14 replies to this topic

[n.elmholt]

Many years ago I built the Heller 1/24 Lotus 49B plastic kit designed by Philippe de Lespinay.

I have had another kit in storage for some years and after using my modeling skills on slot cars for some years, I decided to build Jim Clark's 1967 Lotus 49 from the kit.

In the meantime I have built a couple of 1/24 Lotus 49sSlot cars from HowmetTX bodies, which was created from my Heller kit which I lent to John along with the similar McLaren M7 kit. :-) That fueled my lust to build the Heller kit.

I had a problem with the decals for the yellow/green Lotus, but found a replica Cox Lotus 40 sheet which provided the "Team Lotus" script. The rest was from my decal spare box. So I proceeded.

The Heller kit IS old and the casting shows its age so there was some cleaning up to do. Also there was some work to do modifying the 49B back to the earlier 49 model. I also wanted to detail the engine, etc., which took some time also. :-)

But here is the result:







The driver figure was not included in the kit but is a modified Tamiya driver.

More pics here:

Picasa Lotus 49

Niels, DK

[Tex]

Was Jimmy driving #5 in his winning debut with the 49 at Zandvoort in 1967?

[TSR]

Niels,

This is a beauty!

I designed this kit for Heller in 1968, I was 25 years old then, and a bit green!

Below are some of the surviving drawings from the kit and its construction:



All was drawn by hand then, no computers, just a pen and India ink... one mistake and it went to the trash!

[n.elmholt]

Philippe - it is still a super kit today - as is the McLaren also. I still have an extra kit of both waiting for future project :-)

This is a McLaren M/A i built many years ago from the Heller kit:



Niels

[TSR]

Niels,

A real beauty! Here is my original drawings for this one:



This is the kit parts definition design to help the mold makers. I copied it in an old magazine because the original is long gone...



And this was an India ink and water image I made with a thin paint brush for the 1969 catalog:


I really enjoyed those days, but would be totally unable to do that again nowadays!

[n.elmholt]

Another oldie from your hand - I don't remember when I built this, but it was included in my book "Plastbyggesæt" (plastic model kits) from 1989 as was my Lotus 49B and Porsche 917 spyder (based on the Heller 917 coupe):





The Ferrari and the Spyder from the book - the spyder has not survived :-(



Here is the old and new Lotus's with McLaren and a scratchbuilt Ferrari 312

I have also build the Heller Ferrari 512S, but for some reason I have no pictures of it - I built it while I was ill - maybe therefore :-( - it's OK, but not more than that...

Niels

[TSR]

Niels, nice built of the 330P4!

I built this one from two kits a zillion years ago, so as to separate the nose from the front of the body. I also added some thin sheet-aluminum panels like on the real car:



The original drawing I made of the body:



The crazy thing is that all those kits were drawn from pictures I took of them, as they were all "non-authorized" by the various makers, since no one was bothering with licenses then! And neither of the companies had ANY finished drawings of their own cars!

When I was done with one, I generally sent a copy to the various car makers, and found later that they were used in their own environment for various purposes... I guess that was OK with me. The only time I got some acknowledgement is when the MATRA and Alpine-Renault people sent me some nice letters to thank me for helping making some nice models of their cars, but they were also the only two companies that fully cooperated, in the case of Alpine by loaning me one of their competition A110 "berlinette", then selling it to me at a greatly discounted price!

So here is it, shot in Paris in 1967:



Yes, I look a bit younger...

[n.elmholt]

The world has changed - today the greedy buggers wants royalties instead of thanking us for promoting their products. :-(

The 917 Spyder is the only Heller model that has not survived my moving around, and the same destiny suffered a lot of other models :-) but I still enjoy the few survivors. :-)

I used Heller kit parts for my two Ferrari scratchbuilt projects, a Ferrari 312 F1 and a Ferrari 612 Can-Am.



The F1 uses wheels and engine parts from Heller 512 and 330P4 kits. The body is a solid block of resin cast from a primitive master and a plaster mould. The resin block was hollowed out using a Dremel tool!!! My main problem when building it was the lack of reference pictures and lack of the necessary decals. Today both issues would be non-existent. :-)



Yes - I know the decals are NOT correct, but I dislike the original look and choose to build the model as it would have been if it has been a "normal" factory car with proper numbers and markings. :-)
The wheels and engine parts are again from Heller kits and the body is cast in super thin GRP in a quality that I cannot match today even if the materials available have improved considerably since then. :-(

I used a slot car body to make the master and the shape might not be 100% accurately - but it looks great, I think. :-) So I'm happy.

Niels

[TSR]

Niels, that 612 DOES look great! It looks like either the Lancer or Dynamic body, not sure.

I wish that Heller would have done the 312P coupe that my good friends Tony Adamowicz and Sam Posey drove at Le Mans. What a pretty car that was...

The problem at Heller is that capital investment was limited and making molds cost a FORTUNE! Modern methods have considerably lowered the costs, but it is still an expensive undertaking.

Recently I was able to purchase all three Heller F1 cars on eBay, but I still have to find a R8 Gordini and an Alpine A110 kits, the ones I see are too pricey for me!
I now have the Porsche 907, the Brabham and MATRA F3/F2, and the 512, plus I bought another extremely well-built Brabham F3 and Ferrari P4, with only the actual body left to be painted. I think I know JUST the person to do the job...

Dennis Hill, raise your hand!

[n.elmholt]

Philippe, I think is was a GT Models 612, but I am not 100% sure. It was a handling type of body, so I had to correct the shape.

The project was started more than 20 years ago with lengthy pauses. At some stage the body parts was lend out to a fellow modeller who wanted to copy the parts, but he did not succeed in doing that but kept the parts for several years. :-(

I finished the model approximately eight years ago at which time I corrected the tail which was too short and narrow



There are pics of the build here: Ferrari 612

The Ferrari 312P is another of my fovourites and I have build both Spyder and Coupé version, both as static models and scale slot cars. A few months ago I built Tony A's 312 Coupé:



Niels

[Howmet TX]

It does look like the GT Models version to me, Niels. But it was a big car, wasn't it ? Gordon Tapsell didn't need to stretch it much! Beautiful work you've done.

[n.elmholt]

Thanks, John (also for the parcel received this week)

Yes, it was big and "handling" looking in real size. :-)

The rear end of the slot car body was however rather short and relatively narrow.

Niels

[Noose]

Your work is gorgeous!

[TSR]

Niels, that's the car. During my brief tenure with the French Solido company, I helped produced the model in the 1/43 scale. I always loved that car...

CLICK HERE...

[n.elmholt]

Looks great for a diecast from that period. :-)

I am crazy about the racing cars of the 1965 to 1972 period and have built many (mainly 1/24 scale) static kits since the '70s, but only few survived.
The last three years, since I surfaced again, I have mainly built scale slot cars.

Here is another of Tony A's cars:



More pics on my website: Racecars.dk and Picasa.

Niels