In-box review of the Heller 1/72 Aerospatiale SA 316B Alouette III

 

Unboxing and review of:

- Heller 1/72 Aerospatiale SA 316B Alouette III -

a peek inside the box.

    Time for yet another review. This week it's the Aerospatiale SA 316B Alouette III in 1/72 by Heller. A light utility helicopter introduced in the early 1960s. Initially built by Sud Aviation and later by Aerospatiale from 1970 onward. This whirly bird was also produced under license by IAR (Industria Aeronautică Română) and HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited). But that's enough history for now. I'll talk a bit more about it once I get to building the model. For now, let's get down to the bench and see what's inside the box.

Box art

front of the box.

    The front of the box features a hand drawn image of the Alouette III in the red livery of the Sécurité Civile Française (civil defense) scheme, supposedly parked on somewhere in the French Alps. On the top left is the Heller logo, bellow that is the name of the model, followed by the scale, number of parts, dimensions of the completed model and the number of decorations, or markings available in the kit. And below that is the Heller website.

first of the long edges.

    On one of the long edges we have some text mentioning that the kit is meant for modelers 14 years of age or older. We are also told that the kit is ready to build and paint, to keep the instructions and that the box can be kept for storage. This is written in several languages. And in the bottom right we have contact information for Heller.

the second long edge.

    On the other long edge we once again have the Heller logo along with the name of the model, the scale and number of parts. Next to that we have the two marking options available in this kit. One for the French civil defense and one for the French Fire Fighters. And at the far right are the features of this kit. In this case, there is an option to ad skis to the landing gear.

first of the short edges.

    

    On one of the short edges we have more or less the same information we've seen so far along with a cropped in version of the box art.

second of the short edges.

    On the opposite side we once again have more or less the same information we've seen before. The only additions are a notice that the kit does not include paints and glues. The item number, which is 80289 in case you are interested in buying this exact kit and a bar code. Interestingly enough, there's no tooling date or copyright date printed anywhere on the box. That's quite an odd omission. You'd think they'd at least want to let potential buyers know the copyright date. But it is completely absent. But after a bit of digging around on scalemates.com I managed to learn that this is a 2020 re-box. The tooling itself was done in 1980.

    I find it really strange that Heller didn't even bother printing the copyright date on the box. Most manufacturers will at the very least give you that much. But it looks like Heller are not really interested in letting their consumers know what they are purchasing. This does not bode well for this kit. Regardless, let's push on and see what's inside.

Inside the box

contents of the box.

    Inside the box are the sprues, the instruction manual, and decal sheet. Note that I didn't say bag of sprues. That's because there is no bag. The sprues were loose inside the box. Free to jostle around and break off during shipping. You'll not be able to tell from the above shot, but one of the clear parts has indeed broken off. We are definitely not off to a good start. I'm shocked 🤯 that they would just throw everything inside a fairly large box compared to the contents without any protection.

contents out of the box.

    So inside, we have the instruction leaflet, a set of light gray plastic for the majority of the parts, the decals and the transparencies. And if you look closely at the clear parts, you'll see that one the parts has indeed broken off. If nothing else, they could have at least used a small plastic bag for the clear parts. But, alas, they didn't. Anyway, before we dive into the plastic, let's check out the instructions and decals.

instruction leaflet cover.

instruction leaflet folded out.

reverse side of instruction leaflet.

    The leaflet is essentially and A3 piece of paper that folds first into an A4 and then is folded twice more to fit inside the box. On the left, on both sides we have a short operational history and tech specifications of the real aircraft written in several languages. With the build instructions and required paints on one side and paint instructions on the other. The layout is a bit unusual, but It kind of works. 

    One strange omission is the symbols used throughout the build. Whilst an experienced builder should have no problem identifying what any of them mean. A new comer will undoubtedly be completely lost. I'll try to point them out, but really, Heller could have done a much better job with this.

tech specs of the Alouette III.

    As mentioned, on the left of the leaflet are some technical specifications and a brief operational history of the Real SA 316B Alouette III. This is quite interesting, and I do enjoy reading through these.

colors required.

    On the top of the build steps side of the leaflet are the paints you'll need to complete this kit. Heller uses rebranded Humbrol paints in their starter kits, so I assume these paint codes are compatible with Humbrol, but you might want to use the equivalents from your preferred paint manufacturer.

instrument panel and cockpit floor assembly.

    The build starts with the cockpit as is most usual in aircraft kits. We first need to assemble the instrument panel, which interestingly for this scale comes in two halves. We then need to add a decal for the instrument panel. Next, we glue the cyclic and collective to the cockpit floor.

cockpit and fuselage assembly.

