Lineol, Elastolin etc. 1930's composition toy soldier display.

 Another display has recently made it to the shelves, this time 1930's Composition figures in combat poses, mostly made in Germany but also from France Belgium and Czechoslovakia.

On the left the tinplate vehicles crossing the bridge (Kubelwagen and Schwimmwagen) were made in Czechoslovakia by Gonio in 1992, they are 1/24th scale to match most German composition figures.  They are extremely well detailed with opening doors, folding windshield and accessories such as tools and weapons.  These two Axis vehicles came in different paint schemes for the European theatre, Afrika Korps and Medical variants.  There were also vehicles for the Allies; Willy's Jeep with trailer, Dodge Truck and M3 Half Track. 

In the Centre the attack is in full swing, machineguns give covering fire while the infantry charge home against the Allied trenches.

On the left, just in the nick of time reinforcements arrive to bolster the Allied line.  The cavalry and marching infantry to the rear left were made in Belgium by DURSO while the anti-aircraft gun and heavy trench mortar were made by Solido.

The anti-aircraft MG and loader (bottom right foreground) are in a hollow plaster material were made in France by DC - Domage et Cie, probably the most consistent and prolific of French toy soldier manufacturers.  They produced hollow lead figures from the 1920's and Aluminium under the name ALUDO (ALUminium DOmage) from 1937, during the war years 1939 to 1945 they made the figures shown above in plaster composition as metals were unavailable, post war they resumed production in metal until the early 1950's when they began to phase out the hollow lead range replacing it with acetate plastic figures under the name ACEDO (ACEtate DOmage).  The ALUDO and ACEDO ranges continued to be sold together through the 1950's with the aluminium figures being steadily phased out and ACEDO moving into more modern thermoplastics until production ended in the late 1960's.

Allied planes swoop in to straffe the Pioneers using flamethrowers to assault the Allied trenches.  

Support troops, Engineers and Signals get to work behind the assault units while Luftwaffe troops guard the airfield.  The two Fokker Triplanes are modern tinplate tourist items purchased in Greece and probably made in S.E. Asia, they are rather crude models but fit well with vintage composition figures.

Anti-aircraft fire hits one of the British planes and it crashes in No Mans Land (Elastolin made a very dramatic model of a plane crashing but this one is a modern resin aquarium ornament).

The General Staff observe the action and await reports from the front line, the two sturdy looking officers cameoed in the centre of shot were made by Kienel, a minor German maker who produced a range of high quality distinctive figures.

The tinplate machinegun (left foreground) and anti-tank gun (centre) are good examples of the camouflage pattern and colours used by Elastolin in the mid 1930's.

A pair of British infantry by Lineol drag a tinplate cart with machine gun, the officer behind them, scanning the skies with his binoculars was made by DURSO.

Right foreground, the telephone operator (headless!) and prone Officer with binoculars sheltering behind a log are copies of Elastolin poses made in Czechoslovakia by Durolin.  The large Elastolin explosion beyond them originally contained a small bulb fired to a battery to simulate the effect of the blast. 

There are some other composition figure displays to come; Parade and Bandsmen, Mounted, Medical and Campsite, 1920's and earlier, Wild West, Postwar Warsaw Pact, 54mm and Personalities.  It might just take a while to get around to them all.

It's all Greek to me, or Italian.....maybe Rumanian?

 This is a "What are they" post.  I bought a unit of these on ebay because nobody wanted them, so they were dead cheap and I thought they might be useful for something, but looking at them now I'm not sure what they're supposed to be.  I put these two pics up on facebook asking which army they represent and got lots of likes but no answers, not even rude ones! 

The two officers on the left have been converted from Britains hollowcast German infantry by changing the heads and arm, the infantryman marching on the right is a modern white metal casting and has no marking. The officers have green epaulettes and trouser stripe, the infantryman is wearing gaiters and a blanket roll. It would be easy to say French but the uniform isn't quite horizon blue and the Adrian helmet was in widespread use by armies worldwide for decades.

It was only after taking these photos I realised that the paintwork needed quite a bit of touching up, which is fine but there are fourteen of them so I don't really want to get into a whole repaint if I can avoid it.

Can anyone suggest which army they are supposed to represent? I was thinking WW1 Greek or Italian, any other ideas?

The Mad Hatter - so rare he's uniuqe!

 I've had this little fellow for many years, I obtained him in a large junk lot of lead figures at a Phillips Auction in the early 1980's.  I don't know who made him but he's typical of the sort of conversions that members of the BMSS (British Model Soldier Society) had been making from toy figures since the mid 1930's.

He is the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", who was trapped in a perpetual tea party for upsetting Time. I let him out once a year on All Fools Day. 

