FABLED FRENCH MANUFACTURER HELLER GETS A NEW LEASE OF LIFE IN 2023

The French Heller model company has had its ups and downs, but the future looks a little brighter with this news.

COMING SOON FROM AIRFIX: CLASSIC 1:12 SCALE RACING BENTLEY KIT

A GRAND OLD CLASSIC, the Airfix Bentley is still an excellent kit that shows off the famed Le Mans race car incredibly well.

FLIPPING PANCAKES WITH THE 1:24 SCALE CITROEN TYPE H VAN FROM EBBRO

MODEL KITS OF THE CLASSIC Citroen H-Type van have been a bit like waiting for the proverbial bus. You wait ages when nothing appears, then several turn up at once, or in this case two Citroen Type H panel vans.

LITTLE GREY FERGIE TRACTOR FROM HELLER

THE SURPRISE is not that Heller features a piece of farm machinery - Ertl has been specialising in such for years - but that this French company has released an archetypal British tractor.

A SUPERSONIC TRIDENT FROM FRANCE

THE TRIDENT SINGLE-SEAT RESEARCH PLANE is the subject of Jean-Christophe ‘JC’ Carbonel’s second book exploring French aviation projects.

HELLER KITS 2015 - INCOMING FRENCH BEAUTIES, AND MORE BESIDES

HELLER, THE BIG NAME IN FRENCH model kits, seemed to go though a few years of uncertainty after the separation from Airfix-Humbrol, with a shrinking catalogue and little in the way of new kits. However, in 2015 Heller appears to have a new lease of life.

1:24 SCALE RENAULT TN6 AUTOBUS KIT FROM HELLER

Bus modellers should be pleased to see this latest addition to the French Heller line. It’s a classic 1930s-era single-decker, a Renault design that gave reliable service for decades.

SMALL SCALE APOLLO KITS - AND A CHANGE OF COUNTRIES

MAT IRVINE WEEKENDER:

Here’s an intriguing duo of kits from Revell-Germany, a 1:100 scale Apollo pair, one titled: “Apollo: Command Module”, the other a same-scale “Apollo: Lunar Module Eagle.” There’s an intriguing aspect to this.

EXHIBITION OF BOX-ART FROM THE FRENCH HELLER KIT COMPANY

SMN report:

If you have a trip to Paris, France, planned anytime until January 3, 2012, then make sure you go to Gallerie 64bis, not far from that famous Parisian icon, the Eiffel Tower.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIR FRANCE, 78 YEARS OLD TODAY

SMN report:

Air France is one of the world’s grand old airlines, with a history going back to 1933, when it was formed from the merger of five smaller French airlines. It has added two more French airlines since then, and is now merged with the Dutch airline KLM. The huge company currently flies a mixture of more than 250 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

REVELL REVEALS NEWCOMERS FOR UPCOMING NUREMBERG TOY FAIR

David Jefferis reports
All the big toy and model manufacturers are gearing up for the mega-huge International Nuremberg Toy Fair, held on February 4-9 this year. It’s an apposite venue, as the city has been famed for its handmade toys for centuries.

In 2010, Revell will be exhibiting a Leonardo da Vinci themed range: “...We will present selected technical constructions of the brilliant artist and inventor as elaborately designed functional models of wood”. Sounds interesting to SMN, but plastic kits haven’t been forgotten either: “...the Heinkel He 111P and the BAe Hawk ‘Red Arrows’ are extraordinary model kits”, and ...”With the Tirpitz and the Bismarck we will launch two of the best known German battleships in 1/700 scale. Even as a model the M/S Color Fantasy, one of the biggest cruise liners with car deck, is considerably impressive. With two models each of the racing teams Audi and Mercedes we will get in the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) in 2010. Our range of street cars varies from the legendary VW Westfalia Camper to the glamorous Ferrari Italia.”

Keep ’em rolling Revell - it sounds like an interesting year to come. And right now, the 1:144 A380 has been released in Lufthansa markings, so that’s a nice one for modern airliner fans. The A380 is a biggie all right - even at this scale the 163-component model scales out with a wingspan of 555 mm (21.85 in).

Talking of the A380, the SMN crew is aiming for a trip around the main assembly plant near Toulouse, France, in a few months time - when we return, there’ll be a full report, plus lots of pix for super-detail fanatics.

There’s a selection of A380 kits available here.

And the bigger 1:125 scale Heller version here.

STILL SUPERB - THE MONOGRAM ULTIMATES

Palm-of-the-hand sized 1:43 is the most popular scale worldwide for diecast vehicles, and quite right too - for both display and storage, it’s ideal. Not too big, not too small, and with enough real estate for a good manufacturer to pack in the detail that’ll please most of us.

In the kit world it’s a different matter though, with the bigger 1:24/25/32 scales being far more popular than 1:43. There are some exceptions, including a selection offered by the French Heller company, but while these are OK enough, they're not the absolute state of the art for detail and presentation.

The prize for 1:43 detail really belongs to Monogram’s short-lived ‘Ultimates’ kits, produced in 1990-91. There were just two kits in the ‘range’, a Chevrolet Corvette and an AC Cobra. Nearly two decades on, an Ultimates kit still looks good, presented in a biggish box containing a fine combination of plastic, rubber, and photo-etched metal components, plus decal sheet. The shiny bits are neatly chromed, and the one-piece body free of flash or distortion, just as it should be. The box-top shows the kit’s quality off well - the photo is about twice life-size, yet looks very good indeed.

It’s a pity production lasted for such a short time, and that the range never expanded past these two desirable sports cars. Still, if you’d like to try one or both, Monogram Ultimates appear on eBay from time to time, and are not expensive. It could be worthwhile getting two of each - one to build, one to lay down for the future. We came up with these items here.

Here are some Heller kits to various scales, including a Lotus F1 racer to 1:43 scale here.

The pictures above show:
1 Boxes for both Ultimates kits.
2 Parts for the AC Cobra.
3 Assembled Ultimates Chevy Corvette.
4 A pair of Monogram Corvettes, to 1:43 and 1:8 scale.

Assembled Corvettes supplied by Mat Irvine.