Restoration of a German Camouflage Helmet

[mjn]

did you do it in an enclosure, or just worked on small patches at a time?

pzjgr, I did it in very small sections at a time. Doing it all at once in an enclosure would have harmed the original paint. Testing indicated that too much exposure to the solvent vapors would have softened the paint layer, making it soluble, and the varnish would have reformed on the surface making it more difficult if not impossible to remove. There was only a short window of time available for me to work a small section and peel away the varnish after it had separated from the paint layer.