He is hollow cast lead and is a conversion made from the body of the Charbens Costermonger and the head from Britains Village Idiot, the crown of his hat is the upturned bucket from a zoo keeper (possibly Taylor & Barrett), the brim and his collar are made from metal strip. The price ticket in his hat reads 4/- (four shillings) which is an error because it should be 10/6 (ten shillings and sixpence). 

As a conversion he is a unique piece and I would love to know who made him, sadly whoever it was is probably no longer with us and has left us no indication.  I do wish modellers would leave some mark on their work for posterity but there we are, he remains a charming little character and for some decades has found a safe home among other such curiosities

Medieval figures on display.

 Slowly getting around to putting figures back on display after they had to be packed away for work on the house a few years ago, a change is as good as a rest and it's good to see them out again.

Medieval figures always add a good splash of colour and and these are some of my favourites, lots of conversions and some will get pulled out from time to time to serve in a wargame but mostly their purpose is to please the eye.  

The Playmobil ship is crewed by Einar and his men from "The Vikings" movie, as portrayed here in plastic by the French firm Ougen, Matt Thair has now produced the set in metal and you can see it here: White Tower Miniatures  

The castle walls and towers are from a Foreign Legion fort gifted to me by another friend Barrie Blood who commissioned it from a chap called John Russell, who exhibited his wargame buildings at the first Plastic Warrior Show and built the Spanish Town shown in the previous post One Hour Wargames - Double Delay

 The fort was built in scale for 54mm toy soldiers and rather large so I solved the storage problem by incorporating it into this display, it should come out without to much difficulty if needed for a wargame.

In the foreground an assortment of figures made in Poland by PZG (Polski Związek Głuchych - The Polish Association of the Deaf), rear right a mounted knight made in Italy by Nardi and Joan of Arc made in France by Starlux.

Two Elastolin siege engines, behind them a group of crossbowmen made in France by RF (Rene Fisher).

Lords and Ladies of the Court, too many to list but included are figures by Elastolin and Starlux with many conversions and also a few chessmen.

More conversions with a resin model of Joan of Arc (mounted) sold in France as a tourist item.

Some folk heroes are dotted around in this corner, including Robin Hood figures made in England by Crescent and Italy by Res Plastics, some of the Wiliam Tell set from REAMSA of Spain (Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.- Moulded Artificial Resins Ltd.) and yet another Joan of Arc on foot which is a Starlux conversion.

In another corner the musicians and jesters strike up the band.  The larger yellow jester was made in Germany by Heinerle, Manurba, Domplast (take your pick) the smaller one beside him is a ceramic knick knack and the seated piper is a shepherd boy made by Elastolin.

In the foreground a group of crossbowmen made by Res Plastics and offered in Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, there are four figures each with different styles of armour, pavise and bows.

In the foreground various footmen made by Starlux, behind them Edward The Black Prince is a Starlux conversion made by Vince Mattocks and the mounted knight to his right was made in France by Guilbert.

In the tower are three figures from the Alexander Nevsky set made in Russia at the Progress factory in Moscow, I bought these at the second Plastic Warrior Show back in 1987 from a chap who was importing figures made in the old Iron Curtain countries, I think he was the only dealer at the show that year.  To the right of the standard bearer is the portrait figure of Albrecht Gessler from the William Tell set made in Spain by REAMSA (Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.- Moulded Artificial Resins Ltd.), this is the later reissue made by Oliver.

You can never have enough archers, the front row kneeling are Starlux behind them are mostly figures by Rene Fisher.

Books at Christmas - Die Zinnlaube

 Several books arrived over the holiday period, so here are the new additions:

Die Zinnlaube started life as a magazine and is the; Journal of the German society  "Collectors of Old Toy Figures" but has become an annual publication and is now more of a book, this is volume 15.  Printed as a limited edition of just 200 copies, 140 pages (incl. cover), illustrated in full colour throughout, text in German and English, it costs 15 euro plus postage.  

The coverage is very much German centric and aimed at the top tier (i.e. expensive) end of the hobby, mostly early tin flats and solid lead figures, rather out of my league but always fascinating to see some different and unusual toy soldiers.

contents of this issue include:

Prince Murat and the French General Staff of 1870 

The Fire Brigade made by Spenkuch

Female Colonels-in-Chief as toy figures, 

The toy soldier workshop of Christian Wollrath, 

Spanish General Espartero made by Sohlke, 

Solferino - two testimonies of playing with tin soldiers in the 19th century, 

The Little Wars of Fieldmarshal August von Mackensen and his toy soldiers.

There is now a website for Die Zinnlaube where you can download the first three issues as PDFs for free, buy back issues and subscribe.