Toy helicopter from Manila, made from cooking oil can, 1982-1983.

This model is a child's toy helicopter made from cooking-oil cans. Jon Vogler, a consultant for OXFAM in the late 1970s and early 1980s, travelled widely during this time finding ingenious uses for so-called waste materials all over the world. Empty oil cans were particularly versatile - one ended up being converted into this exhibit. The maker of the toy punched the wheels out of tyre-tread rubber, which itself had been used as the sole of a shoe, and threaded them onto a piece of wire. Even with such basic tools and scrap source materials, the shape of the helicopter is completely convincing. This is perhaps unsurprising given the long association between the Philippines and the United States Air Force bases accommodated there.