1:35 Plechovky na olej

The small things that give away that repairs were being done here

You recognize a repair post by the mess. Cans lie about around the machine, some stand lined up against the wall, one lies tipped over under the engine and another is there to catch whatever is leaking out of the transmission. Scattered small items like these do a scene an enormous service, because they fill the floor without hiding the main subject of the view. Twenty-five pieces is a quantity with which a really large area can be covered.

The set carries twenty-five resin castings and a decal sheet, with which company marks and lettering are transferred onto the cans. It is the printing that raises a simple cylinder into a particular product, and it is the quickest way to give small parts conviction without laborious painting.

Where to place them so that it does not look random

• on a workbench beside a dismantled component
• in a row against the wall, where full cans were stored
• tipped over and dented pieces among the scrap behind the building
• on the step of a vehicle, where the crew had them to hand

With metal cans, the sheen is what counts. A completely flat surface looks like plastic, so it pays to finish with a semi-matte varnish and to suggest worn metal only on the edges. Keep the decal on a smooth, glossy surface; on a rough one it will tear. The rendering matches 1:35 scale. Leave a few cans lying on their sides and tread one into the mud, because a lined-up row with not a single exception always gives away that a bag of parts was tipped out.