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Heller model CO.

phantom II

phantom II

Master at Arms
In case anyone here cares about Heller product .

Read and weep.

Just read this at another site.



Heller/Joustra's gone into receivership a few weeks ago, and then they have been bought by MAPED, a French manufacturer of school/office stuff.

However, 15 out of the 45 employees have been laid off, most of them the experienced ones in the kit injection business.
MAPED has kept the previous CEO in place (the one that lead the company successfully to receivership...), and rumours are they are more interested in the Joustra part than the Heller part.

Must say some of their recent choices of kits were a bit mixed -nice to have French classics like the Citroen HY or the 4L, also some rally cars; but the Mehari was bugged with mistakes, and they didn't really care about other areas of modelling-
Oh well, stocking up while it's possible is probably a good idea, they had some unique models in their range -though they sold lots of moulds to Smer, some to a south american company, and lost some others...-
Time will tell if we'd see again Heller rise from its ashes...
 
I've seen you do your magic to them Chris but I've never build one myself. Shoot, I can't even rattle a tamiya out of the box lately.

Maybe they will see some value in the molds and sell them to someone who will keep them going.
 
moon puppy said:
I've seen you do your magic to them Chris but I've never build one myself. Shoot, I can't even rattle a tamiya out of the box lately.

Maybe they will see some value in the molds and sell them to someone who will keep them going.
Click to expand...


Sad to see all these knowledgeable people loose their jobs.

The molds are no longer the top notch stuff they use to be but their uniqueness is worthy of saving and even of upgrading
 
I am fond of Heller's original soft vinyl-ish plastic. I'd wager we'll see the molds go elsewhere. I've got a PILE of 1/72 Heller airplane models. Look what happened to Airfix, as She came up from the ashes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GND10sWq0n0
 
I used to really enjoy building and rigging the old Heller Ships of the battle Line sailing warships such as the 120 gunned Roayal Louis. I hope they become available again somewhere. I wonder if the Airfix Sailing Ships of the Battle Line will remain since Heller had them at one time.

Cheers
 
I didn't know Heller was still producing kits!

Sad news and sorry for the folks who lost their jobs!
 
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