Heller F1 Kits

[2lapsdown]

I occaisionally see kits of older F1 kits made by Heller on e-Bay. I think they're a French company. Does anyone know anything about these kits? Quality, fit, etc. Thanks

[lance]

I purchased a 1/12 scale Heller Ligier JS11 several years back , tires were worthless , decals were junk , kit was a piece of CRAP!!!

[2lapsdown]

Thanks!! Nuff said

[herk56]

Pretty much what Lance said, BUT, if you can scrounge some Tamiya tires for it and get decals from Indycals, the 1/12 Ligier should look pretty good when finished. That said, Tamiya's 1/20 kit with MTR decals is more accurate and better detailed so unless you are a die-hard 1/12 scale builder.....

FWIW - Brian

[2lapsdown]

Actually, the kits I saw were 1/25 or 1/24. They were kits of the cars in the late 60s and 70s. When they ran with the high rear wings. I think I've learned enough from the forum to stay away from them. Thanks to all of you for the response. I'll save my money for Indy cars!!

[Patrick]

Well gentlemen,

I must beg to differ. I find the formula 1 kits to be of great quality and can build into a very nice example of a BT33, Mk49, M7C, and especially the F2,F3 Brabhams and Matras. With different engine configurations you can have a F2 and a F3 Brabham
as well as, a F2 and Fe Matra(and with some body modification a MS4 F2, MS7 F3, and an MS9 F1. Yes, the tires are crap. The F2/3 tires are acceptable. If you are used to Hasegawa-Tamiya quality detail you won't be excited. However, the M7 builds into a wonderful M10 F5000 with MFH tires(I'm working on a Denis Hulme-Sid Taylor car now!) and the BT33 can build nicely into a BT32-Offy Indy car Jack last drove.

I do not recommend the sports-prototypes except for parts. The fit in nortoriously poor( and muy frustrating!).

I once had a Heller 1/24 Renault RE20 F1 and it was nice except for the fact that it was a snap-kit. Yet, still, I am pleased to have the chance to have these versions of Brabhams, McLarens, and Matras. I've been building now for 30 years and kit-bashing is what I am accustomed to. Be brave and give one a go. You might be dissappointed and it so, I'll take it off your hands cut rate. LOL

Patrick

[Deleted]

IIRC, some of the Heller kits were old Merit kits, the early F-1 kits?? I thought I remembered Heller releaseing some of those at one time. I could be wrong.......

The Merit kits surely pale in comparison to Tamiya, Hasegawa, Revell of Germany, but for the time, they were outstanding! There are quite a few Merit kits I would dearly love to have now, but my wallet dearly doesn't have enough in it! LOL!!!!!

And, since Herb has had to go up to $18 on his conversion wire wheel inserts (not a complaint, everything has to go up some time! ) that part hurts, too.

Bill <><

[lance]

I must admit I had forgotten about the F2/F3 Brabham and Matra , I have been working on the Brabham (the AMT release) and have been enjoying it very much . These kits do not have the shortcomings I mentioned earlier . They have been released by Heller , AMT and Union Of Japan , I do not know who else has released them or who was responsible for the tooling but they are fun kits ( the Union kit built into Chris Irwin's car ) As for their 1/24th scale F1 kits I have only started the McLaren but stopped until I can find better tires , the originals are pretty bad . I also have suspicions about the scaling being accurate but have not made a determination on this yet as I have not found drawings I feel I can trust , Despite these things I will Finnish it because I have always loved the orange McLarens !!! Lance

[Patrick]

Lance,

Model Factory Hiro makes tires for the '70s sports cars like the 512 and 917. They are muy excellante! That's what I'm going to put on my F5000 McLaren. You can get them from Strada Sports.

I wouldn't want to influence anyone incorrectly, but Heller kits are like anything else wether it is a plastic or resin kit. Some are much more accurate than others and depend on how accurate the modeller needs to be. By the way, I don't have any oil in any of my models and that would make it much more accurate! LOL

Patrick