Greg Liska’s French Foreign Legion
Greg Liska’s French Foreign Legion this is another of his great projects he has done. I wish I had the time to do the work he does. As usual we let Greg explain his latest project Greg Liska’s French Foreign Legion.
Greg speaks
What are the Mauritius Foreign Legion Figures
I would like to give some background into the Mauritius Foreign Legion and how I got them. The Mauritius Foreign Legion figures are Cofalu of France. The molds were sent down to the Mauritius be run. Cofalu did not paid the mold maker and the molds were taken over by the mold maker. Our very good friend Michael Smith found them on his travels to the Mauritius. His mother and step-father were living there as the step-father was managing a hotel. When Michael was there he would roam the island looking for things to resale back in the United Kingdom. One of these expeditions Michael found the mold maker and had him run the French Foreign Legion and other figures. The other figures were knights, cavalry horses, cowboys and Indians.
Sadly when Michael checked back a few years ago, he discovered that the molds had been left outside and badly damaged. This made the molds unusable. I do not know if Michael has anymore of the figures as he very hard to get ahold of. The last time we were at PW, we were surprised to see him there.
Great conversion Greg!!!!,wish can see close up pictures of TIM MEE Converted too Greg suggestion please…
When figures are white or cream use window daylight sun light oppose to flash against dark background.It took me years to find out in figures.But work better.
Great idea using all them to do so many variation. Keep that factory working!!!.
Cofalu had an awesome selection for Indochina wars and possible early Viet Nam war too. Could well be used as Greg did x WW2 of course ,they did paratroopers, French infantry, sailors and FFL on top nice Large set poses of knights and else as admin said.
I had manage with years get them either original later not painted version or done cloned by other companies. Only issue with modern sets some are 55/56 wile others are 60/65 mm
Any mold of steel/iron left outside or near sea salting area rust in month in few years are gone. Wile bronze last way much longer and could be saved more.
In HK I manage to see old British toys and soldiers molds in a junk warehouse all destroyed and ready x scrap , so sad see what made so many children happy in past generation abandon x ever to become waste;remain me of Christen Andersen animated objects with feeling suffering x what humans do them.
Paul, Cavalry horses? Did they make mounted cavalry?
I have the famous scaled down Marx 6 inch Cavalrymen figures from there.
Are they Cofalu also?
Bill ,sorry interfere…
Cofalu do not copied any from Marx as far I know .See my list I post bellow of what they did as far I know please…
Best
Erwin
In the figures from Mauritius were downsize Marx six inch 7th Cavalry and Marx six inch army converted to French sailors. I believe Cofalu did these as well as I remember seeing a photo somewhere. Sorry I forgot those as that more 30 years ago when I first got them from Michel Smith
Admin,
Sorry I was confuse as Bill said scale down=downsized US cavalry an ask if they did x US cavalry .
I immediately thought as they were the same exact figures copied-cloned/downscaled from Marx as GPS,NARDI and BARABELLI from Italy did with some MARX /CHERILEAL and ELASTOLIN in the 70’s.
Now I understand what Bill mention after you clear the 6 poses they did of sailors using variation poses derivate from MARX ,but different uniforms and head/weapon
I did not know were done by Cofalu those tall figures as they had done a nice 12 poses set already in 60mm .
Cofalu I forgot in my list bellow run some army sets in the 1/50-about 40 mm scale too I guess
Regarding the molds.
are we positive they were done by cofalu or Quiralux.
I had few doubts now. I got one Indian and one unpainted soldiers-not sailors in exat extracted Marx poses in 70 mm set and confirmed by two French sellers the original painted sets in hard plastic and later unpainted bags ,included Indians, cowboys ,Americans(used as French) and converted sailors base in Marx same modern poses were done by Quiralux.
Unless the mold later used by Cofalu and ended in Mauritius.
Please look at links.
http://i57.servimg.com/u/f57/16/86/19/66/quiral10.jpg
http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/16/86/19/66/quiral10.jpg
Mathias, if you are around could you help us please!!!
Thank you!!
Thank you for the correction, it was 30 years when we got these figures and we did not know about French makers as we do now. I have not thought about these figures in too many years.
Bill back to you .
QUIRALUX ,not COFALU,the French maker that copied downscale cowboys,indians, infantry/marines and US cavalry foot poses did indeed made base in 54 mm mounted Cavalry 4 poses unpainted and painted, also used painted in brown as confederated and blue as union as well, in 60/70 mm too
Poses were mounted with banner, mounted with sword ,and the two riders for caisson/limber. I do not know of other pose .
I read…
QUIRALUX,Cofalu and other French makers companies as well German Elastolin/Priesser did produce in late 70′ figures in Mauritius to avoid tax expenses.
Elastolin move out the molds from the island few years ago.
rest are gone.
As far I’m aware STAD the only US dealer to ever bring us so many figures from Europe and we should x ever appreciated as well most US dealer should do too; brought many Quiralx and Cofalu remade from Mauritius molds found.
But I do not know if he brought those poses mold but only the 6 foot poses.
So I assume that mold(mounted poses) was one of the destroyed as wherever was saved was run, rest is gone x good.
Admin could you tell us if those 4 poses were run by them too in reissues or not as you saw all Michael brought?
The other mounted pose is with sword. I never saw the caisson figures. I bought more of just the horses as they worked well with the Andygard Civil War.
Michael had foot cowboys and Indians but I pass on them as I did not like the quality. Michael had no restrictions who he could sell to from me
Thanks.admin.
I will supply pictures later.
Best
About Cofalu info ,base in my collection and what I had saw.
Cofalu did a solid figure line ranging from 40-65 mm aprox painted(window and blister pack) first ,later unpainted in bags and window case sets too. Most were in the 54/65 mm line scale
And also a swap limited different sets in 60/70 mm aprox line sold in diverse packing .
