Heller HR80897 Model Kit, Various,1100x698mm

Excellent large scale model of HMS Victory with over 2100 pieces. Includes jigs so that you can make accurate rigging and ratlines as well as vacuum formed sails if you wish to add them. Magnificent assembly book sealed in its own cover with detailed painting instructions utilising Humbrol paint numbers. Worth every penny and highly recommended.

Id just like to say a few things about this kit. Ive read so much about the issues of missing parts, warped sprues, instructions in french which are difficult and confusing to understand. But my experience has been different. I searched the net for the best price for this kit and the lowest was £249 quid, then i saw it on Amazon at around £149. saved myself a lot. It arrived within 3 days, was brand new, well packaged, and everything was inside that should have been. The new look sprues are all the same colour, they are all linked together in a very logical order and the quality of them is stunning. but the biggest surprise was the instructions: The kit now comes with the New colour Heller Manual, and what a Manual it is...fantastic...ive added a few photos. I advise you buy this kit now.

Where to start… Don’t get me wrong, this model looks absolutely brilliant. I think despite the size and complexity of the kit, any reasonably advanced modeller would be able to get this looking amazing. The first issue I have however is the time and effort required to reach this level of “amazing”. Once built, it looks great, but the kit is riddled with faults. Firstly, a good 30% of the parts, mainly the large, important ones, were warped. The hull and decks were the notable ones. They all came pretty badly bent, meaning you had to try to bend them to shape, or if not, simply struggle with a LOT of glue when it came to assembly. Due to the nature of the parts, it wasn’t always as simple as gluing and clamping. The next issue was that a lot of the parts actually came broken. I don’t know if it was due to the hot and cold of warehouse storage, old plastic, or poor handling, but lots of parts on the sprues were snapped, requiring very careful repair. Pair this with the fact that some of the broken parts were ALSO warped, and suddenly a 2 minute job turned into a 20 minute job. Lots of people have commented on the instructions, and I have to agree. In the kit I received, I believe I got one of the newer instruction manuals. I was pleased with the size and quality of the booklet, but lots of the instructions were unclear and generally inaccurate. I urge you to dry fit EVERYTHING before gluing as there is a good chance that the parts are labelled wrong, or that the instructions tell you to attach them incorrectly. Always think about what you’re about to add to the model before you do it, and make sure it makes logical sense to you. As for the ropes, rigging, shrouds and ratlines, around a third of the instructions are dedicated to this. Patience is key as this is extremely fiddly and there is a lot to do. The kit comes with a jig for the creation of all the mesh-like ropes, and extensive plans for the rigging of the entire ship. It’s incredibly intimidating to look at, but take it a page at a time and you’ll manage - eventually… Overall, the kit is incredible and if you take your time, it will turn out stunning. Put in the work and research and have the patience and you’ll be incredibly satisfied with the end result. The only negative I have is that due to the warped and/or broken parts, combined with the poor instructions, the kit takes around 3 times longer than it should do, requiring extensive work to correct the faults. Because of this, I wouldn’t say the kit is worth the money spent on it. If the kit didn’t have these faults it would be completely worth it

It's a massive, detailed kit with brilliant build instructions. I've managed to get it to a stage where I need to do the rigging. It's been a sporadic build over 3 years, since Mr Putin started his shenanigans, rendering my garage "plastic surgery" out of bounds during the winter months. The rigging is very detailed, complicated and a daunting prospect but do-able if you set your mind to it. Hopefully I'll make good progress on it this coming spring/summer. What a kit!

Basic Build OK if your an experienced modeller, but that’s as good as it gets, the instructions are complete and utter garbage on the hull etc. and after that things go progressively down hill (tearing one’s hair out) when it comes to the rigging…… tried to contact heller, by e mail, phone and letter over damaged/missing parts but after 3 months I’ve had no reply. So it’s obvious it’s no good asking for a refund. Perhaps Amazon should take some responsibility for refunds for selling such inferior goods. 100s of pounds wasted on a model that I will never be able to finish because of inferior instructions. So I decided to clear the decks so to speak, and thrown this pile of plastic where it belongs ….in the refuse. A.D.

Arrived quickly and secure. Ran through a parts check and all was correct. Excellent service from Creative Models ltd. The quality of the kit is superb. Very fine detail achieved with little to no flashing. Nice one Heller and Creative Models

No complaints, arrived well packaged, all contents in tact. Won't be starting till the New Year. Think there is so many reviews about this kit mostly positive but you have to remember it is plastic as opposed to wood however I'm sure with the amount of after market parts available once built this will grace any shelf, even though you will probably end up spending triple over what a wooden kit would cost !! Happy building.

I can only endorse the review of Spinoza. I had avoided buying this kit for years owing to the notoriously poor instruction sheets and its reputation for arriving with broken or missing parts. However the relaunching of the Heller range and the brilliant new brochure (92 pages) tempted me, and Amazon still maintaining this fantastic price tipped the scales. It duly arrived with factory seals intact and all parts present and correct. It remains, what it always was, an extraordinarily complex and difficult build but I certainly feel that now I have a fighting chance of completing it to a satisfactory level.

Ein toller Bausatz, aber nur für Profis!!!

Es un barco grande y bonito para construir

Very detailed.

Très bonne qualité du boulot ça vaut le coup

I've spent months searching for a large Victory model that actually had all the guns and level of detail I wanted. I was kind of worried at the price of this Heller model. It was NOT cheap, but I ordered it partially out of frustration for not finding a better one. I actually ordered one of the Airfix HMS Victory models a couple of years ago, and painted it start to finish. It looked great! BUT the model did not fit together properly at all. I could not assemble the hull...it was warped. I was totally enraged. Needless to say, I hesitated to buy another plastic model. That said, this Heller model is a quality in plastic I have NEVER seen before. It soared so far beyond my expectations I believe it's worth every penny. I can't wait to get this together, and if you want an EPIC ship of the line model, this is it! Just make sure you have enough space because it's huge!