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U.S. Army APH-5


viking73
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Hi,

 

I just received this one in the mail today, an early U.S. Army APH-5 helmet. The paint is in pretty rough shape, but it's all complete except for small part of strap that the chin strap snaps on to.

 

 

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You guys don't think this is one of the early crinkle painted APH-5s is it? Would that explain the rough paint? It doesn't seem very uniform to me if that is the case.

 

I want to strip the paint and give it a new gloss white paint job. I'm going to try and save the red Dynamo tape name in the visor but I'm afraid the Gentex sticker on the back will be lost if I do that :( The edge roll is loose so I should be able to remove it completely and then glue it back on after painting.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

-Derek

 

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Derek,

Should come out nice.I believe the paint is like that because of bad prep on an overspray.Chemical reaction as opposed to it being intentional.

I would think that someone could duplicate the sticker on a computer,but that ain't me. I may have a strap end,I'll look.

Bob

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Those early pea green rough finish APH-5As had a thicker brown edgebead/edgeroll to them. Id say they just repainted this one and didn't do a great job. Interesting to see the tag on the outside rear and looks like a 64 contract. I have a factory white Gentex APH-5 and its 1963 stamped for the DOM and the tag is on the inside right.

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Thanks gents, 1964 it is of course. I don't know why I didn't see that, guess I was so focused on the "Date of MFG" stamp and didn't pay attention to that "64" above it. Perhaps I can clean up a picture of this label in Photoshop and print a new one out.

 

boxerdogi - I thought it might have been some sort of heat blistering as well but I wasn't sure?

 

I think this one will be easy to restore. The (metal?) visor tracks look pretty corroded but I will try and clean them up. I've never taken an army APH-5 apart before but hopefully it will go okay if I take my time. No suspension liner like the SPH-3/-4 series so that's a good thing! Looks like the leather cover on the left side is stitched to the helmet so I might have to leave that on and mask that when I do the repaint as my sewing skills are pretty non-existent! I'm not sure how to remove the comm wires from the earphones either but I'll figure it out if possible.

 

More later and I get some time to tear this one down.

 

-Derek

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Derek,

When you are ready,I'll walk you through the tear down.It is very simple.The jack cover is no big deal,I have the instructions for proper installation and stitch pattern.If you can do a SPH-3,this will be a piece o'cake.

Bob

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The last APH-5 my father had and still has today had some repair work done to it I guess at one point where they removed and reinstalled that leather boot. They didn't use that waxed tacking thread again but instead used aircraft safety wire. Ive seen a few other helmets over the years with that same repair job using the wire.

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If it was here with me Id take a pic. I'll see if he can take one for me. Externally the wire looks exactly how the stitching looks and was wrapped around, but on the inside its got the wire crisscrossed and twists securing the wire right over the slot with the mic plug jack under it.

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Hi Gents,

 

I started the tear down this morning. It was a pretty rough start I'm sorry to report. The first visor cover screw I tried to remove broke! The metal rails are very corroded as you can see. I'm also have trouble removing the screws on the inside of the shell that hold the metal visor tracks in place. I sprayed them with some penetrating oil and I'm letting them sit for a bit. I did find a NOS set of metal visor tracks on eBay this morning (great timing there!) that I ordered. But first, I need to remove the old ones...

 

The edge roll peeled right off, so that was nice. The visor is in surprisingly good condition. It was just super dirty but it cleaned right up.

 

I'll shoot you a PM Bob on my parts request!!! I'd like to see what you have on removing that jack cover boot please...

 

-Derek

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I've also started removing the ear cups. The two screws holding them in were rusty but came out okay.

 

To remove the comm wires, looks like I need to unscrew those 5 little screws on the back of the cup? All are rusty and should fun to remove :)

 

-Derek

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Those top hat ear cups looks to be in damn find shape for a 1964 helmet. Most Ive seen are torn and dry rotted. Surprisingly since my father kept his APH-5 in the original bowling ball bag, and that inside a 1970 dated SPH-4 helmet bag since he stopped using it and in a walk in closet instead of an attic or garage like most helmets seem to call home over the years, his ear cups are as soft and pliable as they were back in 1968. He also had those soft silky mesh covers that snapped over the ear cup/earphone. Ive tested the comms in it as well on both his original M33 black banana mic and the later M87 and everything works.

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Yeah, they sure are in great shape considering the condition of the rest of the helmet T!

 

They did come apart easily enough, rusty screws or not. I broke out my tiny allen wrench and unscrewed the wires. The cups are still nice and soft and cleaned up with a little soap and water.

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On one of them, the end cap came off. Looks like it is damaged, so I'm not sure yet how I'll get this one on stay in place :( Looks like some of the tabs are broken off.

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Next up, I guess I'll cut off the stitching on the boot so I can remove all the comm wire.

 

The two triangular pads of rubber on the inside aren't coming off very easily either. I don't want to force them and end up ripping them. I might just leave them in place and mask off the protruding nuts, not sure yet on that.

 

Those darn visor track screws on the inside are still frozen solids, as are the screws that hold the little round tan protrusions on the outside. I shot them all with some more penetrating oil....

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This is how the shell is sitting now. In the meantime, I've started sanding the visor down. The old paint is very thick so it's going to take a lot of elbow grease to smooth it all out. I thought about using some paint stripper but wasn't sure if it would harm the fiberglass or not. So I figure I'll be spending quite a bit of time wet sanding everything by hand. There is a chip in the back that will be filled in with some bondo.

 

Thanks for looking. More updates soon...

 

-Derek

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

 

I am back home and ready to get back to work on this helmet. I was able to remove the screws from the right visor track and remove it. I wasn't so lucky with the left side. The screw on the bottom was frozen and wasn't coming out. Since I have a set of NOS visor tracks, I wasn't too concerned. I broke out the cutting wheel for my Dremel tool and cut the screw in half. Once that was done, the visor was removed. Note the remains of the screws!

 

I also finished sanding the visor and also filling in the scratches. The metal portions are masked and it's ready for a primer coat.

 

 

 

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Next, I removed the jack cover by cutting the treads off. The screws for the paracord anchors were also completely rusted solid. I had to cut the screw heads off of them as well with my cutting wheel I'm sorry to report. I tried to punch out the cheek reinforcement nuts on the sides. They would not budge. After several whacks with my hammer and a punch, I was really afraid I was going to break the shell. Therefore I decided to leave them in place and simply mask them off at the painting stage.

 

Here is the shell now:

 

 

 

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Next up is sanding, and lots of it! I'm using 220 and 320 grit paper, wet sanding it as I go to keep the dust down and the paper clog free.

 

Here's a couple of shots of the shell in the shop sink getting worked over...

 

Until time, thanks for looking!

 

-Derek

 

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