How are Heller's 1/50 helo kits?

Modeling Subjects Helicopters
1

I’m looking to do something along the lines of the Gazelle or the Alouette, and it looks like Heller is the only company that makes them in a scale close to 1/48. Please remember, I am NOT trying to build a contest/museum quality model. My eyes just won’t cooperate that well anymore.

Thanks,

Joel

2

Hello,
I’ve got a 1/50 Puma I’ll eventually get to and I can tell you for that one, it’s about a 5.5 out of 10. The glass canopy is WAY too thick and the cockpit, rotorhead, and interior details are rudimentary. It is definitely not a show kit. But I will be converting it to a “Red Dawn” Hind anyway, so the canopy and cockpit will be obscured anyhow.

3

Thanks,

I appreciate the input.

Joel

4

I tried a dry fit for my Puma and it is rough and really showing its age.
Yeehah is looking for the alouette and gazelle as well as the puma in 1/50 .
If anyone has any thet they are willing to part with , send me a PM.

5

Hello Joel,

Apologies for the late reply, but I haven’t been on the forum for some time.
Having bought and built most Heller 1:50 kits in the 1980’s and 1990’s, here’s my two cents worth:

  • Alouette III. Definitely not 1:50 but more 1:40: way too big. Very basic.
  • Puma. Read the posts above. I have nothing to add to that.
  • Bell 206. OK, but better have the old ERTL/Esci-kit.
  • Lama. Nice, but be prepared for decay of the plastic: I’ve had several of those kits with the open tail boom parts already turned to dust and pieces in the box.
  • Alouette II. Beautiful (new!) kit! New moulds (= not the Lama’s) and nicely detailed. A winner.
  • Gazelle. Nice kit, lots better and more detailed than the Fuijimi Gazelle.
  • Ecureuil (A Star). Nice as well. One of Heller’s newer kits. I like the ‘Bombardier d’eau’- version with the water tank and high skids most.
    Heller also had a 1:50 Frelon (not the Super Frelon). Unfortunately I never bought that one and I never see it anymore. Rare helicopter, rare model.

Hope this is of any help.

Good luck, regards,
Gertjan

6

Well how about this one… I purchased the Heller 1.50 OH-58 Kiowa #80482, which has a picture of a US Army OH-58C on the box (flat window panels/top mounted exhaust), inside however, is the “bubble” type front glass and basically, a civilian 206 molded in OD plastic (tail rotor shaft covered/civilian seats/instrument panel) with Army decals.

The only reason I bought the model was to have a C Model 58 (like the box art leads you to beleive is in there)… wrong! It even has raised civilian “paint lines” molded on the fuselage! It’s almost like a case of the wrong kit being put in the wrong box at the factory… anyone else?

Take care,
Frank

7

I read your ’ Bilked again’ -thread, Frank and I’m affraid we’re talking about the same mold here. I’m curious about the side-windows though: my Heller civilian 206 has one piece door & big civilian windows. Was your ‘military’ type equiped with these same doors?
Maybe it’s a Heller-thing: I remember the 1:50 Puma (SA330) also being sold in boxes with a picture of a completely different (newer) SA330 on it! The only thing that had changed inside the box was the decals…

Regards,
Gertjan

8

Gertjan,

The side transparencies are formed into the larger civilian style, but the Military lines have been frosted into the plastic! see image:

The front doors/windows… As you can see, Heller (or whomever) molded this kit with a VERY strange front door/window assembly, where the airframe is actually part of the door glass, thus splitting the door in half and creating another seam to be filled where a seam shouldn’t be!

If someone were going to build it as an OH-58, with the front doors off (like they flew them in the summertime), they’d have to cut the door piece out of the frame piece (from the top and bottom halves), from this clear brittle plastic!!! For the life of me, I cannot figure out why on earth whomever molded this kit made it like they did? It’s almost like the original mold was very wrong some how, and instead of re-tooling it, they improvised by making the front assembly like this! [:(!] Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Take care,
Frank

9

Well Frank, I guess you consider yourself lucky: Heller DID change at least two parts of the model[;)].
The windows of the civilian kit didn’t have the frosted areas. They did however run up through the roof of the helo, splitting the door in half.

Regards,
Gertjan