Hello !

I bought a very nice M17 with Sgt. stripes on the sides but also a skull (on the front) and a swirl on top. As far as for the straps they look painted, but the skull and swirl looks to be crayon. Maybe some kid did it in the past ? You can see like a greasy border around the skull

any advice on removing the crayon from rough texture paint ? Assuming that I am right and it is a kids art - not actual soldiers art

two more pictures.

BTW my main assumption that this is a kids work - is the swirl on the top, it runs thru the Sgt. stripes, also I would assume any unit insignia would be more crude one-colored - not some multicolor skull. helmet is attributed to soldier in 157th infantry and dated 1927

Hm, maybe it was a marine? We know they like their crayola! Aside from the joke, try doing a little spot cleaning on the stripes or something with goof off, and I mean an extremely small amount on something like a q-tip. I'd even try an eraser if you think it's crayon, but I think you might want to just try wiping it off with water.

 

And I will say the oil stained paint makes me think that what ever was used was of course, oil based.

 

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Hm, maybe it was a marine? We know they like their crayola! Aside from the joke, try doing a little spot cleaning on the stripes or something with goof off, and I mean an extremely small amount on something like a q-tip. I'd even try an eraser if you think it's crayon, but I think you might want to just try wiping it off with water.

 

And I will say the oil stained paint makes me think that what ever was used was of course, oil based.

 

Thank you for reply !

 

I was just about to post the effect of my yesterday's work.

 

I was afraid that Goof-Off can take off the base paint too, so after few attempts with baking soda.. eraser and heat gun.... the only product that was dissolving this crayon was WD40 !

Yet because WD40 was leaving dark greasier spots after cleaning - I had to spray whole top of the helmet to make even colored surface. then I picked up as much of WD with paper towels and I left it in the sun to bake and evaporate the rest.

Some folks asked if I am really sure it wasnt trench art... well I have never seen crayon trench art, and this greasy border around the skull was also pretty clean without any dust/dirt deposits so i think it was done recently

 

this helmet is signed to a Sgt. in 157th Infantry of 45th National Guard Division and dated 1927

Nice, also goof off doesn't hurt the base paint as much as you would think. Believe me I've used it before.

 

Also just a note, I would not recommend using WD40, Even if you try to let it evaporate etc, it is an oil based penitrent, you've probably softened the paint up a good bit especially in the long run. Plus oil doesn't really evaporate. Just for an example about oil, there's a South bend lathe in our metal shop from 1968, it's all a nice gray lead based paint, but there are oil stains in it, and they were on there before my time. They could have been there for 10 years to dry but still haven't.

 

I would also worry for the sawdust finish as that probably absorbed more oil than you may have thought. We use sawdust in the shop TO soak up oil spills.

 

Anyway, it's a really nice helmet, being named is just a bonus!

 

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Nice, also goof off doesn't hurt the base paint as much as you would think. Believe me I've used it before.

 

Also just a note, I would not recommend using WD40, Even if you try to let it evaporate etc, it is an oil based penitrent, you've probably softened the paint up a good bit especially in the long run. Plus oil doesn't really evaporate. Just for an example about oil, there's a South bend lathe in our metal shop from 1968, it's all a nice gray lead based paint, but there are oil stains in it, and they were on there before my time. They could have been there for 10 years to dry but still haven't.

 

I would also worry for the sawdust finish as that probably absorbed more oil than you may have thought. We use sawdust in the shop TO soak up oil spills.

 

Anyway, it's a really nice helmet, being named is just a bonus!

 

well i hope I didnt do much dmg to it. it looks pretty good now.. I hope time will work its magic and helmet will get old aged look

 

some time I will post the rest of this group as it came with bunch of personalized gear to Sgt. Bush

Oh, nice. Groupings like that are always great to have!

 

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[quote name="kaszanka" post="2531727" timestamp=

 

some time I will post the rest of this group as it came with bunch of personalized gear to Sgt. Bush

 

Nice lid, would love to see the rest.

Nice lid, would love to see the rest.

I posted it here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/315236-grouping-to-sgt-in-157th-infantry-45th-national-guard-div/

 

 

didnt want to trash this topic here