Preiser Tour de France in Miniature
Preiser (of Germany) makes high-quality molded plastic accessories for model railroading. They offer top-quality human and animal figures, vehicles, machinery and cargo for use in scale models and railroad diaramas.A few years back I came across their a few of their items at a miniatures and collectibles show. Small sets of three bicycle racers about an inch long and press moto BMW's with drivers and photographers on the back.
Intrigued, I searched for and managed to find a copy Preiser's full-color catalog at a local model train shop. It turned out they offer a number of items that might interest collectors of cycling "art" and maybe a few of us that haven't had a good excuse in decades to dig our model trains out of the attic.Some time back, Preiser created what the call the TOUR de FRANCE COLLECTION - a selection of bicycle racing figures that would be used as 'stage dressing' for an HO scale (1:87) model railroad setup. You could incorporate in your tableau a complete scene from Le Tour - the peleton, spectators, support autos with bike racks, press motos with photographers, police (from Europe and the USA, + cars, standing security figures - even Italian moto-carabineri!), finish area barricades and any number of items from their catalog that add to the entertainment value of your Tour diarama.
Having gone through the extensive Preiser color catalog from cover to cover and acquiring a few select items, I can report with confidence that the did a great job making parts for a 'frozen moment in the Tour'.
Unfortunately, they have discontinued support of the complete "Le Tour de France Collection", but there are a few cycling items still in stock and still being produced. In an attempt to support Preiser's efforts and encourage them to continue making at least a subset of the original "Tour Collection", I've put up this page to show what's been available, where you can find them and a few suggested uses. Hopefully it will generate some sales for Preiser.
Preiser ships these items in either assembled, painted form or in unfinished kits of plastic parts. Their ready-to-use product costs quite a bit more, but is painstakingly detailed by residents of the isle of Mauritius (if that sort of info excites you...), with riders painted to represent six generic-colored 'teams'. If want to do the riders up in the colors of your favorite current team - USPS, ONCE or whatever - you'll have to do it yourself. Trust me on this - you'll need a steady hand, a lot of patience and a VERY FINE BRUSH! The people of Mauritius do this for Preiser and seem to have a pretty good handle on this already.
The ready-to-use items are available in small to medium size sets at a substantially higher price per figure. The do-it-yourself kits are far cheaper and come with four or five times the number of figures for the same price. Painting them, on the other hand, is quite a chore. If you've the skill, time and inclination - the boxes for the kits have elaborate painting suggestions and instructions inside. A set of decals included with both types of packaging handles the rider numbers and a few sponsors (a nice touch, but none of the sponsors are current or real).
Anyone interested in expanding the set to include extras like emergency and support caravan vehicles, your local flavor of police, street vendors, hikers, sunbathers and the like... there are quite a few items in the catalog that might tickle your fancy.
I've included a few suggested uses below (images from their catalog and off the boxes), listed the part numbers of the sets and included some other fun accessories.
Preiser's TdF items never sold as well as they hoped, so it is likely some of the items listed below have been discontinued from their line. If you see something you like on either of the distributors sites I've listed, you had better make your selection right away. If Preiser has stopped shipping the items, then you'll have to do as I have done - scouring the warehouses of every distributor you can find.
