Landmarks - The Heller Eiffel Tower

I recently visited a toy shop I seldom get to, mainly because they rarely have anything of interest. But on this occasion, they had a single Heller kit - the Eiffel Tower (or Tour Eiffel in French), which I quickly added to my collection.

I have not seen any Heller kits in New Zealand for many years, except at fairs. So this was a very special kit, and fits in nicely with my Landmarks of the World articles.

This is one of at least three Eiffel Tower kits that have been made over the years. By the French firm S.E.L.F.E. in the 1950s, which was also issued by Pyro in the USA, and Eaglewall in Britain; by Revell Germany in the 1980s; and by Heller.

All are in different scales. Here is a quick look at the various Landmarks of the World Kits.

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2023/09/landmarks-of-world-overview-of-model.html

Work began on the Eiffel Tower in 1887, and it was completed in 1889, for the centenary of the French Revolution. Despite being unpopular in some quarters at first, it is now probably the most famous structure in France.

The Heller kit is the smallest, and most recent, of the Eiffel Tower kits. It was released in the 1990s, so around the centenary of the Tower, and the second centenary of the French Revolution.

It is 1/650th scale, and stands 477 mm tall when complete, and 188 mm along each base.

There are 65 parts, in sand-brown plastic, and a small decal sheet. There are four identical sprues of base and tower parts; four sprues of central parts; and one sprue of top parts.

One odd point is that some of the kit boxes say only 57 parts, but I do not know if the kit was modified at some stage, and extra parts added.

There are also six small pots of paint, and a tube of Superglue in this version. The box top mentions a brush, but this was missing from my example.

Previous versions of this kit have come either without paints and cement; or with what looks to be tinlets of Humbrol paint, and normal polystyrene cement.

This kit has appeared in several different boxes over the years, and here are a couple of further examples. It has also carried several different

 numbers, including 61201, 81201, and 57201.

Six photographs in total, four are mine, and two from Worthpoint.

Paul Adams from New Zealand