Toy soldiers and real battles

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Wehrmacht parade in Berlin

Wehrmacht parade of Elastolin and Lineol composition soldiers at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, 30s.

Yossi Lemel anti-war posters (2005)

Yossi Lemel was born in 1957 in Jerusalem Israel. He graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, where he later became a professor. He has had 18 solo exhibitions and has acted as a jury member in numerous biennials around the world, including Moscow, Paris, Venice and Mexico City.

eMuseum.ch

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Belgian RAF pilots

Between June 1 1940 and May 8 1945, 521 Belgian officers served as pilot or navigator in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 128 were killed. Overall, 1,200 Belgians served in the RAF during the course of the Second World War. Many were also trained in the South African Air Force SAAF, and consequently took part in the operations in Africa. These composition pilots were produced by Belgian toy soldier companies : NB, Durso and Solido in 40s/50s. The soldier with a radio station was produced by Leyla for the Arnold Jeep.

Gendarmerie askari (Scale 7 cm)

The gendarmerie askari made by an unknown maker...

Unknown makers of composition soldiers: Schusso

Georg Schuster's company "Schusso" started producing composition soldiers in 1931. Initially, the manufacturing process was similar to the processes implemented by Leyla and Froha - the oven-dried compacts were deburred and painted at home. In 1937, however, G. Schuster acquired the rights to a special manufacturing process that was practical became the forerunner of today's injection molding process. The manufactured thereby pellets had to be air dried. The rapidly expanding company was completely off track by the war thrown: Schuster was drafted into military service in 1939. In 1943, the company premises were confiscated for the war efforts. Georg Schuster died in Soviet captivity in 1945.