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Another build from me. This time a Heller Tempest That cost me 1.50 at IPMS Avon show last year. Such value! Parts. No surprises here, I've built this kit twice by Airfix, and once by Smer. and after some interior decoration. Planning to try white-tak mask airbrushing on this, my Typhoons and Whirlwind.

My second build for this GB is Heller's older, but still nice BF109B1/C1 kit. The model has a pretty accurate shape, and okay details. I plan on drilling out the exhausts, ,maybe reaming out the gun troughs to make them round in cross-section, and replace the guns with tubing. Maybe. I would really like to box in the wheel wells and add some details. Would the C wells look like the E wells? What this model will really need is some decals. The kit did not include any. I have a set for an early E-1. in RLM 71/72 with a big yellow "1" on the side, and the box side shows a C with essentially the same markings except for a "3" instead of a "1". So maybe this will work? I'd love to do a Spanish Civil War C, but I have no clue where to get decals. But I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. For now, here is the simple cockpit. It will be modeled with the canopy closed, so I didn't add anything except some tape belts. I still have to add the control column. And the fuselage halves closed up (next to a Zvezda F-2 in 1:48 near perfect fit so far.

Well, I managed to screw this one up. I was experimenting with weathering more heavily and got too carried away overcoating with tinted floor wax to tone down the bright colors. I finished it anyway to keep as an object lesson to be more careful in the future. So what we have is a quite old 1/72 Heller Hawk 75 in French livery. The kit decals where useless so I used a set from a Peddinghaus sheet. Otherwise it's box stock. There where some problems with the Peddinghaus decals. Namely they did not give any upper wing roundels, the placement instructions are severely lacking and the orange is pretty lackluster. I assume the latter is due to their being printed on a CMYK dyesub style machine rather than the traditional spot color screen printing method. Otherwise they're thin, pretty opaque and responded well to setting solutions. I used Hataka acrylics for the camouflage. I'll not be using them again. While the colors seemed adequate and they covered well enough it seemed each bottle really needed straining as, even after shaking quite a while, I kept getting clogs from "chunks" of something or other...pigment I assume. Pain in the butt. All in all I'm happy, mainly because I love French Hawk 75s and it was still a fun build. I'll make sure the next one comes out better. And probably use the old Monogram kit instead...

My latest build, a 1/72 Heller T-28 converted to AT-28D of 15th Strike Wing of Philippine Airforce. Cockpit and canopy was from Pavla, cut and scratched build the airbrake; cut and reposition the flaps; added blade, whip antennae and red anti collision light on the rear fuselage; removed and filled the airscoop in the front fuselage; scratched build the gunpods and pylons. LAU-68 from Italeri's Huey kit and Mk-82 from Hasegawa's Aircraft Weapons 1. Decals are from Blue Diamond Decals. Thanks for looking.

Here is my Trojan from Heller with Pavla resin cockpit. I added the armor headrest by shaping a piece of plastic I removed the airscoop on the top of the front fuselage and will level it with a piece of plastic. thanks for looking.

Hi all, Seeking a view. Given that the Hasegawa kit is expensive and rare, how is the Heller? I know it has raised lines of dubious placement but does it build to a reasonable model with a bit of care? I really need a TF and this is the only way I can see oher than shelling out for a pricing Hasegawa plus shipping and customers charges! As always, I'd appreciate your views. Thanks. Martin

