1:35 Jídelní set

Lunch at the field kitchen

A cauldron, a queue with mess tins and a pile of tableware leaning against the side of a truck belong to the scenes that catch the viewer sooner than a carefully shaded tank does. Eating is the one activity everybody can picture, whatever they know about soldiering. A set of twenty-six pieces of utensils allows such a scene to be built in full breadth, from a table with plates laid out to the odds and ends set down on the crates around it.

Twenty-six parts, each one different

The manufacturer's data gives 26 resin parts. With a subject like this the number is crucial, because it is precisely the repetition of the same shape that gives the scene away. A broad assortment, by contrast, lets the tableware be split between several places: some at the issue point, some by the figures, some set aside to be washed. The small pieces can also be used to fill the bed of a truck or a crate of provisions.

• twenty-six separate castings, that is, enough for a whole scene and for small additions elsewhere
• suitable for a military as well as a civilian scene, the tableware does not differ between them
• a gloss varnish on the inside of the vessels suggests a remnant of food or water
• some pieces can be placed upside down, which removes the feeling of being arranged

Painting tableware follows a simple rule: the more varied, the better. Enameled pieces in blue and white, tinware in bare metal with burnt patches and ceramics in a light tone side by side create the impression of a collection gathered gradually in the field. A uniform shade, on the other hand, kills the whole effect.