Paint a toy soldier and win a car, or two!

 The French take their coffee and their art very seriously, if you have ever doubted this just take a look at the handbills below.  In the 1950's, Mokarex along with several other French coffee manufacturers gave away unpainted plastic model figures as advertising premiums with packets of their coffee.  Collecting the figures and painting them became a national pastime, to such an extent that Mokarex sponsored a painting competition for their figures:

First prize was a Versailles, a luxury saloon car manufactured by Simca, second prize was a Citroen 2CV, which I understand is also some sort of car, the next four runners up each won a television set!  Don't knock it, bear in mind this was 1956, my family didn't get our first tv set until 1963, and even then it was second hand.

Another version of the handbill for the same competition, which was to be judged by a jury made up from members of the Societe des Collectionneurs de Figurines Historiques.

The all important terms & conditions were printed on the reverse of the handbills, for those interested in such things.  For anyone interested in seeing more about these very fine models, known affectionately by the French as figurines publicitaires there is a very good website here: Mokarex

Repairing PZG medievals

For those who might not have come across them before PZG is the Polski Zwiazek Gluchych (Polish Association of the Deaf) and during the Communist regime they used to run employment schemes, one of which was producing toy soldiers.  And extremely good toy soldiers at that, I always pick them up whenever I come across them and I've never been too fussy about condition, these three were long overdue for a bit of attention.

The horn blower had lost his lower legs and base, the other two were just broken off their bases at the ankles, all three had lost their weapons.  They've all had their legs pinned and filled with miliput, the hornist will need a bit more reconstruction, don't know why I put him on a round base instead of oblong though, didn't think that through!

The finished items, I matched the original paint as best I could, the double handed axes are accessories for 28mm figures, made by Fireforge Games, and the crossbow is from the Replicants range of Britains swoppet replacement parts.