My first build finished in 2017 is the huge Boeing 707 kit from Heller in 1/72 scale. Its actually the AWACS kit issued by the manufacturer some many years ago.I bought this kit on a Swiss auction platform before Heller anounced the re-relase of their Boeing 707-320B kit in Air France and BOAC colors. Apart from some antennas and the huge radar as well as missing cabin windows,the AWACS kit is actually identical to the passenger version. Being so,it saved a lot of work filling and sanding all windows. Heller's 707 is very well moulded and accurate and an easy build.Parts fit quite well,the only major problem area is the wing to fuselage join.There I had to insert some sprues to slightly widen and strenghten the fuselage to avoid a huge gap between the wings and fuselage. Otherwise there where no other issues. The colorful Equatoriana decals are from 26 and worked very well. Paints used for this build are Tamyia Pure White from spray can,coroguard panels are my own mix of Revell grey 374,silver 90 and black 7.Metallic areas were done with humbrol aluminium,steel and silver.Dusted with Mr.Color copper. Equatoriana was the national airline of Equador established in 1957 and permanently ceased operations in 2006. Their fleet included Boeing 707-320s (in the depicetd color scheme) and cargo versions that were golden instead of white,a DC-10-30 and Boeing 727s as well as an Airbus A-310-300 among various other aircrafts during Equatoriana's life. On with the photos,enjoy

Hello All, This is my first post (except comments) and is mainly to see how to work this doohickey called the interweb. Right then, I shall introduce the Heller Homer Simpson I made a year or so ago, If you have made this kit or one of the series you will know it's a 'fit's where it touches' kind off kit, but can be made into a nice figure with a little care and patience, I used a mix of Tamiya and Humbrol acrylics applied with Air and 'Airy sticks finished with Humbrol Satin from a rattle can. Thanks for looking. Andy.

Hi guys, well here we are again with another classic 70's motorbike build. This time I was given this kit by the brother of the owner of the actual bike in the pictures. I have carried out restoration work on the motorcycle and as the bike is almost finished, I have been asked to build a replica of the bike, so I will be painting the model black and adding the white pinstripes as their is no decals in the kit, wish me luck with that! The kit is nicely molded but is really not designed to be painted as it asks you to add soft vinyl parts during the assembly, making painting an added chore due to having to mask up more parts which would have been fitted later. The instructions are hard to follow and vague to say the least, but I will muddle through the best I can. It will only be a loose replica, as I won't be scratch building the crash bars and the kit has chrome wheel rims and exhausts where the real bike has alloy rims and stainless exhausts fitted by the owner. I may strip the chrome off the exhausts and add heat tarnish to the header pipes, also the fit of the rear engine cover where the carbs attach looks a poor fit, but the gaps are correct as the real bikes air filter housing was also a poor fit. Finally the carbs are a fiddle to fit correctly on the real bike, so I made sure they fitted correct on the model and true to the real bike, they were a pig to get looking right, too many angles to glue at the same time. Wish me luck with this build, I'm going to need it!

Experimentation to achieve a realistic finish deck on a plastic kit. And work so far on the model next to a 1/144 206a submarine and 1/144 Bushnell's Turtle at a scale which shouldn't cause any despair when displayed together. 1/150 scale Tartane c.1810, Heller 1/150 'Corsair' kit...well made simple sailing ship kit, I recommend it!

