helmet transformation

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Hello people,
Some time ago i purchased a cheap helmet on e-bay. The whole thing costed around 75 euros, postage included!
It is made of three parts,two for the bowl and one for the rest, and it's very thin,perhaps 20 gause brass, patinated relatively evenly. I decided that it was cheap enough to trust my hand in modifying it, especially when i realized that the cheek guards were so long that turning my head and looking down resulted in the cheek guards empeding my movements. I also decided to keep the patina, since i don't particularly like brass and this would me my cheap not-so-cared-about helmet.
So here is a photo of the original helmet when i received it (crest is a DSC crest for my illyrian helmet)
[attachment=1079]DSC04828.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=1080]DSC04830.JPG[/attachment]

First movement was to bend the nose guard outwards to fit me better,and push the cheeks closer together to fit tighter. These had already been done before taking the above photo,and it was a matter of seconds.

Second thing was to cut the cheek guards shorter. I re-arranged also the little "groove" on the sides. This i did with a pair of metal scissors. And the helmet looked like this:

[attachment=1081]DSC04841.JPG[/attachment]

With some help from some jeweler friends i drilld new holes along the cut edge.

[attachment=1082]e005.jpg[/attachment]

So yesterday i started making the liner. It's all made of wax treated goat leather, sewn on the edges, without the use of any glue. I re-enforced the edges with the same leather lining using the flesh side out.
The lining is made of two pieces,one for the top of the head with the triangular cutouts and nose guard, and one for the rest. The result is that you wear a very comfortable soft hood that absorbs the power of strikes. I'm happy with the result, and i preffer it to my other possible option of glueing a felt liner and finishing only the edges with leather. Took me one day and a half to make.

[attachment=1083]DSC04911.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=1084]DSC04916.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=1085]DSC04917.JPG[/attachment]

[attachment=1086]DSC04919.JPG[/attachment]


Now there remains some painting perhaps. Ultimately,i'd like to add a high crest to it,to complete the totally archaic look,but this will take some time.
Khairete
Giannis