Hello. I am new here and wish express my appreciation for all the advice and information that you all provide to newbies. It is very helpful and quite illuminating.

When I first saw the picture of the painted helmet there immediately sprang to mind the paint schemes employed by fighter piliots (especially WWI). It always seemed to me there were advantages and disadvantages to this. It would certainly help in identifying friend from foe and so make friendly fire (bashing?) less likely. On the other hand enemies could pick you out rather easily and if one or more had an axe to grind with the person so marked would provide a nice target to zero in on.

I wonder if such schemes were employed solely on an individual basis or did whole units use them? I would think that particularly in medieval times when one's fealty was to a particular lord such identification would be very useful in seeking rallying points or comrades to guard your back in the melee. It would also enable friends to locate comrades in need of help and to move to his/their position. I would also think that fairly bright colors would be more the norm as you would want them to stand out as much as possible in the dust and confusion of battle. To use the helmet for this is perfectly sensible as it can be seen from all directions and being the highest point on a man is most visible.

All in all I'd say your project is both nice to look at and makes perfect sense.

Welcome Sean, and thank you!

Looks outstanding Patrick! The blue and white mix in colors makes ya look young ;) BTW the chainmail looks great too in the original pic seeing it closeup