Just convert it to png or something.My guess is that the one who made the texture didn't pay attention to the first(?) colour in the index to be transparent.You have this on quite a bit of the textures.For converting images I usually use XnView. It can read a lot of formats, is quite easy to use and you can batch convert (yay!). Oh, and it's free.So basically everything I need.
not necessarily - might just be a plastic wrap.
Err, just noticed something else on the soda cans. The side textures only repeat three times. Should be four, to match the can tops.