1:35 U.S.Tlakové láhve-moderní

Cylinders you recognize by the color of the neck

A gas cylinder is one of the few objects on which color is not arbitrary. The color coding of the neck determines the contents, and a workshop, a repair vehicle or an engineer post cannot do without it. The present-day American version has a fairly slender body, a pronounced neck ring and a protective cap over the valve. Fifty-nine parts mean that the set is not aimed at one or two cylinders stood in a corner but at a whole support area.

Etched metal bends differently from wire

This is the most important thing to realize about the package. An etched part is rolled sheet with a groove etched where the bend goes, and so it breaks exactly where it should, but only once. Repeated straightening tires it in the groove and the part cracks. It is therefore bent in one movement over a sharp edge, ideally in a bender or between two blades. Wire behaves the other way round: it has no prescribed place of bending, it can be shaped gradually and it takes correction, but it will never hold a right angle as cleanly as etched metal. A chain on a gas cylinder therefore comes from the fret, whereas a freely hanging hose is better made from wire or from fine cable.

Preparing metal for paint

An etched fret comes greasy and smooth from production. Without degreasing and without a primer the covering coat will peel off it at the first touch of tweezers. The castings are also washed before painting, because release agent from the mold stays on them.

Where the set belongs

It comes into its own most at a welding station, in a garage, at a field repair shop and on the bed of a supply vehicle. A group of cylinders with a stand and a chain tells of work going on at the spot better than any further machine in the scene.