The Maerklin O Gauge Pacific (HR70) was pretty much a scale model, although of tinplate construction. Maerklin produced a diecast model in HO scale at about the same time. This would have been contemporary with the Lionel 700E (and probably had an even smaller share of the market).
There are some clearly post war scale models shown in the second video.
I’m pretty sure it is Captain Haddock. He appears early on as a figure in the layout, and in 2D form at the end.
I went to a local model exhibition recently and they had French Hornby O gauge 3 rail running. There was a very nice die cast electric, either a CC7100 or the CC7001 prototype in two tone green, and a less realistic die cast (somewhat compressed) BB12000 in light blue, and a four wheel tinplate loco representing a BB8100 in dark green. That was the highlight of the displays for me.