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How I made a WWII D Ration Unit Perfectly Clear!!


rambob
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In the past I made up a clear K Ration, a C Ration B Unit and a C Ration M unit for a militaria display I put together a few years ago and there was a lot of interest in it. All of the contents are original, but put into a clear container to show the insides, and all the while protecting them. Before anyone screams too loud, the B Unit I used for this was really in bad shape, with a dented and rusted can. I am including a link to my original post for these three rations for reference.

 

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/236753-how-i-made-a-wwii-c-ration-b-and-m-unit-perfectly-clear/&tab=comments#comment-1934815

 

Well, the last hold out for my “Make in Perfectly Clear” ration collection was a D ration bar. So having found the time during this Crapola Virus, I decided to tackle the project. The hardest part was to find a reproduction chocolate bar to go into the clear box. No one really makes an accurate dimension bar representation, because all of the repop bars I found are not even close to the real dimensions. I did find a company that does make a mold for the bar if you want to make your own bar out of chocolate, but I wanted to use brown wax. I bought the mold for $12 and tried to use wax in it, but it melted and deformed due to the heat of the wax. I should have submerged the mold in cool water while I was molding, which I believe would have worked. So to make a long story short, I ended up making the bar out of 3/4 in. thick pine wood. I found a drawing on the web with all of the bar dimensions and with my wood working skills and tools, I was able to make a dead nuts perfect bar for my D Rat. I painted it with Krylon Satin Expresso brown spray paint and afterwards it looked good enough to eat!! BTW. I used my Dremel mototool, with a milling bit to make the grooves in the bar, which was the trickiest part. I cellophaned the bar using my wife’s iron to seal the seams. WARNING WILL ROBINSON!! Put a folded piece of copier paper between the iron face and the cellophane, when melting the seams and keep the heat level about halfway on the iron. Failure to do this will result in, melted cellophane all over the face of the iron and your wife soundly kicking your butt!!

 

Lastly, I made the box out of a thin, stiff, plastic sheet that I had around the house. Obviously, it must be thin enough to be able to fold it, but stiff enough to hold it’s shape. Glue gun the seams after inserting the bar and you are good to go. But wait, how did Rambob get that beautiful label on the box. Unfortunately, if I tell you I may need to kill you, but here goes. Using Powerpoint I came up with the perfect and perfectly sized label for my D Rat box. I printed it out on paper and went to the Fed Ex store with a few sheets of old school, clear, transparency sheets. They copied my label onto the sheets using a LASER copier, NOT an ink jet copier. I then cut the clear label to shape and using a glue stick, glued it OVER the clear box I had made. The glue stick starts out purple but turns invisible as it dries. I labeled ALL of my rations using this method, which I am very proud of developing.

 

Bob

 

Regards,

Bob

D Ration Top and side.jpg

D Ration Top.jpg

D Ration Side.jpg

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That looks great.

 

These are a different shape then the tropical no melt bars? 
 

Which do taste like wax.

 

I knew an 82nd AB vet who filled up every space he could with Clark Bars to make the Holland jump.

 

They had wrappers the color of the House or Orange and he didn’t like GI chocolate.

 

Were these bars also as strong as wood like the tropical bars?

 

The story about the 4 Dutch boys trying to split a 3 way tropical bar that was hard as a rock, it cannot be done!

 

Very nice job and I’m sure there will be demand.

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