Ferguson TE20 FF30 Tractor 1:24 Heller The Ferguson TE20 ( Tractor England 20 Horsepower) was a very successful agricultural tractor designed by Harry Ferguson with a production run lasting from 1946 till 1956. Part of the ‘Little Grey Fergie’s’ success came from its 3-point linkage that allowed the Fergie to carry out a variety of tasks around the farm using different tools and trailers that fitted to this linkage. The TE20 was imported to France, and was so popular a production line was set up in Saint-Denis, France in 1953 using imported British parts, the number of French parts increased until 1957 when the tractor was built using 100% French parts and became known as the FF30. Outwardly the TE20 and the FF30 looked the same, save some slight differences and FF30 having a red chassis and engine. Not surprisingly, Heller have tooled this kit so it can be built as a British TE20, or a French FF30 with its different seat, steering wheel and front tyres. The TE20 was such a popular tractor many have been restored and a walk around any steam or vintage rally you will pass one or two at least (oddly this is a gap in the walkaround section that needs filling!). The kit comes in a big box with a photo of a very clean example on the lid, the box has an opening lid but the box is thin and flimsy, the box is far too big and there is a lot of fresh air inside. the kit comes on 4 small grey sprues with some black rubber tyres. All the parts are very crisply cast and there is no flash on the review sample. The TE20 doesn’t have a chassis, the backbone of the design is the engine, transmission and back axle, everything else hangs off this assembly. The model follows this sequence with the engine transmission being the first parts to meet the glue. This is cast in 2 parts split down the length and has some good surface detail. If you want a tow hook you need to drill 2 holes in the bottom of the rear axle. The head is added next, with transmission and axle covers following. Being a petrol engine there are some spark plugs and a distributor included but no leads so some thin wire can be added, have a look at some photos online as the sides of the engine are open so some detail could look good here. The fan and radiator are attached to the front of the engine block, along with the front axle. The fuel tank goes on top of the engine with the final few ancillary parts. This is a simple engine, reliable and simple to maintain with the kit being well detailed to the original. The back axle is next with the axle tubes complete with half shafts inside, and the independent rear brakes that allowed the driver to make tight turns, another innovation on this tractor. There are some delicate parts including the rods and foot pedals that will need a lot of care to remove from the sprues and clean up. The big rear wheels are made from 2 parts, with the soft rubber tyre sandwiched between. Make sure you get these tyres the right way around as they are handed left and right sides. The front axle is next on the build, this looks a complex sequence from the instructions, I’ll let you know how this goes when I get the glue out, if anyone has started/ building this any experience let me know! All the drop arms and drag links are next attaching between the wheels and the steering box behind the engine block. The front wheels are in 2 parts, inner and outer, with the rubber sandwiched between. There is a choice of tyres, slick and ribbed so check your reference photos before committing to glue. The wheels have a centre hub to add before clipping them onto the front axle, take care not to break the axle as it looks delicate. You now get to fit the sprung seat, the TE20 uses parts B3 and B7, and the FF30 uses B31 and B9, a more comfortable coil sprung set up over the British bent metal bar spring! The steering wheel is also different between the British and French versions. Finally, you add the rear mudguards, and the bonnet and grill, here you have some options to choose, some TE20 and FF30s came with lights and you need to drill some holes marked on the rear of the parts, and choose your exhaust type, straight up or low out pipe. The famous 3-point linkage is the final bits to make up and fit completing your build. Conclusion A nice little kit form Heller, I’m glad they have made a 1:24 of this iconic little tractor that changed farming. The real TE20 was modified by enterprising farmers, and was also used by Edmund Hillary on the 1955-8 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. This will be a good build for the detailers and the weathering experts as a tractor is rarely clean! Very well moulded with nice detail. Look forward to building this one. Review sample courtesy of

M.D 450 OURAGAN by Heller 1:72 Version: ISRAEL. HEYL HA. AVIR 1956 The first jet fighter developed by Marcel DASSAULT aircraft, the OURAGAN was also the first French jet fighter to be mass-produced. The MD 450 was designed and conceived by the engineers DEPLANT, CABRIERE and ROUAULT. The prototype made is maiden flight on 23 February 1949. The French Air Force ordered 350 OURAGAN. Abroad. Israel purchased 51 MD 450`s which took part in the 6-days war in 1967. Best regards. Andrii.

Still something that had had to be finished but started in 2016. The kit came together well and I find it pretty detailed cosidering it entered production in 1979 IIRC. Colours are Vallejo model Air and some Revell Aqua Color for details. Fit of the clear parts was a bit problematic, especially the fit of the windshield to fuselage and to the first component of the canopy. Everything else went together well. Have a look.

HI everybody Here the SA 321 Super Frelon from HELLER 1/35 that have been ruined by the cat 15 years ago and that was sleeping in a wood box of St EMILION GRAND CRU during this time. I had a dream 3 weeks ago during the night and decided to bring it back to life as i had catched maybe all the broken pieces so .... it's done. I had some hard time to rebuilt it but at the end it seems better that it was, little paint options have been made and now it looks really great. I must say that i am from LANVEOC POULMIC in Brittany (Fr) which is an Helicopter base with a military school for navy pilots the 22S ( Flottille=Squadron for navy) the 34F with Westland Lynx and actually the 32F with 4 NH 90 CAïMAN replacing the Super Frelon which is retire for 4 years i think. I have been flying twice on this Super Frelon, first time i was 11 and this was my Baptême de L'Air, a suprême present from my neighbour who was working at the 32F. So here are the pix, hope you will like it !!! it's the first time i put a topic so i don't really know the procedure, i have hosted the pix on a site and put here the url hope it works !!! JC

