i have not seen a patch like this before but i got it for $25 so i took a chance : ) does it look ok? i know the badge came with 4 different colours (blue, red, green and black outer borders). does the colour have something to do with rank? was
C.T.D (Christian Theodor Dicke Lüdenscheid, who i know nothing about) the only maker of these?
Stig
Hey everyone, I was hoping to get some opinions on this bugle I’ve got my eye on. I’m guessing on it being an HJ horn solely on the fact that it says Jugendhorn on it. I know nothing about these really, but this one looks different than the genuine examples I’ve looked up on the forum, so I thought it best to throw a line out and see what everyone has to say. Any opinions would be most appreciated. Thanks
Here I have a messenger helmet. The helmet originally was a khaki colour then over painted in black with two letter M’s applied front and back. I can not see a maker mark on the helmet and it is not because of the paint. Might be under the lug straps? The liner is manufactured by J.C.S & W Ltd (J. Conpton Sons & Webb) with a date of 1939 and sized 7 1/4. Thanks for looking guys cool militaria
Oh, the enquiring mind. Here are some pictures of the inside bits and pieces of a British paratroop helmet.
First the establishing shots of the outside and basic interior, and the rarely-seen crown stamp, with the NP for National Plastics, date of 1998, size L for Large, and part of the Nato Stock Number. The basic substance of the shell seems to be black, the green paint is quite roughly textured, both in and out.
And here’s the basic interior shell liner - cheap polystyrene, almost throwaway. The cork panels are intended as easy breakouts to make using a comms headset more comfortable. The front has two cutouts, the back one. I do not know what the front cutouts are for - the one at the back is to allow access to the reat chinstrap fixing bolt.
The interior of the interior. The white-ish panel in the crown is residue from where the (missing) makers’ label would have been glued. Its easy to see how fragile the liner really is. There are two rather insubstantial rubber pads, glued fore and aft, the rear one shown in the detail picture.
The cradle is a simple plastic structure, stapled and perhaps glued, with the cloth element sewn to it. There is a thin foam rubber strip beneath the cloth. This is all essentially the same as the earlier para helmet liner, the only real difference being the black leather browpiece as opposed the white leather fitted to the earlier models.
I have several of these helmets and I would truly like to dismantle them all, to see the liner mouldings if nothing else (its a harmless obsession…) but this is actually fantastically difficult. I have taken a couple apart but that’s been down to luck rather than skill or appropriate kit. It seems to me that a snake-tongue screwdriver is essentially for undoing these bolts, but finding one of an appropriate size is proving impossible, and so far all attempts to *make* a succesful tool have ended in tears of frustration (I only exaggerate very slightly). As this liner is *meant* to be replaceable in the event of even slight damage there has to be a way of doing this a lot more quickly and easily than I can manage. A tool found only in the QM stores, perhaps. Anyone got any ideas? The problem is that the slotted nut (which is on the inside, embedded within the polystyrene liner shell) has to be held firm so that the bolt can be undone. The nut is 15mm diameter, and the shaft of the bolt 5mm. Improvisation does not work. So far.
Nicest condition factory original paint I have ever owned on one of these lids. These lids usually rust up badly even if you breathe on them :p This lid has a manufacturer stamp on the brow A.M.C. 1941 (don’t know this manufacturer code) and the liner is dated 1941 with a size of 6 3/4 and a manufacturer FH (I don’t know who this is). Thanks for looking cool militaria
I have another cap, that I will ask Your opinion on. Apparently it is a model 1941 made for members of the Afrika Korps. There is the number 58 (size) and another stamp that I can’t make out. There is an odd number 37 written (in ink?) on the inside of the sweatband. The eagle is absent but the cokarde in a lozange is present. Perhaps another fake, but it looks so not fake. I’m happy to say, that it cost me 30 Euros (20£). The pictures stink but I hope You can make something out of it.
