Deepeeka Gallic a ah6306n

[Romulus]

Hello

I just recieved my gallic a, but was very disappointed as soon as I tried it on.
The cheek plates stick way out to the side and angel forward from the bottom to end up way out in front of my chin. 
Any suggestions how I might fix this would be greatly appreciated.

[brennivs - tony drake]

Pull the pins out, put the pins back into the cheek piece then with a soft/rubber hammer flatten the area down where the hinge part is, I don't have my Robinson book at hand to see how flush the cheek guards are to the side of the helmet, other wise just search for the image of one to work too It looks like they have over pressed the area
Regards Brennivs

[Romulus]

Thanks Brennivs, I did as you suggested and it did indeed help.
The helmet hinge still seems to poke out a great deal, do those have to be rolled to the outside or could they instead be rolled to the inside?
I'm thinking about possibly grinding out the welded tab and dummy rivets, and making entirely new hinges. This is however more than I planned on doing on a new helmet  

[brennivs - tony drake]

Romvlvs the hinge is meant to be rolled to the outside of the helmet. It is the cheek plate at fault also the pin looks on the heavy side, it would be better to bend the cheek hinge out to pull the plate in. Again put the pin in the plate  if you have a vice put the hinge into the vice with the outside facing you and gentley bend the hinge out. Use wood in the vice so it dose not crush the hinge. If the last picture is what you have done so far you could still flattern it more.
   
This is from Robinson's book as you can see how small the hinge is on the cheek gaurd. If you look at the original the top of the cut out is also inline with the dome so if you can flatten the gaurd down as far as the cut out. If you have a socket set use one that wil fit around the cut out, with light hammer gentle knock that area back while leaveing the embossed area still pronounced. Possibly try this first before bending the hinge, good luck
Regards Brennivs

[Romulus]

Ok I have it as done as my limited skill and tools will allow.

I didnt have anything that would fit over the cutouts so I tried using a rubber mallet to flatten the piece with minimal success.

Also the hinges on helmet were only closed maybe 2/3, i tried closing it with a rubber mallet with the unfortunate side effect of it bending the tab inward instead   attempt to bend it back flexed the helmet steel so I just made the other side match rather than mess up the bowl.

So after much bending bashing and cursing i managed to get the cutouts close to the helmet edge.

It may need a few more tweaks but I figured it wise to stop before disaster struck

[brennivs - tony drake]

Wow compared to what you had that is a vast improvement   and the fit looks well once you pad out the helmet, even if you have limited tools you have done a fantastic job a credit
Regards Brennivs

[Romulus]

Thank You Brennivs, it was your helpful instruct that gave me the confidence to do this 

There are a couple more things that need to be done, first will be the fasteners on the cheek guards, the ones on it now look like golf cleats and are of no use for fastening a leather strap to them. 
The helm in the pic you posted has a large mushroom shaped fastener, how large would that be?
The other thing is the brow guard, it moves a bit if i lift the helm by it and its rough from the grinder on the back and is scrathing the helm. I thought maybe removing it and lightly sanding to smooth it a bit. 
Since that will probably ruin that barrel shaped rivet they used would it be ok to just use a button headed rivet insdead?

[brennivs - tony drake]

The size for the length of the shaft would be the thicknes of the leather you will use, from the gaurd to the underneath of the mushroom with a little room, as for the mushroom head the diameter wide enough too stop the leather slipping off. Best guess would be the diameter of the mushroom head 5-7mm? Now for the brow plate, the Romans had two methods for stopping this first the soldered the brow at the front, the next is the brow had a key put  at the back of the brow which then fitted in a slot cut into the dome. Unfortunaly polishing the brow plate will not stop scratching metal on metal   since you may not be able to do the soldering a cheat would be to use say a nail possibly 2 Mark the brow plate where it sits drill one/ two holes through, then but you may need to take off the brow, drill two sockets into the brow., about 5-10mm in. Once the gaurd is back on you can glue the pins (  I would use a flat headed nail for this ) through the dome into the brow you can get a metal epoxy putty which can also be used, this can all be hidden from the inside if you can try and keep the pins as tight as possible into the brow holes
The next if you can and if there is room put another hidden rivet next to the one holding it on, I would again use a flat headed nail for this , drill through both brow and dome counter sink a little into the brow then put nail through cut of excess and peen over. Then file/sand down to hide rivet  hope this is of help, if anyone has another method please post  otherwise good luck Romvivs
Regards Brennivs

[Romulus]

I finally got the fastners on the cheek pieces done, I used 1/4" steel rod since it was as close to 7mm as they had.
The metal was annealed over night in charcoal, everything was done using a file and my chepo drill press as a mill.
I'll try soldering the brow guard, will go pick up a map torch. will silver solder be very roman or should something mostly tin be used?

[brennivs - tony drake]

Excellent job well done, I would think on the use of silver solder not that it is wrong have you the means to polish out the heat mark? The heat range for s/ solder is 550- 700 degrees, lead soldering is 235-300 degrees, tinning paste will do the job the type used on auto body work and is water based. Once done you could Finnish with a little solder to to thcken the joint up for a good finish. Wished I could find the helmet that shows the solder mark, if memory serves me it is on a bronze IMP Italic helmet anyway good luck I have no doubt you will do a cracking job 
Regards Brennivs

[Romulus]

Well I was finally able to get back to work on my helmet 

I decided against soldering and replaced the rivets holding the brow guard, there just wasnt enough rivet on the back to make it tight no matter how how much it was peened.
now its firmly attached and dosent swivel up and down even if pulled on with some force.

on the cheeck plates the hinges were bent outward and the middle part of the E? were rolled in a bit.

Is there anything else that should be done?

   
   
   

[brennivs - tony drake]

Wow well done Shawn   you have fixed the probblems I cannot see any others, I am glad you did not use heat on the helmet and the new rivets have done the trick.
Regards Brennivs