Heller is now German owned hence the change of packaging. And I'm guessing the lack of bags might be for the same reason they are removing them from Coles and Woolies - ban the single use plastic bag.
Thanks Basil 👍 Yes I have rotation in my left hand at last and some arm movement. But will never have the strength in my left arm again and still have bursitis in the left shoulder to deal with.
Both of those kits are glorious, no, hold on,...one isn't. I used to drool over those HUGE Heller ship kits in the hobby shops way back when I was a kid. They had such presence on the shelves, but were out of reach, financially and physically, (they tended to stick them up high :-) Good to see you looking spritely, Harry, aside from the obvious, and my sympathy on your recent travails. Thanks for the comparison. They made good and economic use of the common moldings.
Thanks Doogle… I also found the same cloning with the Gladiator/Sirene and Indomptable/Royal Louis from Heller. There is a video about that tagged at the end of this one.
Heller got bought by a German company a couple years ago but production is still, and always will be, in France. There is even a Made in France seal on the "German" boxing. It's just their distribution center that moved to Germany. Great video, as always very entertaining :)
Hope you heal fast, and well, Harry. These two beauties need to be built together, or if that's a tall order, at least displayed together - one in full sail, the other furled.
I have it on good authority, well probably good assumption, that Le Glorieux was captured by the Royal Navy then renamed HMS Glorious. So that might be a good way to paint them in different livery and have alternate flags, plus as you suggested, one in sail and one in port without sails.
i had ``le superbe``............. the moulding plank quality is very good............ but the yard arms at the top are very thin to rig and bend very easily.
Hi Harry, I found this really interesting as I was given the Heller Le Glorieux kit, made in France, by a friend about six months ago. Mine is in a different box, 56 by 38 cm with the lid not hinged. Colours different too, mine is a sort of pale yellow. The bottom box that the sprues sit in is just plain white. Bags were still unopened so as I was watching your vid I opened one to examine the parts. I must say I was pretty impressed by the lack of flash, parts were nice and clean. He also gave me the Heller 1/200 L' Indomptable, Heller 1/150 Amerigo Vespucci and two Airfix 1/87 HMS Bounty's. I've recently finished Revell's 1/110 HMS Bounty and learned a lot from your build videos, that being my first effort at a sailing ship. A local glazier cut some pieces of glass for me and with a squirt of silicone I made a display case. I had priced up 'bespoke' cases on the interweb but the prices were bloody ridiculous. It looks cool in its case, not up to your standard but I'm very happy with it. Now, on a purely selfish note, I demand that you drop all other projects NOW, and start the Le Glorieux so I can build mine while following the maestro! Only joking of course, hope the arm heals quick and best wishes from the UK.
Good to hear my Bounty videos were of some help David. The Glorieux is high on my to do list, but must wait until I finish the St Louis, plus a Viking Ship and Greek Penteconter I have planned for later this year.
Bonjour Harry, we french do love a big box , specially with some plump bags to handle 😂😂😂😂😂 hope you get better mate ! Yep bloody french got have the last word oh la la 😂😂😂😂😂very nice kit , have a good one mate
For many decades now, German law forbids the use of packaging which is larger than necessary. the fines can go to the millions. This is to reduce the amount of rubbish created by packaging.
I believe that Heller were taken over by a German company a year or 2 ago, so some of the molds have had a good clean and polish. They have a RU-vid channel as well, but haven't posted much for a while.
Yes they do Bobbins and I watched the recent Heller of Germany video about their new releases plus they now promise to modernise the instructions on the sailing ship kits.
Looks awesome! Your German accent is perfect!😛 What are you going to do about the blank spot at the lower hull, where they didn't mold-in the copper plating (very likely for technical reasons: the form would be impossible to release)? Sanding down? Engraving it yourself? I would love to know. Edit: wishing you a speedy recovery!
I hope to build everything in time… Just need two fully working arms first. St Louis this year. A few smaller Greek, Viking, and Chinese rowboats after that. Then maybe an English ship of the line… oh did I mention the Royal Navy captured Le Glorieux and renamed her HMS Glorious?
