Doug Miller figures

It was back in 1971, while hitch hiking in Germany, that I discovered the world of the Elastolin figure in a toyshop in Bonn. I was instantly captivated by a stand of 4cm scale plastic models of Landsknechts and Janissaries and promptly bought a batch. I hadn’t seen character and animation like this anywhere, most certainly not in Britain’s or Timpo figures and not even in the white metal collector’s figures, which were beginning to establish themselves at the time.

As a student of German and business studies with a placement in Germany coming up, I took the liberty of applying for a 3 month stint at the Elastolin factory and to my good fortune the company agreed. In the summer of 1972 I turned up at the company’s premises in Neustadt bei Coburg in Bavaria expecting to be employed in the export department. However, the managing director placed me on the top floor of ‘No. 3 Factory’ or ‘Werk 3’, where the figure orders were processed. I couldn’t believe my luck for, although all the figures were boxed up, at the end of the room stood two sacks of breakages - my own personal bottomless pit of conversion material – no prizes for where I spent my break periods!

My time ‘on the third floor’ turned out to be a bit of a life defining moment because my immediate work colleague was Ingeborg Tonn, the wife of Josef Tonn, who was also employed by the company as a diorama maker. Josef, a Sudeten refugee, had been given employment by the company after the War as a labourer in the packing department. I suppose, in the same way that I became drawn towards him so too he must have been drawn to the company studio, where the master sculptors Max Weissbrodt, Rudolf Schrade and Eugen Bauersachs laboured to produce the wax models from which the initial master moulds were made. These would be taken to the toolroom where the injection moulds were machined.

It is generally held that Max Weissbrodt was the creative genius behind the Hausser production of the post war period up until his death in 1972 and it was probably Max Weissbrodt who persuaded the company to offer Josef Tonn a sculpting apprenticeship. Unfortunately, after only one year the company terminated his training apparently dissatisfied with his progress made. So the world was deprived of a great figure modeller, but the modelling community and toy business gained one of the finest ever diorama makers.


The ‘showpiece’ dioramas, which Josef Tonn made, were sent to department stores all over the world where Elastolin figures had a market. They usually formed the centre- piece of the particular department store window display. Most of these large models either of 7cm of 4cm figures were either in transit or on loan so I never really got to see any in the flesh, as it were, although Josef kept an album of photographs of each diorama, which I would pore over every time I was invited around to the Tonns’ flat. Having recognised my penchant for modelling, Josef persuaded the company to allow to me to spend the last two weeks of my placement in his ‘workshop’. During this time I had the opportunity to watch closely how he crafted his trademark circular ‘three scene’ dioramas, which revolved using a hidden motor in the base. Following his death in 1991, Tonn dioramas have become highly collectable items and have been celebrated in the book entitled “Schaustücke” by Helmut Lang and Andreas Petruschka


One of the jobs given to me by Josef during my mini apprenticeship with him was to make a series of Landsknecht figures, which would feature on a large diorama he had been commissioned to make of Neustadt in the 16 Century. Landsknechts were German mercenaries who sold their services to the warlords of the day and were noted for their very garish slashed costume. The model was to be located in the municipal Toy Museum but unfortunately was never completed before the company went bankrupt in 1983. The few figures I had made for this piece disappeared but my interest in the Landksnechts had been seriously awakened by this project. As an aside the project is not dead – the base, buildings and a series of figures, which I retrospectively designed several years ago, are in the safe possession of Peter Mueller, a passionate collector of Tonn dioramas and all things Elastolin. Something to return to then!

One of the advantages of working my placement was that I returned home with a holdall full of broken and unpainted 4cm Viking, and Landsknecht figures and parts with every intention of creating dioramas incorporating some of the techniques that I had learned from the ‘master’. The Viking diorama ended up getting put on hold but my fascination for the Landsknechts grew into something of a passion, aided and abetted by the 3 dimensional depiction of these characters, which the Hausser designers had so successfully achieved.

But first some research was necessary. Managing to take a year out of my studies I undertook a book project for Osprey, which was published as ‘the Landsknechts’ in 1975. So with some idea of costume and equipment, I began to create my own models, mainly in 54mm and then eventually in 70 mm. By this time I had moved sideways into the German Peasants War of 1525 – largely inspired by the brilliant sketches of Hans Baltzer in the 1976 edition of Wilhelm Zimmermann’s seminal work “Der Grosse Deutsche Bauernkrieg”. In 1977 I presented a number of these figures at the Kulmbach Figure Show as a diorama entitled ‘the Bloody Court” depicting the summary beheadings of a group of peasants.

Staying with the theme of the German Peasants War, a chess set was next up. This limited edition set incorporated figures in scales ranging from 50mm to 70mm. It featured in an article in Military Modelling in December 1983. Having strayed into other figure territories since, I recently returned to this fascinating and bloodcurdling period of German history. The events of 1524-6 have inspired some of the finest flat figure work – I refer here to the designs and engravings of the German artist Franz Karl Mohr celebrated in the 2 volume work by Dr. Egon Krannich and Walter Brock - but as far as round figures are concerned there is very little out there.

For the last few years I have been beavering away on a number of fronts with this as my theme. First has been a further Osprey title –the Armies of the German Peasant Wars. Then, I was finally able to complete a diorama in 4cm scale – inspired by some of Josef Tonn’s techniques – of a group of Landsknechts recruiting for the Italian Wars campaign of 1525. I used a number of standard Elastolin plastic figures and conversions and then began to model some of my own pieces. Before I knew it I had the makings of a series. A year on and I now have a respectable number of little creations, which I have grouped into two initial series: Storming of a Monastery 1525 (6 figures with a resin toppled statue) and Peasants on the March (a group of 12 figures). These are augmented by numbers of foot and mounted Landsknechts, a number of which have interchangeable bodies, heads and weapons.


My aim with this range has been to try and capture some of the animation of the Hausser/Elastolin figure and the character of the German flat figure and to make the figures not only collectible and convertible but also affordable. By today’s standards 40mm is an unusual scale, but things are slowly changing. We have the delightful series of figures by Helmut Peipp, and Michael Cremerius in Germany and then there are those recent brilliant creations from the Perry Twins and the excellent figures of Sash and Sabre and Drabant. For me, 40mm was the scale in which Josef Tonn was able to create his most memorable dioramas. I hope this scale catches on so that enthusiasts can complement their collections of the fantastic range of figures produced by Hausser/Elastolin, which are still available today from Preiser GmbH in Germany.

Addresses:
Kleinkunst-WerkstättenPaul M. Preiser GmbHPostfach 123391534 Rothenburg o. d. T.Telefon: 0 98 61/94 80 0Telefax: 0 98 61/94 80 80

Books :

E. Krannich & W. Brock 1997 Die Zinnwelt des Franz Karl Mohr, Vols 1 & 2 available from Verlag Dr. Krannich. 04668 Grimma, Schloßgasse 4, Germany

H. Lang & A. Petruschka 1999 Schaustücke ; die schönsten Original-Schaustücke der Firma Hausser 1960-1983 – gestaltet von Josef Tonn, Berlin : Verlag Figuren Magazin.

Osprey Titles

Inspirational sources