I might have eben rather abcent from the forum for a while but it doesn't mean i've not been busy. I've completed a multitude of models since but i'm particuly proud of this one. Ok so whilst at a show I came across a kit i'd not built since i was a kid and it was really cheap. So it would've been rude not to wouldn't it. And on the shelf next to the WRC98 Ok so if you weren't fooled, or if you were? This is the Heller 1/43 scale kit. I picked up the Airfix boxing of 6 rally cars for £8 at a show the other month as i remember having this exact set when i was a kid. And i'm rather pleased how it turned out. I had to fill a short shot infront of the roof scoop and had infuriating rage over the god aweful decals but i managed to succeed with it. The ariels are a Leicester Modellers trade secret. Though i'm sure people will have heard of the technique before. If you know it mwahahaha. And here's some choice in progress shots. Comments, Critiques etc welcome. TTFN Ashley.

I finished this quite a number of years ago now (in fact not long after it was issued by Airfix) but don't think I ever got around to posting pictures - with a couple of builds going on the WIP forum they inspired me to get the old girl out and take a few shots. This kit gets a really bad press, but with some careful planning and thought it actually goes together fairly well - far better than the reviewers will have you believe The only tip I would give is to join the fuselage in complete lengths first, (i.e. add the nose and tail sections to the centre section of each side before gluing the fuselage halves together) as this will drastically reduce the step and amount of filling between the nose/tail and centre section, as the latter has a slightly smaller diameter. I used Halfords' White Primer with Appliance White over the top, and after decalling I gave it a few coats of Halfrods' Lacquer. Decals were as originally supplied in the box. I'd say if you've got one in the stash get it out and build it - it'll provide hours of fun All the best, Tom

I'm planning to jump in with a 1/72 deHavilland Rapide from Heller ... It's an old boxing The parts The box contains decals for one civil operator, Air Couriers, and two trainers: a French Radio Navigator's School and (RAF or civil?) Air Observers Navigation School No 6. I don't plan to use any of these, but will go for a machine operated by the Railway Air Services, a 1930's joint operation between Impeial Airways and the four regional railways groups. The fact that my initials are RAS had no influence on my choice, honest! These are Arctic Decals. The presentation is excellent, with a photo of one of the aircraft on the cover and, inside, fairly comprehensive instructions on how to correct use the (laser printed) decals, and a guide for correcting the Heller kit. I'll let you know, as I go along, what changes (if any) I make to the model. There is one downside to my choice - it's a very old boxing, and the canopy is short-shot. I'll send a note to Heller to see if they can replace that. p.s. I've just placed an order for some etch

Hi everyone, Here is my latest model, an ancient heller kit produced by Smer. I have to admit that I have a weakness to vintage heller kits and that is why I occasionally bought this one. It however turned out to be not so accurate and the molding itself is already quite worn. Anyway I managed to finish it somehow. So here it is, pictures are poor, photographing is not my best skill

Hi again, Here is another my recent built. This time a vintage heller kit. It went togather quite easily, the only add on were some extra details in the cabin, nothing special though

All, After lurking for a long time with the occasional RFI post I thought I'd share my latest build as it progresses. Hopefully, there will be some shared learning along the way. Ok, the kit. I spotted this a local show for £10, being an airframe I've had my an eye on for a while it was coming home with me. The plastic within is well moulded, if a little thick and quite hard. The surface detail is good the rivets appear in scale and not too over the top. This actually causes my first concern, undoubtedly I'm going to lose some of those rivets, how to reinstate them??? Ok, what I'm aiming for.... I normally stick to military aircraft but being a fan of Ice Pilots I was instantly attracted to this aircraft. So off we go. I've decided to open up the tanks and the crew door. I've replaced the lost plastic around the crew door with some poly strips, I'll think of adding some detail later. The water tank doors are too thick so I'll build up replacements later. Close up of the doors. I'll have to think how to get the raised rivets back on the replacement doors, but otherwise they should be straight forward. Before that I need to build up the water tanks. This won't do... The actual tanks look like this.... I've done some work on the crew door, tidied the window frame and started the work on the tank. I'll be focusing on the tank for the immediate future as this needs to be done before I can close up the fuselage. The tanks are progressing and should look ok once in situ... That's all for now.... Family duty awaits!