    Next, we need to glue the seats to some railings (there are 3 pairs) which we then glue to the floor along with the already assembled and painted instrument panel. Then we glue the two fuselage halves together and add I believe the beacon light to the bottom of the tail-boom.

front bottom fuselage.

    Next up we need to remove a section of the front bottom fuselage. But the instructions are a bit confusing here. But I think the number 3 is in reference to the cockpit floor, which we completed in step 3. So I guess it's trying to say that this part and the floor are linked. Which makes sense because the floor does need to be glued on top of this part. But the way it is done here is really confusing. I also don't understand why the part that needs to be cut out is shown twice. At the bottom it is crossed out, suggesting that you need to discard it. But above it's not crossed out. Are they trying to show you what the cut out piece should look like? Surely the bottom pictogram with the part crossed out should suffice. This is a really convoluted way to say, that you need to glue the cockpit floor to this part, and that you need to cut out a section of this part. 😵

cockpit to bulkhead to fuselage assembly.

    With the floor added to the bottom front of the fuselage, we need to glue in a small bench to the cockpit floor, we then glue this entire subassembly to the bulkhead, to which we need to apply a decal, then we add all that to the fuselage. We also need to add two triangular shaped parts to either side of the top of the fuselage. And again, we have pointless and confusing callbacks to previous steps. In this case step 4 when we glued the two fuselage halves and to step 5 when we added the floor to the bottom front section of the fuselage. This is so unnecessary.

landing gear assembly.

    Then we need to glue in place the pitot tube, landing gear, antenna, some railing, and tail skid. We also need to remove a mounting point at the bottom front of the fuselage, and by the looks of it, some sort of antenna that's situated aft of the fuselage just before the tail-boom starts. This step is really overcrowded, I suggest you take your time and study it carefully before continuing. This really should have been broken up in perhaps 2 or 3 individual steps for more clarity.

engine assembly.

    Next we need to assemble the engine which comes in two halves. To this we then need to glue in the air filters and the crankshaft that connects the gearbox to the main rotor shaft. Or at least I think that's what the round piece numbered 33 is supposed to be.

finishing engine assembly.

    With the engine put together, we need to add it to a small place along with what I believe to be fuel lines. Surprisingly, Heller failed to mention in what step we assembled the engine in. Now I won't know when I've assembled the engine. They had no problem doing this earlier in the build, so why stop now? And that's my dose of sarcasm for the day. 😐 

skis, stretcher, and stepladder assembly.

    Next we need to add a stepladder on the right side, a stepladder and stretcher on the left side, and the skis to the model. And this time we have a reminder of step 7 when we added the landing gear to the fuselage. I really don't get the point of this. It does nothing but confuse people. Or maybe that's just me.

antenna, loudspeakers, cradle and toolbox assembly.

    Then we need to add an antenna to the nose of the Alouette III, a pair of what looks like loud speakers, a cradle of some sort, and what I can only assume is a tool box of some description. Perhaps to store some medical equipment or supplies.

main rotor shaft and rotor mechanism assembly.

    In the next couple of steps we need to assemble the rotor shaft. If done properly, with careful glue application, you can have the rotor spinning freely. Then we add the pitch control arms and rotor mechanism. Once again, with careful glue application, you can have this freely spinning.

installing the transparencies, engine mount, stabilizers and tail rotor arm.

    Up next we need to install the transparencies. Be aware, you will need to remove a small antenna from the top of the left side transparency. Then we need to add the main rotor shaft, something that I can only guess it's an engine mount. We also need to add the stabilizers and the tail rotor arm. And again we have pointless references to previous steps.

high gain antennas, rotor blades, engine and tail rotor assembly.

    Lastly, we need to add some antennas to the front of the helicopter. You need to pay attention here as you will need to remove a couple of legs from the two larger antennas. Then we install the engine to the top of the fuselage. We then add the 3 main rotor blades, and finish the build by installing the tail rotor.

painting instructions.

    Then we have the painting instructions for the two paint schemes. Actually it's the same paint scheme with different markings. One for Sécurité Civile, number 2306 "AW" that operated out of Annecy in December 1994. And the other is for the French Fire Department number 1611, registration F-GUAD, which operated out of Montpellier in July 2006. What's nice is that despite the simplistic paint scheme, the instructions are in color. In fact there was a lot of color shown throughout these instructions. I'm going to hazard a guess that even though the tooling for this kit was done back in 1980. The instructions were printed for this 2020 re-box.

Decal sheet

decal sheet with protective film.

