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A Great Tool For Helmet Collectors


B24AT6
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I think I paid around $60 for mine...but it's one of those things that I feel you get what you pay for.  There are some really expensive ones on the market...but they exceed anything I can imagine needing them for. But I don't collect painted helmets, either.

 

I suppose the bonus of these is they double down as an educational experience for children...if anyone needed to justify their purchase to their wife, there's your in

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GeneralCheese

I have the exact same one, albeit different brand marking, that I found at a thrift store new for $1.  It has been one of my favorite finds.  It is extremely useful for fabric items as well, you can see the makeup of the individual threads in cloth.

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I first saw a museum curator use one of these at an art museum to assist him in dating/restoring a painting several years ago. I have been using a version (dyno-lite) that comes with a stand so the device is steady while I focus it. Very much like using these...the detail is amazing. But mine is not show portable (a drawback). If you go the fixed platform route like I did, I recommend recommend going wth the highest end you can afford. Allowing you to get very close images and take measurements. great for seeing photographic details and photo paper composition. 

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IMG_8999.JPG

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18 hours ago, kammo-man said:

There was no mess only a super sensitive op
Who was easily offended and made a stink and went crying to the moderators about a post I did showing the first guy on the forums to use a microscope Outing Major Militaria dealers selling Fake Militaria form WW2.


He talks like a sailor.
Sailors are salty.

You can delete this if you want Bugme but I tell you what.
Censorship is what hinders learning.
Go ahead and aid members from learning about the dark side of this hobby

Owen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I HID THIS EARLIER AND NOW UNHID FOR VIEWING. TARBRIDGE 

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Thank you for showing


Even though I am not affiliated with Joe in anyway I a apologize for offending anyone in any way on this thread.

We are all here to learn
Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard.
The way my eyes are going these days I am going to need a microscope just to drive I n my car to the grocery store never mind look at stuff in my hobby.


Owen

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10 minutes ago, kammo-man said:

Thank you for showing


Even though I am not affiliated with Joe in anyway I a apologize for offending anyone in any way on this thread.

We are all here to learn
Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard.
The way my eyes are going these days I am going to need a microscope just to drive I n my car to the grocery store never mind look at stuff in my hobby.


Owen

Owen,

 

I do appreciate that you are sharing Jo's work, it seems like his books are probably a little more professional than his videos, and he is definitely doing good to expose the fakes and frauds in the TR world. I do wish that he could present himself in a "cleaner" way, but that's his prerogative. I appreciate that you have a wide breadth of knowledge about militaria and ultimately are very open with it, but the only thing I am offended by was the name calling directed towards me because I have a different tolerance for vulgarity.  I have however ultimately learned something from this thread and I am thankful for that.

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29 minutes ago, kammo-man said:

Thank you for showing


Even though I am not affiliated with Joe in anyway I a apologize for offending anyone in any way on this thread.

We are all here to learn
Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s hard.
The way my eyes are going these days I am going to need a microscope just to drive I n my car to the grocery store never mind look at stuff in my hobby.


Owen

We are all aging out and need more and better myopic help...

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18 minutes ago, tarbridge said:

We are all aging out and need more and better myopic help...

 

Amen to that!

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Owen,
 
I do appreciate that you are sharing Jo's work, it seems like his books are probably a little more professional than his videos, and he is definitely doing good to expose the fakes and frauds in the TR world. I do wish that he could present himself in a "cleaner" way, but that's his prerogative. I appreciate that you have a wide breadth of knowledge about militaria and ultimately are very open with it, but the only thing I am offended by was the name calling directed towards me because I have a different tolerance for vulgarity.  I have however ultimately learned something from this thread and I am thankful for that.

Like I said before
He’s known as naughty Joe.
Because he’s a potty mouth.
Once you get over that hurdle learning can begin.


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The Rooster

I just bought one of these off epay.

A good friend recommended it and I figured its about time I picked one up.

Its great for insignia and wings too and just about everythng because..

The 17/20 in one eye and the 20/20 in the other that was there for so long.....

Is gone! lol lol. This one is pretty cheap. Its came to 25 bucks with tax.

And its got 1600 zoom.

scope.png

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For reference, we also have this thread from 2011 where we discussed electronic magnification but more specifically, the use of a jewelers loupe at a show. Just a nice companion to this thread: 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
The Rooster

I got mine in. The software disc which came with it was too small to work in my imac. And trying to download the software on my pc it kept

giving me errors. Although I noticed it did download an app. But it did not work. Chinese software, and my computer acted strange after that.

I cleared it off my PC and downloaded a generic driver from the usa.

It works. I need to get used to using it.

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On 7/6/2020 at 5:05 PM, B24AT6 said:

For quite some time I, like probably most of you, have used a jewelers loupe to inspect painted helmets. Now I’m sure there are some of you that have already caught on to this, but I just recently purchased a USB/WiFi microscope from Amazon and have found it to be an incredible tool for judging helmets.
 

Obviously my first thing once I had the microscope out of the box was to inspect a few helmets I already own, and one of the first was one that I felt was good but it presented some questions. After looking at it with this microscope I have no doubts about the helmet, and have found my new favorite tool for inspecting helmets. An added bonus is that because it connects directly to your phone or computer it will work at home or out on the hunt, and let’s you take photos and videos directly so you can upload them to the forum if you wish.

 

I have included photos of the microscope, the helmet, and a sample of what the microscope can do. If you’re interested here is the Amazon link, and it’s currently on sale: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07PVMRZQH?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image

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I got the one in the link from the first post.  Sounds like it’s a bit over priced, but set up was super easy (iPhone, app, no disk involved) and only took a minute or two to download the app and connect my iphone to the microscope.  (And I’m terrible with technology).   Still cheap and Chinese, but maybe the high end of cheap and Chinese?

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The Rooster

Its really the software that came with mine that was problematic.

It didnt have a brand name either on the packaging. you get what you pay for.

Mine is not the best.

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GeneralCheese

With the USB microscopes, you can access them through your computer's webcam app.  Just open it up and find where you can switch cameras.

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The Rooster
1 hour ago, GeneralCheese said:

With the USB microscopes, you can access them through your computer's webcam app.  Just open it up and find where you can switch cameras.

Hey thank you for the tip. Im using it through the windows camera app. works much better !

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GeneralCheese
11 minutes ago, rooster77 said:

Hey thank you for the tip. Im using it through the windows camera app. works much better !

 

You're welcome!  And for anyone still unsure, on Windows (I'm on Windows 10, it may be different on older versions), just hit the windows key and type "camera" and open the app.  If you have no webcam, it should default to the microscope.  If you do have a webcam, just hit this button and it will switch.

 

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On Mac, open quicktime and select the microscope on this menu, accessed with the arrow next to the record button:

 

macos-catalina-quicktime-movie-recording-dropdown.jpg.aedf400e5181fbfc6082bbbd4130eb42.jpg

 

 

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We use these in the aerospace industry but haven’t thought about the use for military items. Thanks for the tip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 1 year later...

Does anyone have examples of what fake vs. Original magnified helmet paint should look like? What are the telltale things to look for? 

 

 

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"Acrylics are harder to detect age in, yes? "

 

In a way that is true, yes. There are a number of ascending/descending qualities of acrylic which can fool or train the eye, and can only be distinguished at the micro level. Along with that, latex paint sometimes passes as acrylic, and has been commonplace since 1940 thereabouts - which means it appears on some painted helmets after that date. The first acrylic paints started appearing in the mid-1930s but came into common usage also in the 1940s. The ultimate proof of pigment is what it is soluble in and what color it is (red and black being the most fugitive).

 

 

 

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