82 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - June 2018FINAL THOUGHTS
O
ver the years many kit companies
have been defi ned by their
country of origin. In the UK we
have Airfi x, the USA, Monogram,
Revell in Germany, Tamiya in
Japan, but perhaps one has slipped through
the cracks recently, that company being
France’s premier manufacturer, Heller.
As a child growing up and learning all about
the hobby and the world’s kit companies,
Heller were one of those that I considered
exotic. Despite being from just across the
channel, their kits, choices of subjects and in
some cases price, made them seem to be an
appealing, if not unobtainable package, but
given that they were almost universally lauded
within the modelling press for their quality and
detail, I never let that be too much of a hurdle
and so as soon as I had the chance - or rather
the money! - I purchased one of their kits and
then never looked back. I was hooked.
Part of the appeal of Heller was their odd
choice of subjects. Much like Matchbox inthe UK they would release kits of subjects
unavailable anywhere else, their collection
of French aircraft remaining to this day pretty
much unique within the hobby. I remember the
excitement of seeing the Super Frelon (which
to this day I’ve never had the money to buy!),
the release of a 1:72 Thunderjet and Ouragan
and then two Constellations one of which
was the awesome ‘Warning Star’ variant. For
some time I only built Heller kits, but as with
everything, time moved on, my tastes changed
and they became a distant memory.
Over the last couple of decades Heller have
rather fallen on hard times, their fi nancial
situation being such that new kits haven’t really
been an option, that is until recently when
newly-tooled kits started to slowly appear
once more, fi rst some 1:72 armour, then 1:35
vehicles, 1:24 cars and vans and then more
recently, a couple of very nice tractors. Along
with the new tools, the older gems from the
range have also started to be seen on the
shelves of model shops around the world sothat fans of the range such as I, can once
again enjoy the sight of these classic kits.
The spark for this walk down memory lane
was a visit to my local model club last night.
We have a member who is a vendor that sells
kits at shows around the UK and last night
he brought along a couple of kits including
Heller’s re-released 1:48 Mirage IVP. A long
time ago I had this kit but gave it away and
ever since, I’ve regretted the decision and
wanted to replace it to have a go at fi nally
building and painting it for my collection. So it
appeared and I was instantly smitten, offering
the money for it without thinking and now I
have the kit once more to build and hopefully
enjoy. Yes, I know, it’s hardly state of the art,
but I can’t help but think that with a little TLC
it will look very nice once complete and let’s
be honest, there are some very nice Shyart
decals to decorate it and who can resist the
idea of a French jet in anniversary markings?!
Heller - back from the dead? Who knows?!
See you next time!HOW A CHANCE PURCHASE SPARKED A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE...
"For some time I only built Heller kits, but as with everything, time moved on, my tastes
changed and they became a distant memory."
HELLER: BACK FROM THE DEAD?
FINAL THOUGHTS 155.indd 2 04/05/2018 16:54