Luc Janssens Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 (edited) Glow2B announcement: To all those interested in the development of Heller and Glow2B Germany. For more than 60 years the construction kits of the Heller brand were developed and produced in Normandy, France by experienced staff. The Heller brand and its over 400 products were acquired by Glow2B Germany. Glow2B Germany originated from “Heller Deutschland”, the erstwhile German subsidiary. Today Glow2B Germany GmbH is one of the largest distributors of plastic models in Europe. Its strengths are a remarkably high availability of its over 24,000 active products, fast delivery, flexibility and the new Easy-to-buy-System which allows for easy ordering by traders, and delivers all requested information in a fast and reliable manner. Soon a new company Heller will come into being. It will be the owner of the brand Heller and the over 1,500 steel molds for the production. This company will undertake all future investments in new products and marketing. One of the first investments will be for the long-awaited model of the Renault Estafette. Other projects are already in the pipeline. The focus of future development will be on models with a link to the French market and French modelers. This means historic ships, airplanes, and vehicles. Military vehicles in 1:35 or 1:72 were never a strong side of Heller and will not be so in the future either. A team of French and German modelers has been formed to work on future projects. Other nationalities, however, are also welcome. The team will meet in Normandy, France and in Germany. We are happy that Eric David will be the team leader. Eric has been working to revive the Heller brand for several years. With a renewed and strong focus on the Modeling theme, Eric will be responsible for the distribution and marketing of the Heller brand. At the same time, he will help build the distribution in France of the other brands distributed by Glow2B Germany. We will be back with much additional and exiting information in the coming weeks. We are always available for any further information. http://heller-forever.forumactif.com/t10962-heller-rachete-par-glow2b https://brexitmodeller.com/forums/topic/2763-the-future-for-heller/ http://dpmv.de/181-bericht-2019-03-25-heller-glow2b Edited March 29, 2019 by Luc Janssens added the release from Glow2b and the link to it on the Brexitmodeller forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Seems like good news. The kits are a little quirky but they offer cool subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordairgtar Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 I totally loved the Fergie tractor. I have built Heller kits for many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djflyer Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Hopefully this will mean better, more stable production and distribution. Heller always had some interesting subjects but seemed like they could be hard to get some times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitbash1 Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Sounds like good news for modelers the world over. I hope that they will bring back their F1 and Sports Cars from the 60's and 70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike999 Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Some possibly bad news, at least for those of us who also do Off-Topic Modeling: "Military vehicles in 1:35 or 1:72 were never a strong side of Heller and will not be so in the future either." Just like their model car line, Heller did some 1/35 kits that were quirky but would have never been done by anyone else. Like the AMX-13 tanks and the vehicles built on their chassis: the 105mm self-propelled gun and its ammo carrier, the troop-carrying VCI and even the tracked ambulance. For decades, those were the ONLY AMX-13 kits available. It was only in the last couple of years that Takom and Tamiya did new-tool AMX-13s. And way back in the 1970s, Heller did a 1/35 scale GMC truck that included an engine, the only kit that did. Their 1/35 scale Jeep was an unusual Hotchkiss-built version, IIRC. They even did a kit of the Gnome-Rhone French military motorcycle. In later years they released the French VAB. And in 2014, the VBCI eight-wheeled vehicle used in Afghanistan, complete with mesh stand-off armor. Heller also did a wide range of 1/35 figures that look pretty bad by today's standards. Stiff and zombie-ish. But the weapons and equipment were very well done. And the only place to find French gear, if you wanted to build a diorama set in the First Indochina War or Algeria. One figure set included the only 1/35 scale camel available until the early 1990s. Another had a 1/35 scale mule in it. Great stuff and I'll miss it. Hitting eBay before the crisis pricing starts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SfanGoch Posted March 30, 2019 Share Posted March 30, 2019 Heller also produced what would be the only 1/35 helicopter until MRC-Academy's helo kits in