That’s a Mermite can. It’s an insulted food container.
That is a mermite can. Used to transport hot food to troops in the field. There are 3 smaller containers that go inside it. It is made of aluminum, the inside is unpainted.
In service the get pretty beat up.
Ken
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have no idea how many were actually built, but you saw them in just about every CAV Troop. Yes they were a ticking bomb, but you learned to deal with it. I may have saw two blown up in my 15 months, so that isn’t all that bad. I saw far more mortar tracks taken out than zippos. They usually came in towards the end of the column, but never at the rear. They were never used in the recon platoon in my area, but would come forward when called upon. Same with mortar tracks.
A zippo once parked was soon surrounded with a chain link fence, and as I said before parked over to one side most of the time. Unlike the other tracks; the crews almost always dug in thirty or forty feet away from the hull. Most everybody else dug in under the track. If there was high ground near it they would park a 48 or a Sheridan with a field of fire directly out from it. One “can round” was usually all that was needed to keep the bad guys away
gary
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I really like the decals you’ve selected. One thing I don’t see is a silver Igloo water container. Gets real hot out in the bush!
gary
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ammo boxes and Merimite cans were most always O.D. green. You saw them every once in awhile on the back of a track, but not usually. The mess sargent made sure he got them back later in the day. Never saw one with the inside containers! Normally they tried to start out the day with a hot meal, but if not then it may never get there. Evening is too late to be flying, and your too busy in the day time. Still if you logger up at around four in the afternoon (rare), then you might get a hot evening meal. Most of the time it was good old C-Rats. Water usually came out in a wheeled tank trailer (flown out), but we often got water in a Blivit. Normally when they brought fuel out in Blivits, they added the water tank or blivit. That’s when you’d also see the Merimite cans handed off. When they returned to pick up the tank or blivits, you handed off the Merimite cans. If you’re lucky, you might see a dozen cases of beer & soda with the Merimite cans. That’s also when the mail came, and that was much more important than a hot meal
gary
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I thinking about adding some battle damage… would regular bullets make dents or anything?
Looks great. Small arms will chip it and make small nicks. The M113 was designed to stop up to .50 cal. and small shrapnel from blasts, arty shells or mines, both at a distance, not a direct hit.
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I have always liked the dusty red coating you often see, but in the rainy season it will usually be much browner in color. If the track has been rolling on Highway One, it may even have a white dusty look to it as they used a lot of lime stone gravel on Highway One. You had to get ten or fifteen miles out to see pure dirt roads again. Once you got off Highway One it was a mixture of pea gravel and dirt (usually red). If you’re breaking jungle; the mud will be a dark brown or even black. In the dry season it gets kinda arid like, and pretty dusty (real dusty!). Directly on the coast will get you a light tan color (sand like). A good rule of the thumb is that if they are farming the area, there will be much darker earth.
ACAV’s are well known for silver scratches down their sides (no rust). Then there are the painted areas to cover the scratches. They most always will be a little darker in color (the color of O.D. also varied from batch to batch). Remember the paint faded real bad from the top down. I’ve seen faded so bad that you could see bare metal under it
gary
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Just don’t overdo it 
H.P.
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