    Surprisingly, given that everything else in this kit was loose in the box. Heller actually bothered to ad a protective film on top of the decals for a bit of protection. So that's a plus. But I'm afraid the positivity kind of ends there.

decal sheet overview.

    From distance the decals seem OK, but if you take a closer look, especially at the roundels, you'll notice that something is not quite right.

decal sheet instrument panel and roundels closeup.

    Getting in closer, the picture becomes clearer. The decals are not quite in register. It's not as bad as the Academy, Dragonfly kit I reviewed recently. But it's not perfect by any means. If you look closely, you'll notice that the dials on the instrument panel are slightly of. But if you look at the roundels, it's even more apparent. We can see that the blue triangle overlaps the orange circle ever so slightly. To add insult to injury, you can actually see the mesh pattern of the silk screening process. How they managed that is beyond me. I've did some silk screen printing in my time, and I've never seen the mesh through the ink.

more roundels and stencils.

    Another weird thing is that the colors are faded and inconsistent. That's not necessarily a problem, at least not if you are going for a more faded look. But if you want a factory fresh or a near factory fresh finish, you're out of luck.

tail rotor stripes and more stencils.

    Next are decals for the tail rotor. These don't look too bad. However, I think I'll paint mine by hand.

stencils ad markings.

    Some more stencils and markings, then. These ones that are in a single color really don't look bad, aside from the fact that they tend to fade towards the right side. It's only about half a millimeter, but it's enough to be noticeable.

tail number, and stencils.

    And the story of mediocrity continues. The tail number is just about legible, and you can almost make out the "Aerospatiale" logo above the tail number. The H marking next to it shows more signs of poor registration. And there's also a bit of blue bleeding into the wavy pattern at the bottom. I suppose the waves should either be white or transparent. But I really can't tell. Then there is a stencil of some sort, but I have no idea what it's supposed the represent. regardless, the quality of the printing is not really good.

more stencils.

    Again, single color stencils and marking look generally better than the multi colored ones, but only by a hair. Somehow the decals look both too thick and too thin at the same time. I really don't know what went wrong here, but something definitely did.

stencil and aircraft registration number.

    Overall there is no redeeming quality about these decals. And because we lack any sort of date, I will have to assume that these were printed in 1989 according to scalemates. That is the earliest date this kit came out with this paint scheme and markings. And that's the reason for the lackluster quality. Any way, let's get to the main event and see if the sprues can save this kit. But given that the tooling was done in 1980, I highly doubt it.

The plastic.

the sprues.

    Inside the box are 4 sprues molded in this light gray, very soft, flexible plastic and a small sprue containing our transparencies. It should come as no surprise that the panel line and rivet details are all of the raised variety. That's to be expected of a kit of this vintage. Also, the softness of the plastic is very similar to that of old resin kits. It's really weird to be honest.

sprue A overview.

    The first sprue contains a handful of the parts consisting of the fuselage halves, two antennas, the loud speakers, the bottom of the front fuselage section and the cockpit floor.

right fuselage half.

    Taking a closer look at the right fuselage half, we can see the very soft raised panel lines. Hopefully there won't be a need for a lot of sanding, because the plastic is so soft, even the slightest bit of abrasion will wipe them clean. And there are also these absurdly deep details molded into the side of the fuselage. I'm guessing these are vents, but surely they didn't need to make them this deep. This is much even for 1980s standards.

left fuselage half.

    Moving on to the left fuselage half, the story is the same. Soft raised panel lines with some really deep holes posing as vents. I can also see some flash around the tail-boom section. That will need cleaning.

cockpit floor.

    The floor presents no detail aside from some locating holes for the seats, cyclic & collective, bench and some locating tabs for the bulkhead. There is a bit of an attempt at some detail on the left side of the floor with some raised panel lines forming a rectangle. There's also a little bit of flash here and there. Bellow the floor are the two loud speakers which present far more detail I ever expected from this kit.

front section of bottom fuselage.

    The bottom of the fuselage presents more raised panel lines, some locating holes, the bracket that needs to be removed for this kit and some rivet like details. I really hope those are not rivets, as they'd be about half a meter in diameter in real life. Regardless the molding and details are more of a hint than anything. And I have no idea what that massive gash down the middle is supposed to be.

antenna.

    Next we have the antenna that goes beneath the fuselage next to the tail-boom. The one that needs to be added in on step 7. At least I made a much better recall to the instructions than the instructions themselves 😅.

inside of the fuselage halves.

    Flipping the sprue around, we can see just how dep those holes in the sides of the fuselage are. They are actually showing up on the inside. Luckily, this will all be covered up and hidden away. But I find it a bit hilarious just how absurdly deep those vents are. I'll chalk this down to the technology available in 1980, but still. It's still absurd. I've seen Tamiya kits from this era that were miles better than this.

sprue B overview.

