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 NVG PVS 7/14/15 (LRE-35042).

The set is packed in a zip-lock bag safely secured between a firm cardboard backing. The CAD box art on the front displays all layouts of the helmets 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 helmets and a casting block including 6 NVG PVS mounts... 12 parts in total. The pieces are molded in grey resin and the cast is perfect: there are no air-bubbles or seam lines, only a small amount of super-thin flash around the NVG mounts. Be patient when cleaning the NVG mounts off their carrier block as those are very delicate. The resin carriers on the helmets are quite big and should be removed carefully since the carrier connection point goes inside the helmet shell.

The PASGT helmets in this set are sculpted in 3 slightly different configurations (2 helmets for each configuration). All helmets are fitted with a helmet camouflage cover and a night vision device mounting bracket on the front. Additionally, one pair of helmets features an elastic band around them, while the other pair features Norotos Strap Clip System. The Strap System enables secure NVG attachment to helmets not drilled for NVG shrouds and includes a nylon strap with ratcheting tension device that adjusts the fit to accommodate all helmet shell sizes. The NVG Helmet Mount assembly allows the attachment of the AN/PVS night vision systems directly to the front of the PASGT. The mount incorporates standard flip-up/flip-down capability, allowing the user to move the NVG up and out of the way. The mounts included in this kit depict the mount in its flipped-up setup. The tiny pieces fit perfectly to the helmet NVG mount bracket.

Live Resin managed to depict the characteristic shape of PASGT helmet really well in scale. Helmet covers feature nicely rendered folds and the details of cover button holes are sculpted to perfection. The details on the Norotos Strap Clip are also wonderfully executed. The NVG mount brackets look really good and feature indentation which accepts the NVG brackets included in the set without any problems. If you wish to add the complete night vision system to these helmets, Live Resin offers both PVS-14 Monocular (LRE-35026) and PVS-15 Binocular (LRE-35027), which were previously reviewed on Armorama. Finally, I tried these PASGT helmets on Live Resin US Army head sets (LRE-35067 and LRE-35068) and found a great fit.

Externally, PASGT helmet is almost identical 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. So, if you are thinking of using this set with current USMC figures, I see no problems in that.

Conclusion

This accessory set features PASGT helmets in 1/35 scale. The set consists of 6 helmets in 3 slightly different configurations and 6 night vision system mounts. The differences between helmets in the set are minimal, but still offer a nice variety to the standard PASGT helmet. As with all Live Resin sets reviewed so far, this too displays a perfect cast with well defined and accurate details. Although featuring an older style helmet which is no longer a standard issue in US Armed Forces, the use of this helmet set is not limited to figures depicting US soldiers in the 1980s. Due to identical shape to Lightweight Helmet, these PASGT helmets could be used with figures depicting US Marine Corps in current Middle Eastern conflicts.

Thanks to Yaroslav from Live Resin for this review sample.

Reference

Global Security
Operation Helmet