U.S. bedny WWII

Cargo as a filler of space

Empty area is the greatest enemy of any setting. The corners of a tent, the floor of a bed, the space under a shelter and the shelves in a depot all want filling with something, and a row of crates is the quickest means to that. The sheet covers American supply packaging of the Second World War period and brings it with finished color printing, markings and shading.

What the paper version does better than a casting

A cast crate is strong, but there are few of them in a package. With a printed sheet the logic is the other way round: the pieces can be laid out, assembled in any number and as many of them fitted into a scene as you need. They are also easy to shorten or narrow when a crate has to fit a particular place. The drawback is less durability, which is solved by stiffening them from the inside.

Where it comes into its own best

The ideal places are those where only part of an object is visible: crates tipped under a sheet, lined up behind a driver's seat, stacked around the wall of a tent or pushed up against the doors of a store. It is exactly there that the paper origin cannot be told, while the impression of quantity is immediate.

• assemble at least three pieces of different size, so that a heap does not look machine-made
• glue the bottom layer down firmly and the top one only once the whole is in position
• mark the folds in advance with a blunt point, and the printing will not crack
• use a pencil of the matching tone on the cut edges

The contents are a flat material; the three-dimensional shape only comes about through your work.