    The second sprue holds our nose ski, main rotor blades, two engine variants, antennas, fuel lines, piping, air filters and other bits and bobs.

nose ski.

    The nose ski is molded really simplistically. Not only that, it's also hilariously oversized. In fact, I don't think this would look half bad on a 1/48 scale model. At least it's there as an option should you need it.

main rotor blades.

    Then we have the extremely simple rotor blades, there is a vague attempt at some detail but the best way to describe them is a representation of rotor blades rather than scaled down blades.

engine halves.

    Next are the engine halves. Again more of a crude representation than something recognizable.

another pair of engine halves.

    Then we have two more engine halves. These look a bit different from the ones we've just looked at. This is probably for a different version of the Alouette III as they don't appear in the instructions.

antennas, fuel lines, and other bits.

    Next we have a series of parts I'm almost certain are for a different variant of the helicopter. The only ones I did see in the instructions are parts 45 and 46. In any case, these are crudely molded, it's really anyone's guess what exactly these are supposed to be.

fuel line, antennas.

    Then we have one of the fuel lines, and the two antennas that go onto the nose of the aircraft. Again, the molding is really basic, with only a hint of detail here and there.

fuel line and air filters.

    More basic shapes posing as one of the other fuel lines and the two air filters for the engine. I haven't really mentioned this but there's flash pretty much everywhere.

sprue C overview.

    The third sprue contains our seats, seat legs, mounting brackets, stabilizers, nose ger, cyclic & collective, tail rotor, main rotor mechanism and other stuff.

seats.

    The seats, if you can even call them that are very basic. They actually look more like slightly deflated rubber dinghies than seats.

seat legs and engine bracket.

    Then we have the legs onto which we need to glue the seats. As well as one of the engine mounting bracket. Or at least that's what I think it is.

engine mounting brackets.

    Next we have both of the engine mounting brackets. The one we looked at above and another differently shaped one. I don't really know what else to say about these, so let's just move on and get this over with.

stepladder and rotor mechanism.

    Up next is one of the stepladders, and the rotor mechanism. There is a vague attempt at detail here but nothing ground breaking. I would find it hard to believe that this kit was considered ground breaking even when it came out.

tail rotor, tail rotor arm, and stuff.

    Then we have the tail rotor with some detailing. The tail rotor arm also shows some signs of detail. Then we have two parts I believe are not used for this version of the Alouette III.

stabilizers and part of the rotor shaft.

    Next we have this long thin part around which the main rotor shaft is built. And part of the tail stabilizers. No detail to speak of here other than some flash in places.

cyclic, collective, pitot tube, nose wheel and stabilizer end plates.

    Up next are the cyclic and collective pairs, once again, rather crudely molded. Next to that is the main rotor hub, also crudely molded and with signs of flash. This is followed by the pitot tube and nose wheel underneath. Then the two endplates for the stabilizers. Again, very crudely molded.

sprue D overview.

    The fourth sprue contains some railing, a stowage box/basket, engine mount, main gear skis, bulkhead, railings, stretcher, tail skid, landing gear struts, cradle and a few more bits and bobs.

antennas and stowage box/basket.

    First on this sprue we have a couple of severely out of scale antennas, these are not used for the variant in this box, even still they are really thick. Bellow that is a stowage box, which really should be a basket. The molding is just as basic as before.

engine mounts and skis.

    Then we have two engine mounts. One for each of the engine variants. And below are the hilariously oversized skis that go on the main landing gear.

railings and bulkhead.

    Then we have the two railings that go onto the tail-boom. And the bulkhead, there is a vague attempt at some detail here, but it's almost non-existent.

landing legs.

    Then we have the landing legs, thick, oversized and basic. Not much more to say here.

main rotor-shaft component, cradle, tail skid, unused parts.

    Up next are the main rotor pitch control arm. It's extremely simplified almost to the point where you can't really tell what it is, only the triangular shape giving away it's identity. Next to that are two parts that are not used in this kit, and I haven't the slightest clue what they might be. Below that is the tail skid. It doesn't look too bad aside from the fact that it's out of scale. And to the left of that is a cradle of some description, again quite out of scale.

wheels, rotor control arm, stretcher and cradle.

    Then we have the main wheels, looking more like misshapen donuts than actual wheels. To the right are a component I don't think it's used in this kit and another pitch control arm. Below is another cradle by the looks of it, and to the left of that is the external stretcher. Like with the rest of the plastic, these are all very crudely molded, resulting in more of a suggestion as to what they are rather than being scaled down version of the real component. And with that, let's quickly check out the transparencies.

