japanese type 90 helmet restoration

Discussions on all aspects of WW1, WW2 and Inter-War Era reenactment.
Post Reply
söldner
Member
Posts: 43
Joined: 19 Nov 2009, 08:43

japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#1

Post by söldner » 17 Dec 2012, 07:51

hello, this has been a long time coming, (and thank you to William Kramer and Marcus Wendel for pointing me in the right place for this) but ive finally got around to posting the progress :D. I found this helmet in the antique shop here in Pascagoula Ms. and haggled the gentleman behind the desk down to twenty dollars. Neither of us were sure what it was but the shape of it screamed Japanese to me, and i jumped at the chance. I later found out through an earlier post that it was indeed a japanese hlemet, BUT it was reissued to another country after the war, hence the holes in the side for an M1 liner. sanded the rust off, and quickly painted it with Rustoleum Farm Equipment paint. the hardware (rivets, rings and loops) were purchased from Prarie Flower Leather Company http://pflco.com/ they may not have it listed, but theyve got the kit. more pictures coming soon when i find a paint that can come relatively close to the original color, get a liner and the chinstrap. questions comments and help welcome and appreciated.
Attachments
DSC00880.JPG
DSC00880.JPG (85.3 KiB) Viewed 3191 times
DSC00879.JPG
DSC00879.JPG (84.71 KiB) Viewed 3191 times
DSC00878.JPG
DSC00878.JPG (84.22 KiB) Viewed 3191 times

söldner
Member
Posts: 43
Joined: 19 Nov 2009, 08:43

Re: japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#2

Post by söldner » 17 Dec 2012, 07:57

after sanding, removing post war bales and painting.
Attachments
japhelm1.JPG
japhelm1.JPG (85.07 KiB) Viewed 3189 times
DSC00882.JPG
DSC00882.JPG (85.77 KiB) Viewed 3189 times
DSC00881.JPG
DSC00881.JPG (84.33 KiB) Viewed 3189 times


söldner
Member
Posts: 43
Joined: 19 Nov 2009, 08:43

Re: japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#3

Post by söldner » 17 Dec 2012, 08:02

getting closer to finished. just a bit more to go.........
Attachments
japhelm2.JPG
japhelm2.JPG (85.43 KiB) Viewed 3189 times
japhelm5.JPG
japhelm5.JPG (87.95 KiB) Viewed 3189 times
japhelm parts.JPG
japhelm parts.JPG (86.75 KiB) Viewed 3189 times

söldner
Member
Posts: 43
Joined: 19 Nov 2009, 08:43

Re: japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#4

Post by söldner » 17 Dec 2012, 08:09

okay, now the fun must begin, and by fun I meen the game of " hold the helmet in the right position while trying not to lose the rivets while positioning and adjusting the brackets and applying tape to hold it together as you peen the rivets :D" sounds like something to brighten your day, dont it? but on a bright note, after ruining two of the five spare rivets, I found out that using a large nail will make flaring the end much easier, then using the head of the nail to finish the litte trouble maker off without reshaping the brackets. just a little fyi for those attempting this in the future :). and thats all for now. ill post more up when i get it done. hope yall enjoyed so far.
Attachments
japhelm3.JPG
japhelm3.JPG (84.3 KiB) Viewed 3189 times
japhelm4.JPG
japhelm4.JPG (84.49 KiB) Viewed 3189 times

mcmike
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: 07 Apr 2013, 22:49

Re: japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#5

Post by mcmike » 28 Sep 2014, 03:16

Hey! You can't just drop it like that!!!! What happened? Did you fill the holes? Did find a realistic paint? How did you age the liner and chinstrap? You can't just leave me hangin', bro!

I have restored several Japanese helmets. I have yet to find a good paint formula I can take to a paint store for replication. Like you, I bought the chinstrap rivets and u-rings from Prairie Flower for my latest helmet, but have not installed yet. Bought the liner, rivets, star, and chinstrap from Hiki. I handworked the liner leather by bending it back and forth on itself until it was soft and would actually conform to the helmet shape. Then I used Olde English Dark Furniture Oil to "age" it. I have done this with all types of liners, and it works great.

Put the chinstrap in a mixture of bleach and water to soak and soften the dark green, then boiled it in coffee grinds to "age" it. To fill the extra holes in the helmet (from the Thai liner) I used epoxy putty; it does a great job and is workable.

I hate the thin, yarn-like repro helmet nets available, so I found a nice, thick cotton twine at a craft store and designed a cheap and simple loom to hand-tie the net. Have done several, and they look pretty good. Aged in coffee grinds.

But I haven't found the right paint!!!! Let us know how your helmet progressed.
Mike

BillW
New member
Posts: 1
Joined: 11 Jan 2016, 00:41
Location: Northern Indiana

Re: japanese type 90 helmet restoration

#6

Post by BillW » 11 Jan 2016, 00:54

Thanks for information about the reissue helmet. I have one and could not figure the extra rivets until now . So now starts the rebuild I found paint for the helmet on eBay & have used A prairie flower liner for A first WW French Aderian rebuild. Bill

Post Reply

Return to “Reenactment”