Hello all, This has been a marathon build, whilst I have enjoyed the build, I am pleased to call it done present it to you all for your comments.... The kit is the old Heller kit. With a bit of TLC it builds into a nice model. No major issues but it needs nose weight, I'd prefer a better wing/fuselage joint and the main gear is very fiddly and hard to get equal on both sides. I have added a fair amount of my own detail, opened the crew door, scratch built the crew door, opened up the water tanks, scratch built the internal tanks, water chute doors/actuators, flame retardant tank (can't be seen!), seat belts, throttle levers, added landing lights in the wings and some plumbing in the main gear bays. Oh and opened out and added the dome windows.... The version I have built is Buffalo Airways tanker 282, as seen on Ice Pilots. As it spent some time near my home in South Wales it was a plane I had to build. Luckily a fellow club member is very good at creating decals so I was able to have a go at this version. The aircraft is quite rivet heavy, as is the kit. During construction a lot of rivets were lost. These have been replaced using Archers Rivets. They went on really well, if you follow the instructions, ask me how I know!! The masking was a challenge but I'm very happy with how it turned out.... WIP is here. Thanks for looking I hope you enjoy... Leon [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsash68jhu.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zps4lvewzjj.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpst88n3upy.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsxt42xgmd.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpshev8afvp.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsrjuncah4.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsstp14t4k.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpswyfgdrgs.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsdrpsiepc.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsdrpsiepc.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsu0ptv0yn.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsworseedk.jpeg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s1149.photobucket.com/user/leonlloyd1/media/CL-215/image_zpsa7cxmx38.jpeg.html][/URL] Thanks again....

Hello! So my obsession of Alpha Jets has become quite large. I've got 3 in progress, alongside this (click here) which was one of the first models I'd done in a very long time. This time I decided to do a 'normal' military scheme of Portugal (as I'm working on an Asas de Portugal one too). The build was very simple, as is the norm of an Alpha Jet kit. I think the final look is pretty nice and I'm quite happy with the result - perhaps with the exception of the canopy but I guess I can fix that at a later date. So here's just some nice shots. Please note I didn't have enough decals for the left hand side, so there is one missing. Bar the Portuguese specific markings the decals were also were pretty old and fell apart - but I'll sort that at some point. And here's a shot from a model show it went to.

French Navy Jets These are all from Heller kits. The oldest is the F-8E(FN) which was built in the early 1980s. The Etendard IVM and the Super Etendard were finished in the mid 1990s and the Rafale M a couple of years ago.

Slightly late joining the party, but thought I'd chip in with this golden oldie from Heller: I think I tried to sell this at a model show at one time but thankfully no-one thought it worth £15 The fuselage is longer than the box, so there'll be a nasty mid-fuselage join to blend in: Taped together, it's very much along the lines of Joe Sutter's 1960's classic: Decals are fairly uninspiring so will be looking to source an alternative set: Should be fun and am looking forward to getting involved in what is a great GB... Tom

Well here's my entry - Heller's 1/48 Mirage IV - with all the trimmings I could lay my chubby little fingfers on (there may be more out there, but this will do for me! ) 1: The BOX 2: The content of The BOX 3: The content of what's NOT in The BOX (yes I KNOW - there are actually 2 (two, deux, zwei) sets of landing gear! I don't know why I bought 2!? ) That's all for now - the building starts the 16'th! (I perceive a lot of rescribing in the beginning!! ) Cheers Hans J