Learning to Play Violin

A few days ago I was browsing YouTube and happened upon a violin maker and repairman and found the subject of violins to be compelling.  These tiny instruments are made of Maple and topped with Spruce and even those two or three hundred years old can still sound beautiful.  Famous brands like Stradivarius sell for millions of dollars, even though very old.  Antonio Stradavari, the maker, died in 1737.  About 650 Stradavarius violins still exist and are sought after by collectors who are rich enough to buy one as an investment.  Great violinists seek to play them whenever they are offered the chance.  

Intrigued, I bought a beginner violin off of  EBay, a German 4/4 full size violin made of Maple and have been slowly getting it, and myself, ready to operate the instrument.

My first tasks were to rosin the bow and tune the strings.  Rosin is something like tree sap that is rubbed on the horsehair of the bow, otherwise the bow cannot make any sound.  The rosin grips the strings and makes them sound when the bow is drawn across them.

The second task was to tune the strings.  Seeing how thin violin strings are, I became worried about breaking a string if I tuned it too tight.  So I bought an electronic tuner from Adobe and proceeded with caution.  Now the violin is tuned.  The next task is to make nice sounds with the bow, then start practicing scales.  It should be fun and there is plenty of videos on YouTube to educate me in each task.

Nazi Helmet Restoration Progress: the Stripped Helmet

I have spent several days this week stripping my German M40 of paint and rust.  The pre-restoration helmet is here.  The stripped helmet is at the left.  (The M40 designation refers to the year the model was created.  World War I helmets included the M16 and M18, and more modern helmets were the M35, M40 and M42.  The differences in the last three models are subtle.)

I notice that the rust remover dissolves the rust, but leaves behind a dark mark where the rust used to be. This can be ground off, but I have neither the time nor patience to do that, and, it isn't necessary.

Next step:  priming the helmet.  I am going to use a Rust-Oleum product that supposedly turns rust into something else that can be painted over.  If any small amounts of rust remain, the Rust-Oleum should kill it and prevent more rust from forming.  I'll give it two coats.

The question is, where can I spray paint my helmet with the primer and later the paint?  I suppose the kitchen table is out of the question.

I have a nice work bench in my garage.  Unfortunately, it is covered with storage boxes.  Maybe I can remove them temporarily.  I have to paint the helmet when my wife is gone for the day, probably on a shopping trip to San Jose.  Otherwise, I will have to paint it under an extreme barrage of nagging, warnings of doom and destruction, and loud verbal expressions of angst, fear, horror and disaster.

Nazi Helmets and the German Army

German Helmet in "Apple Green"

The recent 70th D-Day anniversary caused me to post pictures of German soldiers and their families, from wallets that my uncle took off of dead German soldiers after D-Day.  I also posted pictures of some Nazi artifacts that he brought back, including a black Nazi helmet.  This inspired my interest in Nazi artifacts and history, and made me want to own more of such artifacts.

I love the black helmet that uncle brought back from Normandy, still well preserved after seven decades, but the helmet is not a combat helmet.  It is a civilian police helmet.  It is in the standard M-34 Nazi helmet shape, but the steel is is a lighter gauge, and it has a different kind of vent holes.  Why my uncle picked this helmet among the thousands available, I do not know.  In any case, I have always wanted a Nazi battle helmet.  Why?  Just curiosity, I suppose, or a desire to own a piece of history.  In any case, I have been scouring the internet for sources of such helmets.  A well preserved German army helmet can be prohibitively expensive, so I have been looking for bargains.

Uncle's German Police Helmet

I notice that EBay does not allow any pictures of Nazi helmets or other artifacts that display the swastika.  This seems rather stupid -- what, are people who see it going to turn into pillars of salt?  Ridiculous.  However, European countries have outlawed the display of any swastikas, so no doubt EBay has to comply with their laws if it wants to do business in Europe.

So far I have bought three helmets.  Ironically, one is another police helmet, authentic and identical to the one I already have.  Another is a reproduction of the M-35 German combat helmet, my favorite model, painted in German field gray, the most typical color. It has the proper liner and chin strap, and I will use it for reference.  A third is an actual German M-40 model helmet, but it was repainted black after the war and used as a civil defense helmet in Czechoslovakia.  It has minor rust spots, the liner is wrong, may have come from another type of helmet.  I intend to strip it of paint and rust, and spray paint it in early war apple green, with double decals, one on each side of the helmet.  I have also ordered a replacement (reproduction) inner liner.

Last night I watched a film about the Battle of Kursk, Russia.  I was interested because Kursk is where "my Nazi," Corporal Franz Schmid, was killed.  Schmid's life and mine intersect only in a very oblique way:  his photo and death notice were in one of the wallets my uncle retrieved at Normandy.  Before last week I had never heard of the Battle of Kursk, but it was an intense fight, probably the greatest tank battle in history.  Hitler, his big fat ego punctured by the German loss at Stalingrad, was eager for revenge on the Russians.  The Battle of Kursk was to reverse his fortunes on the Eastern front, and inflict heavy damage on the Russian army.  However, the Russians kicked his butt in a serious way, largely destroying his armored divisions, and put Hitler into a steadily deteriorating, defensive position.

In my opinion, Adolph Hitler was a fool, a lousy military leader who wasted his splendid military by overreaching (his invasion of Russia was particularly stupid) smashing his armies against the brick wall of impossible goals, in a do-it or die bravado.  They didn't do it, and a great many died.