1:48 Glasses and Pitchers

A laid table is the fastest way to bring a scene to life

A vehicle or an aircraft forms the skeleton of a scene, but it is the props that say what is going on. Tableware set out on a tabletop means a break, a visit, a celebration or, on the contrary, a place left in haste. The set offers three pitchers, six glasses, six tankards in two shapes and six coasters, so you can lay a whole table and still have some left for a windowsill or a barrel by the wall.

Working with objects the size of a grain

A glass measures a little over three millimeters once reduced. That has two consequences. First, prepare a surface on which nothing will get lost: light paper without fibers, and tweezers with a fine point. Second, forget about painting detail: what counts is the silhouette and the gloss, not the drawing.

Tips that have proved themselves

Clear coat makes the glass. Transparency in this scale is imitated by gloss, not by material. A drop of gloss clear coat on a finished piece does more than the subtlest shade.

The drink inside. A drop of dark amber paint in a tankard with a white line of foam at the rim is enough to make the object readable from half a meter away.

The relation to figures. Seat a container held in a figure's hand so that the fingers lie around the circumference, not under the base. And glue the coasters down only after the containers are placed, otherwise the group drifts apart.

The set does not have to be used all at once. Divide it between several scenes, because two tankards on a barrel by the wall often say more than a full table. And if you are building a field kitchen, leave a few pieces tipped over: disorder reads more naturally than perfect order.