Lineol & Elastolin – Early “Bio-Drones” of the 1930s 🕊️🕊️🕊️

These vintage Lineol and Elastolin composition figures, produced in Germany in the 1930s, show soldiers operating messenger pigeons from a camouflaged field position. Long before the digital age, trained pigeons played a crucial role in battlefield communication, reconnaissance, and message delivery. Seen through a modern lens, these pigeons can almost be viewed as the original “bio-drones” — living, autonomous carriers used to gather or transmit information where radio silence or reliability was critical.

Wehrmacht Soldiers by Kienel (Germany), 1930s 🪖🪖🪖🔥🔥🔥

A dynamic combat scene featuring German composition soldiers produced by Kienel in the 1930s. These figures show typical Kienel characteristics: expressive poses, solid modelling, and hand-painted details. The bunker is also a Kienel product, typical of the firm’s 1930s battlefield accessories.

Imperial German Army – Paper Soldiers (c. 1900) 🏰🏰🏰⚔️⚔️⚔️

A wonderful display of Deutsches Heer paper soldiers produced by Luxus Papierfabrik, Berlin, around 1900. Printed in vivid colours on sturdy card, these figures depict infantry, cavalry (including hussars and chevaulegers), and artillerymen in pre-WW1 Imperial uniforms.

7.5 cm Ski Troops – Lineol, Elastolin & NB (1930s) ❄️❄️❄️⛷️⛷️⛷️🎿🎿🎿

A small winter scene featuring classic 7.5 cm composition skiers produced in the 1930s by the well-known German makers Lineol and Elastolin, as well as the Belgian manufacturer NB. A very atmospheric set that illustrates how European toy companies of the 1930s depicted alpine and winter warfare.

WW1 German Army soldiers produced by Manz

WW1 German infantry in field-grey tunics with red piping, pickelhaube helmets, puttees, and brown boots. Sharing a small group of early First World War German composition soldiers (7.5-8 cm) produced by Manz in Germany during 1914–1918.

Red Army Winter Troops by Salpa (Lucca, Italy), 1940s–50s ❄️❄️❄️

Here is a small but very striking group of Red Army composition 8 cm soldiers produced by Salpa, a lesser-known Italian maker active in Lucca in the 1940s–50s. Salpa figures are instantly recognisable for their hand-modelled poses, warm colour palette, and thick, durable composition material typical of the immediate postwar Italian toy industry. These three soldiers are clearly sculpted for a winter campaign setting. The long greatcoats with fur trim, ushanka-style caps with red stars, and heavy boots all point toward depictions inspired by the Winter War (1939–40) between the USSR and Finland, or early WWII Eastern Front scenes.

Hausser Elastolin Nationalsozialisten catalog 1933

These pages come from the 1933 Hausser/Elastolin catalog, issued during the early period of the National Socialist regime in Germany. The catalog illustrates a full range of composition figures produced by Hausser/Elastolin. 

 Please use the link below to download the pdf catalog (4 pages, 2.4 Mb):