Building cabinet out of old army crate (what was in it?)

[From_Hamsterdam]

i found this in the shed when replacing the benches i don't know where my dad got it from.
I was wondering what was in it? the only markings are
'RMWC C2351 1942'
it is about just over 1m long 30 cm wide about 15cm deep was painted a dark green





Any way, i thought it would make a cool soda cabinet or spud gun case.
Standing it up right would make a good little booze cabinet just add some adjustable shelves, soda and various drinking implements e.g. cups, shot glasses, funnel.
on the other hand having one or two rocket launcher style spud guns would look very cool in it, especially if i could get some black foam cut out to fit the guns and ammo. i think shooting a spud gun would be more fun after taking it out of a case like this (i don't know why it just would)

I was wondering how rust free it has to be before i paint it? (if there is any metal under the rust) right now i am removing all the flakes/lose rust and as much paint as possible.
I also can't decide on what color to paint it a traditional olive green or a camo pattern. or all black with the indented bits a metallic color or all metallic paint. or keep the rusted hunk of crap look
your opinions?

[Hotwired]

Sand it all off and paint it green again, camo doesn't seem to look right on things like boxes.

[Ragnarok]

I agree with Hotwired - get a proper olive green paint, and just do it all in the one colour, camo would look rather silly.

[Spitfire]

Google says:

Acronym - Definition
RMWC - Randolph-Macon Woman's College (Virginia)
RMWC - Respected Mature Women with Class/Confidence (Randolph-Macon Woman's College)

It could be some sort of munitions case. If you can find out where your dad got it, or whose it was

[jrrdw]

As for the rust, it must be sanded to bear metal and primed.

As for some of the content of your post, lets set a better example for our younger members, shall we.....

[psycix]

A soda cabinet could be constructed out of any other box in my opinion. Also, I would use a somewhat less in length, but higher in depth crate for that.
This one is quite long and thus good for containing spudguns, though the spudgun would need a detachable barrel or be over/under.
Barrel lenght may be a problem on this one, larger guns dont fit within 1 meter.

[OuchProgramme]

Looks like something a LAW or any other anti-material weapon would be stored in...

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

RMWC - Respected Mature Women with Class/Confidence (Randolph-Macon Woman's College)

Now there's a brigade I wouldn't want to face in combat

Looks like something a LAW or any other anti-material weapon would be stored in...

The "1942" would suggest it's a WW2 relic, but I agree it's some form of ammunition case, it looks like the sort of thing made to take knocks.

[psycix]

It probably held cool stuff someday.

[jr]

if you get rust-o-lium paint all you have to do is just a good wire brushing to remove all the loose stuff!

would be a cool cannon case though...

[starman]

My guess is a weapons chest for the UK Royal Marines. It's about the right length for 6 or so side by side rifles or a .50 cal machine gun and mount setup.

Ammo boxes were much smaller.

Did you find this in Europe?

[STHORNE]

why not something like this?...

[psycix]

Or replace all those cans with pre-cut spud slugs for quick reloading
Though I think it is not very usefull for cans (or potatoes) since its too wide.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

You'd want the cans cold though...

[Hotwired]

The rest of the space would be for ice blocks around the can stack