Heller kits: soft plastic?

Hi Mike,

Yes Heller is a French brand. I very well know its range, and the plastic is in general very good. Don't hesitate to contact Francis Raiser, the boss, on Heller's site and to tell him your problem. He is a really good guy and read all his messages, each day.

Cheers

I'd say you got a bad one. I built one of those and it turned out decently. I didn't encounter any of the problems that you did.

I have quite a few Heller kits in the stack and some of my earliest 1/72 models wore that brand. AFAIK they make the best PZL P.11s and 23s in 1/72 scale. I would warn you off the P-47N, though. It's not a weekend project.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

This sounds like a manufacturing defect or (more probably) a post-production problem involving excessive heat (like sitting in a semi-truck trailer in the Texas sun for a week). I have built half a dozen Heller kits and own at least another twenty--not a one of them has a problem like you described. Granted, a few Heller kits are vile in their own right, but most are not, and quality control is normally very good.

Mark Schynert

If you mean a "rubbery" type of plastic, yeah I have noticed that with some

This might be a matter of taste, but personally, I prefer the softer Airfix/Heller sort of plastic over the rock hard Japanese stuff. I find it much easier to work with.

Rob

Rob van Riel a exposé le 14/06/2004 :

Same opinion. A too breakable plastic is not pleasant to work.

I finished a Heller MS.225 (that was started in 1979!) recently.

The slightly soft plastic makes repairing thins such as snapped undercarriage really easy.

It also seems to prevent breaking of small parts a little better than harder plastic.

Tom

Maiesm72 a pensé très fort :

Lol :o) You are very conservative! decal sheet was ok ?

Yep, exactly the same opinion... and when you need to engrave parts, there is less risk to slip and to damage a part profoundly. Besides, I never use glue (an old custom for me), but I weld all my assemblies with the trichlo and the plastic Heller reacts very well with this (very dangerous) product. Assemblies are definitive and do not come loose with years.

Definitely..that "white Airfix plastic" is about the most pleasant and comfortable styrene to work with.

What is trichlo? I have never heard of it before.

TSR2 avait écrit le 15/06/2004 :

Gloops, I don't know the English name :( It is the very powerful product which dissolves plastic and allows to realize a true weld on the parts, not a simple sticking. I will ask for the English name.

Trichlor: Trichlor ethylene.

I don't use it, it smells unpleasently. I use the toluene!!!

"Flying Frog" pí¨e v diskusním príspevku news: snipped-for-privacy@ffsmc.com...

Après mure réflexion, Danny Kramek a écrit :

Toluene ? Do you have good trips ? :o)

Guess so. I've built vinyl figure kits that I didn't mind, but some variance in human form is acceptable. Mechanical devices like aircraft or cars need to be much more rigid IMHO. I've built a number of the Airfix kits though, and though they weren't quite as hard as some other kits, the plastic was still much more firm than the Heller stuff (which seemed pretty close to vinyl). Oh well. The kit was cheap. I'm not going to worry about it. If you guys say that their stuff in general is good then I'll just chaulk this one up to a fluke and still buy a Heller kit if I run across one that I want.

Mike