Introduction:

At the beginning of World War I, soldiers were only issued with cloth and leather caps designed to protect them against saber cuts. When trench warfare began, number of casualties suffering from severe head wounds caused by gunfire, shrapnel bullets and shell fragments increased dramatically, since the head was typically the most exposed part of the body when in a trench. French were the first to see a need for more head protection in late 1915 and they began to issue Adrian helmets to their troops. British and Commonwealth troops followed with the Brodie helmet and Germans with the Stahlhelm. Design of Stahlhelm was carried out by Dr.Friedrich Schwerd and was first introduced into regular service during the Verdun campaign in early 1916. In contrast to the Hadfield steel used in the British Brodie helmet, Germans used a harder martensitic silicon/nickel steel. As a result, and also due to the helmet's form, the Stahlhelm had to be formed in heated dies at a greater unit cost than the British helmet, which could be formed in one piece. Different Stahlhelm designs are named for their year of introduction like M18 for 1918, M35 for 1935, etc.

Some changes and additions were made to Stahlhelm in years and the last wartime upgrade to the standard helmet took place on 6 July 1942. The M42 Stahlhelm design was a result of wartime demands. The rolled edge on the shell was eliminated, creating an unfinished edge along the rim. This edge slightly flared out, along the base of the skirt. The elimination of the rolled edge expedited the manufacturing process and reduced the amount of metal used in each helmet and also the cost of helmet. Shell paint colors were typically matte gray-green for Army or gray-blue for Luftwaffe. Decals were eliminated in 1943 to speed up production and reduce the helmet's combat visibility.

M42 WW II German Steel Helmet - Stahlhelm (LRE-35278) from Live Resin includes six German World War II M42 Steel helmets.

Review:

The set is enclosed in a folded cardboard cover showing information and 3D illustrations of the content on both sides. Parts are inserted into a transparent zip-lock bag stapled to the cover.
There are six 1/35 scale,cast in grey resin M42 German helmets in the kit served with casting blocks. There are connector pins inside the helmets and they should be cleaned. Resin quality is very good, casting is clean. No deformation, excess resin to clean or any mistakes on the parts.
Set includes 3 helmets without chinstrap - marked with letter A and 3 helmets with chinstrap on peak / fastened up around the front of helmet - marked as B.

Helmet details like left, right and rear liner rivets, stamped vent holes on both sides, slightly flared out edges and chinstraps in front are well defined.

Conclusion:

This is a nice kit of M42 helmets to display on German vehicles, World War II scenes or replace with existing poor detailed helmets of your figures. They show good details and look realistic.