Model Paper Soldiers (1960)

C/U of a man’s hands cutting shapes from coloured paper with some scissors; M/S of Edgar Delia sitting at a table in his home in Caterham, Surrey, working at his hobby of making model paper soldiers as the commentator says “Edgar took up his fascinating hobby 35 years ago, because he just couldn’t stand the wooden faces of lead toy soldiers“. Behind him on a shelf and in a glass-fronted cabinet are hundreds of paper soldiers in full uniform. C/Us of Edgar working on the tunic of a soldier; it looks like very intricate and painstaking work. C/U of a display case showing regimental badges. More C/Us of work on the paper tunic as Edgar sticks some tiny silver discs on the front as buttons, using a toothpick. Commentator talks of Edgar’s attention to detail and patience in his work, often spending fifty hours on one figure, and how he gives to each soldier the likeness of some man he’s met in the army at one time or another. C/Us as we see Edgar pasting the drawn face of the soldier on to a piece of ca