Heller 1:400 Kreigsmarine Collection - your thoughts

jboutin wrote:

I have a friends who wants to get this kit and is a little unsure of how it builds up.  It supposedly has 11 kits in it! 6 schnellboots, 1 destroyer, 1 u-boat, 1 torpedoboat and 2 minesweepers. Has anyone built this, what were your thougths about it, any recommendations I can pass on?  thanks.

The quality of these models ranges from fair to good. They are all really old tech and it shows compared to current offerings in 1/350. If you would like to read reviews of each of the components they can be found at http://www.quuxuum.org/rajens_list/shiprevs.html#Heller

Of the models the sub is probably the worst. I had that one myself and thought it was pretty bad. The S boats are just OK. It really is more a matter of whether or not you like this scale. Heller made quite a few ships in 1/400 so if your object to collect and build in that scale then go ahead. I would rather buy and build in 1/350 as the offerings are so much better (albeit, mostly in resin). WS

If you are partial to 1:400 scale, the Mirage U-boats in that scale are heads & shoulders above the quality and detail of the Heller kit.  

Instead of flood holes the Heller sub has flood bumps!  

Everytime I was faced with a difficult kit I would pull out the Heller POS and marvel at something which was worse than what I had on the bench in front of me.

I like that, Ed! Visual motivation ...

You can usually get this set (also issued by Airfix) for much less than the RRP of about £40 in the UK. I paid £25 for mine. Other than the awful U-boat (I built this last month; it doesn't look too bad with some PE railings and weathering) the kits are fairly good, especially if you add photo-etch details (WEM produce quite a few 1/400 sets intended for German ships). So far, I've built the U-boat, two S-boats and a minesweeper; I plan on building one of the destroyers soon.
6 Schnellboots seems a bit too many considering they're all S-100s and there's a limit to how many different variants you can make (I'd rather have 2-3 and an extra destroyer or Torpedoboot), but if you have some scratchbuilding skills, the conversion to an earlier S-38 or similar is fairly easy.

I do prefer 1/350 to 1/400, but I can't really afford resin kits, and given the large range of subjects available in 1/400 the scale difference doesn't bother me too much.