Clear parts

sprue E overview.

    And lastly we have the sprue of clear parts. As mentioned before, and as you can see, one of the parts, the front cockpit glass, came already broken off thanks to the fact that these were all just thrown into the box without any sort of protection.

front cockpit glass.

    Interestingly enough, the front glass doesn't look half bad, at least not for the period. There are some scuffs and scratches, but that's to be expected given that the clear parts were left to just jostle around in the box. The framing is quite positive, should be fairly easy to create your own masks for it. The part also presents a decent amount of flash. But on the upside, at least it didn't crack when it broke off.

left side windows.

    The left side windows share the same story with the front glass. There are scratches and scuff marks, but given the circumstances, I'd be amazed if there weren't any. Flash is present here as well.

right side windows.

    The situation stays the same with the right side windows as well. Scratches, scuffs, flash. But there are decently molded frames which should make masking a breeze even without pre-cut after-marked masks. Overall, the transparencies are in surprisingly acceptable condition, despite being injected into molds that were tooled 46 years ago.

transparency demonstration part 1.

transparency demonstration part 2.

    Given the age of this, the clear parts are not bad transparency wise. They are not perfect, by any means. But we've seen here on this blog transparencies molded much more recently in far worse state. If there's any redeeming quality in this kit, and even that comes with an asterisk. That's the transparencies.

    Anyway, before I wrap up this review, let me give you a quick breakdown of the kit.

The good and the bad

    Instructions.

        Pros:

• full color print will help a lot when painting

        Cons:

• confusing instructions, definitely not beginner friendly
• some steps are extremely crowded, others are needlessly broken up into multiple steps
• redundant references to previous steps adds more confusion
• no sprue maps
• no build symbol breakdown

    Decals.

        Pros:

• can't think of anything positive to say

        Cons:

• colors out of register
• faded print
• printing inconsistency

    Main sprues.

        Pros:

• nothing

        Cons:

• extremely basic molding
• detail parts are chunky and out of scale
• soft plastic
• raised details
• tons of flash
• needlessly deep recessed details

    Transparent sprues.

        Pros:

• surprisingly clear for their age
• decent frame detail molding

        Cons:

• scuffs and scratches due to improper packaging
• lots of flash
• strange dimples throughout the parts

Final verdict

    In all honesty, there's nothing positive I can say about this kit. And the fact that Heller are still using 46 year old molds, without even a hint of that anywhere on the box or the instructions, speaks volumes about how little they care. Sure, there are other guilty of this as well. There are other manufacturers who also neglect to print a tooling date. But the fact that there's not even a copyright date makes it feel like Heller were trying their best to hide the age of this kit.

    I paid €11.65. And that's completely unacceptable for a kit this old. Even less so, given that it is still very much in print. If this were a vintage kit that can no longer be found in stores, I would have overlooked the price. But since this kit is still being stocked, that price is far too steep for something this old and in this state. If you can find it at around €4-€5, maybe give it a go if you want a challenge. Otherwise stay well clear.

    Given the age of this kit, I'm 100% certain that it will take a lot of work to get it even in a half presentable state. If you are a beginner, I would recommend against the Alouette III from Heller. In terms of alternatives, based on my findings, unfortunately the situation isn't any better. Only Heller and Fujimi still sell these kits actively and both use very old toolings. Although, Fujimi's offering is marketed as a 1/48 scale but apparently looks more like a 1/50 scale. All other alternatives, are from now defunct manufacturers at weird scales and can only be found on the second-hand market, usually at a premium. (Correction, LF Models apparently released a brand new kit of the Alouette III very recently, so that might be your best bet at a modern tooling, just note that LF Models kits are usually not beginner friendly).

    If you still want an Alouette in your collection and are not fussed about the variant. Revell offers the Alouette II in 1/32 which might be a better choice. Just know that the Alouette II is a completely different aircraft.

    In closing, you might have noticed that I wasn't really tearing into this kit. That's not because it doesn't deserve it. It very much does, especially at this price point. But the moment I opened that box, I knew what I was looking at. I can't criticize a 46 year old mold. What I can criticize is Heller's lack of transparency regarding the age. 

    Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my review of the Heller 1/72 SA 316B Alouette III. I also hope you were able to decide for your self whether to get this kit or not. If you found this useful in any way, or think you might know someone who might, leave a like, and share this blog on your social media so that it reaches as many people as possible. Leave any thoughts or suggestions down in the comments. With that, I hope you have a wonderful day and happy modeling, everyone. Cheers! 😁