Hi everyone. This is my first post. I'm working on a diorama, however I think my question belongs here as it about equipment, rather than technique. I'm doing a scene with a 2.5 ton truck and the scene I picture is the truck surrounded by lots of tools as the crew work on a repair job. What I would like to know is what color were Oxy bottles in Vietnam. Did the US use some sort of color coding for the bottles? And (now my lack of knowledge comes through) were those Oxy bottles ever full of other stuff. (I dont mean chemicels or any such nonsense) and colored differently. I like this forum, it has already helped me a lot. Thanks for your expertise. Happy modelling. Paul.

As I remember the painting instructions for the M-88, the O2 containers were green, and going back many years to my EMT training, I think the color of such canisters have been starndardized to make identification easy in an emergency or disaster situation, wit o2 always being a particular shade of green.

Almost all oxygen bottles I've ever seen have been that flat Kelly green color. The new M88A1 I got in on Wednesday has an oxygen bottle painted overall forest green like the exterior of the vehicle. The Army had been following standard industry practices of yellow acetylene bottles and green oxygen bottles since OSHA has entered the motor pools.

I'm sure it was a "I'm too lazy to take it off let's just paint over it" situation.

No, the M88 I just got was brand new and delivered straight from the depot. Most of the BII was crated and brand new too. Some was stored in the proper positions like the tow cables, and the cables were not over painted either.