Converting Elastolin Toy Soldiers and Figures

By Rick Berry

Hausser/Elastolin made a wide variety of figures in many different historical periods but each product line is missing some key poses that would greatly enhance the variety. Because Elastolin figures are made from plastic and were sold as unpainted kits you can create many new poses with conversions. Recently Preiser has made Elastolin kits available again at a reasonable price and has also issued generic 'Adam and Eve' kits with basic body parts that can also be used in conversions. I also use broken figures to make conversion as they can usually be picked up quite cheaply. Elastolin conversions can range from the simple- the swapping a torso or set of legs...to the complex- building a completely new figure with various parts from various figures.

The basic tools used in Elastolin converting are a Xacto saw and knife, some kind of filler (I used Kneadtight Expoxy Ribbon), sandpaper and files and "Plastic Weld"... a plastic solvent cement. Note: Super Glues do not work well with Elastolin plastics.

Follow the links below to view conversions.

All figures shown are 7cm in scale but 4cm can also be used.

Start Here....American Civil War: Conversion #1

American Civil War: Conversion #2

American Civil War: Conversion #3

Custom Painted American Civil War Figures

Normans: Simple Conversions

Norman Mounted Conversions #1

Norman Mounted Conversions #2

Normans: More Complex Conversion

Turks: Simple Conversions

Huns: Simple Conversions

Vikings: Simple Conversions

Indians: Simple Conversions

A Gallery Of Conversions: Vikings