[Thumb Dog]

In my many hours of searching the internet for interesting paper models, I’ve recently discovered a number of vintage card models that were published in Spain during its brutal civil war. Between 1936 and 1939, the Nationalist and Republican forces fought for political control over the once powerful Spanish nation. As is often the case in modern civil wars, these conflicts quickly become proxy wars for the world’s great powers, and in this instance, the Nationalists under Francisco Franco were largely supported and supplied by Germany’s Nazi regime, while the Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union as well as Socialists and Communists from around the world.

In an age of modern mass media, all combatants rely on effective propaganda to further their cause, and to the interest of today’s card modeler, the various factions involved in the Spanish Civil War produced a surprising array of paper models to be built by young and old alike. The models and paper soldiers seemed to have been designed to appeal mostly to children, but no doubt found their way into the hands of adults seeking a simple and inexpensive diversion during those worrisome times.

This thread will focus on the 3-dimentional models, with an occasional nod to the many 2-dimentional paper soldiers and figures that were available at the time. As these simple models were designed to be built by children, there’s no need to document their step-by-step construction. I’ll show photographs of my built-up examples and the printed sheets that were issued by the various publishers. I have yet to build all the models in my collection, so I will show these in this thread as they become available.

It is not always clear to the foreign eye as to which side the models support. That’s where the flags and symbols come in. The Nationalist flag was three horizontal stripes in a red, yellow, red pattern, while the Republican’s flag was three horizontal stripes in a red, yellow, purple pattern. Many other flags and symbols were seen in the models, and for those interested in such things, these are carefully documented in the Wikipedia article about the Spanish Civil War.

Firstly, we'll look at some models published by Construcciones Costales of Granada, Spain. The models shown here are from a 12 part series called Instrumentos De Guerra, drawn by J. Galvez. Granada was held by the Nationalists throughout the war, so these models represent propaganda by that side. Note the flags. The first is Number 2 in the series, Un Acorazado, or battleship. A simple model, with a 2-dimentional superstructure, the ship sits on an interesting piece of ocean with its fingerlike wake. J. Galvez has a distinctive drawing style, but he know bupkis about ships. As his little drawing of the completed model shows, Galvez wants you to build the model with the conning tower facing aft. I turned the superstructure around on my model, and I also reversed the direction of the flag.

The second model shown is Number 10, Un Submarino. Among my favorites of the models in this series, the rust-orange deck and sea give it an otherworldly aspect. Both models sit on bases reinforced with picture framer’s mat board, adding extra strength to the paper creations.

That’s all for this first entry in this thread. I am certainly no expert on the subjects of the war or these models, and would welcome any comments from those more knowledgeable than I.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog