Introduction

Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT) is an armor system consisting of a combat helmet and a ballistic vest, used by the US military from 1980s.

The PASGT helmet provides ballistic protection from fragmenting munitions to the head, temple, ear and neck areas. The helmet shell is a one-piece composite structure made up of multiple levels of Kevlar aramid fiber, hence the nickname "K-pot" (similar to the colloquial nickname "steel pot" for the older M1 steel helmet). The original chinstrap was a two point design, having an open chin cup and two adjustable buckles and a single snap fastener on the left. The strap was later upgraded to a four point chinstrap and pad suspension system. A helmet cloth cover is available in several camouflage patterns. A band that has two light glow patches on the rear intended to reduce friendly fire incidents is used in conjunction with the cover. Wide variety of add-on accessories for the PASGT helmet is available, including a helmet mount assembly that enables the attachment of night vision goggles (NVG).

The PASGT helmet was replaced in US military service by the Lightweight Helmet (LWH) and Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH) in mid 2000s.

Review

This review covers one of several 1/35 scale releases from Live Resin depicting PASGT helmet: US Army PASGT helmet with cover with Mount Plate NVG PVS 7/14/15 (LRE-35041).

The set is packed in a standard Live Resin way; a zip-lock bag is safely secured between a firm cardboard backing. The CAD box art on the front displays all the parts included in this set, while the one on the back lists Live Resin offerings which can be used to upgrade the basic PASGT helmet configuration.

The set consists of 6 PASGT helmets. The grey resin looks really good and I found no imperfections in the cast. The resin carriers are quite big and should be removed carefully since the carrier connection point goes inside the helmet shell.

All PASGT helmets are depicted with a helmet camouflage cover and a night vision device mounting bracket on the front. The slight variation between helmets is due to an elastic band around them; three helmets feature the band while the other three do not. The characteristic shape of PASGT helmet is represented really well in the set. Helmet covers feature nicely rendered shallow folds and the button hole details are sculpted to perfection. The NVG mount brackets look really good; however note that the NVG brackets in this helmet set are not designed to accept the actual night vision system. If you would like to update your PASGT with NVGs, perhaps you should consider using LRE-35042 set instead. Finally, I tried these helmets on Live Resin US Army head sets (LRE-35067 and LRE-35068) and found a great fit.

One extra thing to note: externally, PASGT helmet is very similar to the new LWH issued to US Marines with the only visible difference being the screw for the chinstrap. However the PASGT helmets in this set all feature camouflage covers and this small difference cannot be seen at all. So, if you are thinking of using this set with current USMC figures, I would say go for it.

Conclusion

Live Resin released number of different sets featuring PASGT helmet in 1/35 scale. The set reviewed here (LRE-35041) features 6 PASGT helmets in two slightly different basic configurations. The changes between the different helmet configurations are minimal, but still offer a nice variety. The resin cast is absolutely wonderful with well defined and accurate details. If you are looking for basic PASGT helmets to upgrade your 1/35 scale modern US Army/USMC figures, look no further... this is the set for you.

Thanks to Yaroslav from Live Resin for this review sample.

References

Global Security
Operation Helmet