the mid '90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisBcritter Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 On 3/29/2019 at 11:22 AM, Luc Janssens said: One of the first investments will be for the long-awaited model of the Renault Estafette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 On 3/29/2019 at 4:28 PM, Mike999 said: Some possibly bad news, at least for those of us who also do Off-Topic Modeling: "Military vehicles in 1:35 or 1:72 were never a strong side of Heller and will not be so in the future either." Just like their model car line, Heller did some 1/35 kits that were quirky but would have never been done by anyone else. Like the AMX-13 tanks and the vehicles built on their chassis: the 105mm self-propelled gun and its ammo carrier, the troop-carrying VCI and even the tracked ambulance. For decades, those were the ONLY AMX-13 kits available. It was only in the last couple of years that Takom and Tamiya did new-tool AMX-13s. And way back in the 1970s, Heller did a 1/35 scale GMC truck that included an engine, the only kit that did. Their 1/35 scale Jeep was an unusual Hotchkiss-built version, IIRC. They even did a kit of the Gnome-Rhone French military motorcycle. In later years they released the French VAB. And in 2014, the VBCI eight-wheeled vehicle used in Afghanistan, complete with mesh stand-off armor. Heller also did a wide range of 1/35 figures that look pretty bad by today's standards. Stiff and zombie-ish. But the weapons and equipment were very well done. And the only place to find French gear, if you wanted to build a diorama set in the First Indochina War or Algeria. One figure set included the only 1/35 scale camel available until the early 1990s. Another had a 1/35 scale mule in it. Great stuff and I'll miss it. Hitting eBay before the crisis pricing starts... Just because military kits won't be a priority doesn't preclude them running existing tooling or leasing them out to other manufacturers. Smer re-boxed or outright bought the molds for (never got a solid answer which) for many of the Heller 1/72 aircraft. Heller did a bunch of the very ungainly 1930s French bombers that are likely to remain the only option. I would hate to see these shoved into a dark corner or scrapped, but even if the new Heller has no interest I imagine Revell or one of the Eastern European kit makers would buy the molds for better than scrap price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike999 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Aaronw said: Heller did a bunch of the very ungainly 1930s French bombers that are likely to remain the only option. I would hate to see these shoved into a dark corner or scrapped, but even if the new Heller has no interest I imagine Revell or one of the Eastern European kit makers would buy the molds for better than scrap price. Oh yeah, those bombers from the "flying house" school of aviation design! Like the Bloch 210 and the Amiot 143. I love those things. You're right about the Heller molds going East at some point. I have the 1/72 scale Amiot 143 in a SMER box, and got it at a kit swap meet a long time ago. I don't know if it was a leased run or if SMER got the molds outright, either. SMER re-issued a lot of kits from other companies. I do hope your prediction comes true and somebody gets the molds. Here's a fun review of the Heller Amiot 143 by our buddy and forum member Faust: https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/heller-1-72-amiot-143-oob/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faust Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 This is good. Heller kits are a pain in the backside, with all their raised detail, (since I rescribe everything) but they ARE very well detailed and nicely proportioned. They had awesome subjects which make them second only to Matchbox (for me) in terms of quirkiness. Who else made a Lansen and J-21 in 1/72? What about the trainer Javelin? Yeah, baby... that's pure Heller! Don't forget they were doing early F-94s (the "B") before anyone else thought of it, too; WITH the wing guns, no less! I only have one bit of Heller Armour; a 1/72 Somua (I think it's 1/72, not 1/76). That's something cool too. Ah! Glad someone linked my Amiot! I have the Bloch 210 and Potez 540 I have to review sometime too. I doubt ANYONE will bother to kit them again! Long live Heller! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Bartrop Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, now you guys have got me wanting to hunt down an Arc-en-Ciel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faust Posted April 5, 2019 Share Posted April 5, 2019 19 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said: BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, now you guys have got me wanting to hunt down an Arc-en-Ciel. Yeah?? Well... get in line! I've been looking for one of those for years! I can hope we'll see it again, now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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