It is an old habit by Heller to make "sister ships" and clone kits. Superbe / Glorieux are not the only ones. Others are Pamir / Passat, both Flying P-Liners, sailing ships frrrom Dsherrrmanny. And some 3 more clones that I once could recall ... for a long time, Heller kits were unavailable and hard to find on the second market. We can be glad that they came up again.
I've sustained numerous injuries from falls in different ways (at 181 kg and round 68 kg; 5'11", 150 lbs., I scarcely am the stoutest chap afoot!), so I fervently wish you well, mate!
Hi Harry, We Frenchies are really chauvinistic about Heller, denying anything wrong with their kits. The truth is that Heller has really great and special kits, notably in automobile sections, but the reason I avoid them (I'm kind of a traitor) is the molding process, I love race cars from the 60s and 70s (Ferrari 512s, 330p4, Porsche 917k, …), So far, perhaps I'm unlucky, but the bodies are usually warped and the conception not great, like having to paint the split body before assembly and so on. I have a Fujimi Ferrari 512s (Heller re-boxing), I don't know who injects the parts, but same problem of warping... I was hoping that Germans would make "things straight", by executing a few French hostages each time Heller screws-up, but time will tell.
The only Heller-thing that has moved from France to Germany is the management. The factory is still in Normandy (France) but the new owners of the company are German. So, I guess the one kit was from before the company was taken over and other was newer.
Hi Harry, it looks like the French made a bigger box just so they wouldn’t have to cut the sail sheets? I have a couple of these to build and look forward to your future videos. These will make beautiful models when done.
I think in all truth French Heller had one box supplier and just used that for all their ship kits. So they looked uniform on the model shop shelves. The Germans however are more about efficiency and precision, so used a box the exact size for the hull and sprues. Saves on shipping too.
I recently built le superbe and she is STUNNING when finished, gorgeous lines to her. Ran into fit issues left right and centre however and the thin plastic masts want to bend with rigging. Had a hell of a time trying to keep the spars from popping off too as they dont have a good locator pin
it's a heck of a lot easier to make than plank on frame !!!!!!!!!............... your only other choice i mean, but i'll change mine to wooden masts and brass guns.
1. as a gearman your accent is perfect 😂 Really like it made my day 2. Recently bought the Le superb from a yard sale Was the small box but all sprouts where in the color scheme of your le glories. They where also in plastic bags 🤷🏼♂️
Germany prohibited stores to give away plastic bags for your shopping free of charge. The goal was to reduce the amount of plastic waste from one time using these bags. But the only result was that the stores now charge around 0.50€/bag. (so now it's technically no longer a gift but an item you bought) 😂
@@HarryHoudiniModels I will delve into my research as there were a few French ships of both names, so I will try and pinpoint which comes from what year based along Heller's plans and which class of vessel both are, I know the 2 look similar but so did a lot of the different class of these ships bk in the day with slight differences between them.
How inconsiderate of them to only have french instructions, should have learned in the Napoleonic war that the ultimate end user of a french ship is the RN...
@@HarryHoudiniModels Yes, and subsequently lost in a hurricane. Glorious doesn't seem to be a great name for a Royal Navy ship considering also the large light cruiser later aircraft carrier build during WWI.
I've built my share of Heller kits, and like all kits they have their strengths and weaknesses. Heller kits have their share of mold seams, punch outs and flash. Heller has a penchant for molding very small parts with weak attachment points that fit into very tight spaces. Heller instructions are of course in French (a very lovely language) and for the most part are a straight forward step-wise build...but...there are times those instructions will lead you down the "you can't get there from here" path. Read the instructions carefully, "dry fit" everything and be very careful about the sequence of what goes where and when. Heller kits are interesting, well done and build into impressive models...you just have to take your time and remember "Preparation is key". All-in-all great kits of interesting subjects that build into nice models.
