HISTOREX collection of figures by PIERRE CONRAD

[Richard Baxter]

Yes, I remember UTF. There was another arcade shop in Birmingham, just off New Street. Was it the Burlington or Piccadilly Arcade? Had some great Historex pieces in the window, saw these and was hooked. Later I lived in Cardiff and there was Bud Morgan's in an arcade near the castle, off St. Mary Street.

 

[Plastic Max]

Hi Neil,

Go to www.ebay.fr and copy/paste PLASTIQUE - SUPERBE FIGURINE D'ARTISTES - HISTOREX - CONRAD into the search box.

Richard.

Richard, thank you for posting this link. They can also be viewed on the English site - www.ebay.co.uk - and searching for HISTOREX CONRAD - selecting the "ending soonest" sort option will sequence the listings in the same order as posted here - any of them no longer available can be found by clicking the "completed items" box in the left hand side panel.

More photographs, different angles and close-ups, can be seen for every model, a quite useful reference resource - the listings are deleted from Ebay two months after moving from "active" to "completed", the additional pictures could be downloaded until then.

 

[Plastic Max]

Good post. These figures definitely have a place in modelling history, but is it only me that feels that what was, when I started in this hobby, considered to be the pinnacle of modeling kits, now sadly only look ; well, - just a bit too Historexy?
David

Probably a sign of the great popularity and success of the brand that their models are so familiar and distinguished as Historex. Having been in production for almost sixty years, since 1963 (and still available), they've been a cornerstone of the hobby for a long time - through the 1970s and early 1980s at least, I can recall seeing them regularly at BMSS competitions as well as at the MEE. Historex ran their own annual competitions too.

I'm not sure any other range of figure kits has come anywhere close to the design concept of all parts (figures, horses, equipment) being made to a specific standard enabling them to be very easily interchangeable. So, even when animated or converted using different spare parts, unless every component is heavily modified, a model built from Historex is recognisable, yes.

Having not seen Pierre Conrad's work other than in the Historex catalogues, it was quite something to find the collection, as shown here.

 

[The Riveteer]

I'm not sure any other range of figure kits has come anywhere close to the design concept of all parts (figures, horses, equipment) being made to a specific standard enabling them to be very easily interchangeable. So, even when animated or converted using different spare parts, unless every component is heavily modified, a model built from Historex is recognisable, yes.

I always thought the parts were incredibly useful for conversion work. The figures themselves always appeared stiff and "toy-soldierish" to me. Now if someone could just retool the body parts and re-bag them with the old equipment sprues maybe they would get a whole new life.

David

 

[Plastic Max]

I always thought the parts were incredibly useful for conversion work. The figures themselves always appeared stiff and "toy-soldierish" to me. Now if someone could just retool the body parts and re-bag them with the old equipment sprues maybe they would get a whole new life.

By coincidence, I just read in Shep Paine's "Building and Painting Scale Figures" (received yesterday)... "Historex figures are invariably stiff and awkward looking when assembled straight out of the package, and few modelers ever build one that way".

Bear in mind the kits usually represent soldiers in full dress, the foot figures for example "at attention" or "present arms" or "parade march"... any veterans of the armed forces will probably recall their drill instructors not encouraging slack posture on the parade ground. So, it takes creativity and skill on the part of the model builder to transform the stock figure from the packet and make subtle adjustments to the hips, shoulders, and joints of the limbs to impart a sense of motion or relaxation.

Looking at the figures produced by Shep Paine (and the other guys mentioned above, Max Longhurst, Ray Lamb) as well as those by Pierre Conrad featured in the Historex catalogues or pictured in this thread, not many people would describe them as "toy-soldierish".

From the early 1980s, Historex did offer a range of replacement parts to simplify the process of animation, either in packets or as individual spare parts. To avoid detracting from the purpose and subject matter of this original thread, I will start a new topic regarding Historex animation for more general discussion.

 

[blaster]

Love this thread.....

From what I can see, not all the animated horses were Historex conversions. I believe that the other heavier types were Segom conversions, made from acetate?

Rgds Victor

 

[Plastic Max]

Victor, I believe you're right, thanks for pointing that out. SEGOM, as far as I know, never much caught on in the UK?

 

[Alain CONRAD]

The "C" mentioned is Charles Conrad, and his style was slightly different to Pierre's. It would have been nice to see the boxed dioramas made by Eugene Leliepvre and Renee Gillet, the prime movers of the Historex brand. Their work was evident in the very early catalogues. Lynn Sangster had a number of these in his collection....don't know what became of them after his demise.

Alan

Hello, I'm the son of Pierre Conrad.
My father had two brothers, Charles and Bernard, the younger. They have died all three.
Charles used to make lead figures and sculptures of his own, and Bernard painted plastic figurines Segom, then Historex, as my father.
His son, Cyrille, after having study at Boole School, began by painting Historex, created his own lead figurines and still sell them nowadays.
He has created his firm which is "Modeles et Allures".
If you want details about the works of my father, as I have all the documents, letters of his customers, american, english, french, etc..., photos etc...,
please, all of you, send me mails at [email protected], and I shall try to give you satisfaction.
Alain Conrad.

 

[OldTaff]

Merci, Alain,
That is a very nice gesture on your part, and I am sure there will be some enquiries regarding your family's works.

Regards,
Alan

 

[pinsel123]

works of an true master
and as soon you are dead there coming the nice relatives what crap maaan so much stuff for the bin..at least they have not found their grave in an container ..dust in the wind nothing stays all is blown in the wind...any second not wasted with anger ect is an benefit...so keep in your little worlds and have fun

 

[Paul Handley]

A delight to see. As an earlier poster pointed out, in hindsight, they do look a bit ‘Historexy’ but I suspect for many us slightly older chaps that’s part of their charm.