Let's just take a step back for a moment.

Why is it hard believing otherwse?

How do you know they are made from HDPE and ABS?

What proof do you have?

Interesting point Paul.

I have researched HDPE for a long time and it doesn't appear that this shade has been or is a stock colour from what I have found so far. but it is hard to check records going back that far. I have spoken to pretty much every plastic supplier in the UK and no-one (even the old boys!) had heard of a stock colour HDPE in this particular shade.

You are right in that is has crept into the public contiousness and never really been questioned.

Cool discussion....

Joe

Ps: Do you think AA is lying or mistaken about a large order of ABS that he placed?

If the helmets weren't HDPE then they were definitely PP or something similar in the same family. All these plastics are only separated by a couple of chemicals.
As for the white ABS that's just what AA told me. ABS was relatively new back in the 70's so it might well be different from the stuff we all know now?

I have a piece of the original Khaki plastic so I do know what it feels like. As for exactly what kind of plastic it is? HDPE was a guess as it feels the same as the plastic milk bottles are made from.

I don't claim to know everything and as I've said I'm all up for education.
So Paul what plastics do you think were used?

Also Paul,
If I took offense at what you said, then sorry. It just sounded like you were directing your "knowing nothing" statement at me as you included the AA dig in the same paragraph.
We are good.

I would just like to learn more and people always are good at saying that we are wrong without explaining why or giving us something else to go on.

Yeah well I guess we dont have proof really.I didnt mean any offense to what your saying either,I was just a little shocked that we all may be wrong.They definetly look and act like HDPE and ABS but as you say we have no difinitive proof.Man I would have loved to be in your shoes and see that suit...

No offence taken.

I am just trying to show that everything we know (or think we know) is all second hand information and that we go by what we are told. I am no different. We listen to those who have owned or handled original pieces and all we can do is go by what they tell us.

Another thing to consider is those people may not be experts on materials and assume they are made from a certain material based on the general concensus. Even I cannot say 100% what they were made of but I can take an educated guess, seeing how I have vac formed most of the common thermoplastics available today.

Most interesting discussion.

Agreed

Cheers

A

so what would your guess be then paul ?

There are some interesting more points if we took a look wider:

The HDPE normaly it's uncolored so it make sense why it's so hard to find in this khaki green.
We can see that they use a kind of red primer at the real ones, but the paint does even so fall off very easy as we see on the refpics.
Cause of the fact of the easy off falling paint on the real helmet's, it would be a point for HDPE, cause it has a very oily surface.And oil is not a big friend of paint.
That would be a nice question to Paul,
Was the helmet you hold in your hands also oily after this years?

And if the armors may got painted , why the paint there doesn't fall off after so much bending and moving in this suits?
I not think they had this kind of very flexi paints as we have it now.

The helmet felt a lot like my PP helmet. It had that distinctive feel of PP, but could easily have been HDPE or LDPE as they are all close relatives.

It was also very thick and not paper thin. My guess is standard 3mm was used to make the original helmets. It stands to reason really when you think about it. AA would hardly be making fish ponds from such a thin material. From personal experience, HDPE or PP does not stretch evenly like ABS and can thin quite excessively. If the fish ponds were made from a thin guage plastic then they would end up being as thin as shopping bags (which is what some areas of my PP helmets were like). It may be a different story using a professional machine to form HDPE, but either way, this helmet was thick and sturdy.

Lucky you got to handle the original!

That makes sense as the stock colours for PPand LDPE are much close to the beige/green. Interesting on the thickness Paul.

Awesome information and thank you for sharing.

It makes a certain persons helmets less accurate!

LOL that is exactly what I was thinking too .

Thanks for the info Paul!

Cheers

A

Great info guys

Dont tell him that