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Post by geardriven on Sept 15, 2024 6:20:12 GMT -7
As you guys might be aware, I am big into kit collection. I’m my cars, I have stayed with the American kit builder as well as the most popular Japanese kits.
I am looking to expand globally, and I have seen some interesting kits not in the kits in my collection.
I would like to know your opinion of the Heller model line. Any info.on overall kit quality, parts detail, mold & fit quality etc would be appreciated.
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Post by 406 Silverado on Sept 15, 2024 6:47:26 GMT -7
As you guys might be aware, I am big into kit collection. I’m my cars, I have stayed with the American kit builder as well as the most popular Japanese kits. I am looking to expand globally, and I have seen some interesting kits not in the kits in my collection. I would like to know your opinion of the Heller model line. Any info.on overall kit quality, parts detail, mold & fit quality etc would be appreciated. I've seen few Heller builds in my time and although they haven't been the best in terms of fit, detail or accuracy, they sure offer a good line of out of the ordinary models and cover subject material that alot of other modeling manufacturers don't. I haven't seen much out of their newer kits from a WIP perspective but hope that they've gotten better through the trials of time. |
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Post by stitchdup on Sept 15, 2024 6:53:06 GMT -7
I like them but i do find they have some quirks, for example most of them mold the door panels and glass as one unit.they use a slightly softer plastic with great detail. The parts are nicely done with very little flash but i cant say much about fit as i rarely build stock. the biggest thing is they do kits nobody else would think to do such as pre war taxis and buses and who would think a 1930s french fire engine would sell well enough to have been on sale for 25 years. i know i'll be adding more to the stash
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Post by tcoat on Sept 15, 2024 11:33:53 GMT -7
This is where we can run into model manufacturer trickery. Not all Heller kits (or any manufacturer for that matter) are made from Heller molds. They do of course have their own (usually French subjects) but some other molds can range from old Pyro up to newish Italeri. The safe bet is to research the particular kit you may be interested in on Scalemates
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Post by stitchdup on Sept 15, 2024 12:02:26 GMT -7
they have a peugeot 205 GTi coming out next year and later this year some trailers and a massey ferguson 135 so i'll be getting all those. the off brand kits they box tend to be curbsides but most of their own road vehicles are more detailed. some parts can be very small but not as bad a icm kits. i'm lucky in being able to buy damaged box kits for about a third of the price but i'm in scotland so they are easier to find anyway.
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Post by Deano on Sept 17, 2024 23:43:49 GMT -7
I've got a Heller truck kit stashed somewhere that I could look at and/or show pictures if that's of any interest?
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Post by tcoat on Sept 18, 2024 6:08:05 GMT -7
I've got a Heller truck kit stashed somewhere that I could look at and/or show pictures if that's of any interest? Which truck? Some of the Heller truck kits (i.e. The Western Star) are just reboxed Italeri ones. |
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Post by Deano on Sept 19, 2024 0:55:33 GMT -7
I've got a Heller truck kit stashed somewhere that I could look at and/or show pictures if that's of any interest? Which truck? Some of the Heller truck kits (i.e. The Western Star) are just reboxed Italeri ones. This is it.   To the best of my knowledge, Italeri haven't released this as a kit but I'm open to correction. I freely admit that kit history, reboxing, re labelling etc isn't my strong point. If I like it, I'll but it and hopefully build it 1 day. It looks to be an old kit, I got it from the sale of a deceased estate. It looks well molded, there is some warpage on some of the cab panels but I'm hoping that with assembly of the cab and installation of the interior, that it will all straighten out. Tyres are rubber, soft enough that I think they would show some bulge, especially the fronts, but they are moulded as halves and need to be glued together . Other than that, close to Italeri standard. better than most of the re released AMT offerings. |
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Post by tcoat on Sept 19, 2024 4:08:21 GMT -7
Which truck? Some of the Heller truck kits (i.e. The Western Star) are just reboxed Italeri ones. This is it. To the best of my knowledge, Italeri haven't released this as a kit but I'm open to correction. I freely admit that kit history, reboxing, re labelling etc isn't my strong point. If I like it, I'll but it and hopefully build it 1 day. It looks to be an old kit, I got it from the sale of a deceased estate. It looks well molded, there is some warpage on some of the cab panels but I'm hoping that with assembly of the cab and installation of the interior, that it will all straighten out. Tyres are rubber, soft enough that I think they would show some bulge, especially the fronts, but they are moulded as halves and need to be glued together . Other than that, close to Italeri standard. better than most of the re released AMT offerings. Yep that is an original Heller from 1979 and reissued many times since then. Was once released by Airfix back in the '90s though. |
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