Many swap poses of each set are almost identical poses base of solid poses just with torso swap,some time heads only swap and helmet or hat swap ,some time separated base ,in all split painted parts as timpo or others did bust most did not have separated weapons. Horses x swap line had separated bases and harness/seat but differ in some time from solid poses.
In solid plastic sets/toys as far I know and own some sets/poses …
They did dinosaurs, farms,wild animals,cyclist(for the famous tour of France competition)motorcycle police ,police figures x the same sport competition series too,sports figures,firefighters and others on top of soldiers/warriors action lines.
The list of Soldiers/military else related figures I know of and have some sets are.
-Napoleonic in 45/50 mm first empire in most parade poses with a large nice cannon. These were I think original not done by Cofalu but acquired and run by then later!!I had seen then painted but only have the painted sets.
-3 Musketeers plus Dar.. with a lady
-Knights and men at arms and/or Sargents in foot and mounted(Also few siege machine and a tent)
-El Zorro ,in 3 foot poses least and others mounted. Some of the poses were copied from cowboys painted with mask and black,others are true Zorro with cape.
-US civil war (8 poses?),done in Grey and/or blue also used as US cavalry as well (on foot poses only)
-Motorcycle gendarmarie in various poses and sidecar motorcycle too with a van police-gendarmerie as well in true 58/60 mm scale and a patrol car.
-Post WW2 French infantry
-Post WW2 FFL
-Post WW2 French marines
-Post WW2 French paratroopers
-Post WW2 French air force in field action
-Indians mounted and on foot(also did totem,canoe,fire pit and others accessories x them too)
-Cowboys mounted and on foot and a lot of poses(also did nice large wagons,coach,cannon with limbers)The system to attach the horses to carriages and horses poses is very alike Jean Hoefler from Germany
For the modern soldier they did an all plastic line of vehicles,tanks and cannon in true scale with figures. As far I know and base in what I got they did…
French large Berliet GBC 8 army truck with detachable canvas ,an AMX 30 1950’s large tank,a large howitzer ,a self propelled recoiless 75/105canon in tripod,a mortar, a Heavy Machine gun and amphibian vehicle all in plastic,also barb wire ,barricade section that could be connected to extend the line,death trees. I do not know or others.
The modern soldiers set differ in most head wear=helmets/hats as poses are in most set very similar including the weapons carry. Set often have about 12 different poses not counting the drivers made x jeep.
I had only see semi swap figures in modern set variation with head that can remove only,rest is solid figure.
These sets with vehicles and else often come only in large box window sets often call coffrets??)
Very hard to get now …
Hope this help a bit.
Best…
Greg, this is the best conversion and integration of the Lido FFL figures I have ever seen. I never imagined the Lido figures could be put to such good use.
I always liked the looks of the Lido Foreign Legion, but with their smaller scale and bright multi-colors they were always difficult to use with anything else.
And with their lack of bases, coupled with only two points of contact, it was a challenge to set them up in any kind of formation.
But add a base, paint them in a nice desert-looking color, and they fit in perfectly with Timpo and Mauritus.
Greg I admire your simple and sooo fast way you convert figures with so fast imagination. You should do a web site dedicated to it.
I will like to know what is best glue you use that work best x soft and hard plastic or if two types for the two materials!?
Also the French made with tim mee kneeling MG is great as French also had a similar machine gun with elevated bipod…
Thanks, Erwin. My approach is to make the toys you wish you had. I use Goop for a lot of stuff, but sometimes contact cement is better. I have thought to use that E-600 stuff, but I have not experimented with it yet. For stuff that is ‘sensitive’ and likely to melt when in contact with either of these glues, I use….Shoe Goo! It’s for shoe repair and its easy on all sorts of vinyl materials. It dries clear, fills gaps and remains surprisingly flexible.
Thanks x the info and tip Greg, never use those ,I will use next time…
Wish see more of you next work soon…
Buddy, I just completed a BIG one. This one drove me nuts for over 2 months. I’m SO glad it’s done. Paul ought to be posting it soon.
Erwin – yes, the pics were not so good. It was already dark when I took them. I’d been wanting to finish them off so I could dedicate all my time to finishing the ship project I did. Getting the pics out sort of made it officially completed.
Don – Thanks. I would not have even considered the Lido FFL guys except that Paul Gruendler sent me a bunch of them (all broken) because he knew I’d do something with them. Kent Sprecher sold me a few in tact and tossed in all of his broken ones, as well.
One thing I’d noticed about toy soldiers; the color can make all the difference. Take a mediocre sculpt, cast it in the right color, with the right sheen to it, and they can become your favorites.
Nice ! Never seen so many FFL’s !
But Monsieur, that is but one Companie.
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Erwin, These are the figures. They are a bit bigger than 60 mm and done in an off white, harder plastic. I got the from Ric Bracamontes of Company B many, many moons ago.
These are the Marx 6 inch Cavalry poses scaled down.
Bill,thanks but I was not able open link or copy paste and open either. Sorry.
I know the foot poses, I remember RB from IL I guess he is and still sale at Chicago show but not as active, he did carry Reamsa and Jecasan ,EX-PECH HERMANOS oliver recast FFL too on his paper list plus others in the 90’s.
The Indians downscaled MARX from QUIRALUX poses are same sold by Russian now reissues I think too. I do not know if these are from original ex Quiralux mold or what.But been in market for some years now.
Yes the poses are exact same just down scale, they are close to 70+ mm or so as I mention before.
I will supply of original QUIRALUX molded sets in poses ,few mounted, not all poses I got to admin later.
The mounted are from the mounted civil war and cavalry MARX taken, I do not know how many were done as riders poses , but they are bigger than Marx definitely. Horses were original designed by French