners you choose will add authenticity to your helmet and plus even be historically accurate.
Drac
Sr Member
Hi, thanks for the comments. I will be going for the red 'ish' dirt effect as the film prop itself has a lot of red colour weathering on the straps etc, the cover and the helmet I purchased were pretty close to what i was wanting so I'm pretty pleased with the outcome so far, only issue is getting the cover to fit right.
I have used the old shrinking method which seems to have worked well so far, but still needs a little work. I will get back to this project but I have others on at the moment that have taken priority ;-)
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Soak the cover then put it onto the helmet, that is how they are supposed to be put on so they form to the shell. Also a tip, in Vietnam the Marines often used inner tube helmet bands rather than the green elastic which the army was supplied with. If you don't like the fit put one of these inner tube bands around the liner so it will pull the cover tight. I do it for my display helmets so they have that iconic look to them.
Drac
Sr Member
Ah right got ya, worth a try would probably be better than the green elastic one
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