Heco Tinplate Models (4 Viewers)

[saxon lions]

Thanks Louis

 

[Louis Badolato]

Some photos of the new Heco planes in situ:

 

[saxon lions]

Heco Auction Lots 1 - Fokker DVII

In August of last year in what now seems like another life with all the Covid problems I identified a number of HECO lots in an on line auction Knowing that Louis was not interested in these I determined to take part in my first auction and bid for these two models a Fokker DVII and a Bristol F2b Fighter (Brisfit).



I am now the proud owner of this Fokker DVII slightly modified to an early variant, and upgraded to the standard of the original excellent DVII made for me by Tony Williams. I am particularly pleased with the engine upgrade I faithfully copied from the original. The model is finished in the colorful Jasta 6 markings of Franz Hemer, thereby freeing up his DrI Triplane for a repaint in the markings of the Jasta 36 ace Gottfried von Haebler.





The other two DVIIs in the line up are my Heco of Schlegel and my modified Tin Toys of Buchner.

 

[saxon lions]

Heco Auction Lots 2 - F2b

Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately I lost out on the F2b which went on to raise a remarkable $425. Ironically this was the second time my hopes of adding the famous British 2 seat fighterto my collection as a previous job lot of Tin Toys models had included a reasonable F2b (Not Heco but Tin Toys thread post 4) which surprisingly for Tin Toys turned out to be massively undersized.

Having discovered an at best Tenuous link between a minor Saxon ace 'Trieber' and an interesting captured F2b flown as a 'squadron hack' by Jasta 5 I determined to create my own HECO lookalike for less than $425. This Is where Louis came to my aid with a number of brilliant detailed photos of his Heco F2b 'Brisfit' I hope he does not mind me including some in this post as the original picture of it on post 782 surely does not do it justice.


Thanks to these pictures I was able to create the F2b used as a 'squadron hack' (runabout) to ferry around pilots and pick up vital supplies like wine, beer and bright green paint. A translation of the inscription is Don't Shoot Good Fellows (people). and a photo of the original can easily be found on the internet.






Sorry last photo slightly blurred but hope you like it.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Mark,

These could be your best conversions and paint jobs yet! :salute:: They are fantastic!

 

[Al Fisher]

Gotta admit that after spending big bucks on a Heco I wouldn't dare to do anything that might mess it up. You've done a terrific job . . . looking forward to seeing more.

Bosun Al

 

[saxon lions]

New Scratch Builds

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I have also added two new scratch builds in Heco style which I hope to post soon on the not Heco but Tin Toys thread.

 

[saxon lions]

Hi Bosun AL

You are right. I started by collecting Britains hollow cast style Toy Soldiers mainly as modern castings converted to figures representing units of the Saxon Army 1871-1918, but managed to get a reputation from my fellow collectors for occasionally converting a £20 rare(ish) hollowcast into a £5 Saxon - the Crescent figure of a British soldier carrying a wounded colleague comes to mind. Still even I would baulk at doing it to a $425 Heco plane and I note that the plane transporter Louis alerted us to went for the same amount last week.

 

[Louis Badolato]

I was going through my Heco Sopwith Camels to send one off for our friend Mark (Saxon lions) to convert into a Sopwith Pup (which we both believed Heco had not made), when I stumbled across this model, tucked into a cabinet full of a couple of dozen Heco bi and tri-planes. I am not the expert that Mark or Al is, but I am pretty sure I found a Heco Tinplate Models Sopwith Pup:

 

[saxon lions]

Hi Louis

Sorry but it is a very nice Camel - The wing tips are the wrong shape - see the attachment on email I sent Thurs - but would be good starting point nearly PERFECT

 

[Louis Badolato]

Hi Louis

Sorry but it is a very nice Camel - The wing tips are the wrong shape - see the attachment on email I sent Thurs - but would be good starting point

Mark,

I defer to your expertise, but shouldn't there be a hump behind the cockpit?

 

[saxon lions]

yes but often heco missed it

 

[saxon lions]

Two Heco models from Italy on Ebay

For anyone wishing to start or add to a collection of HECO models there are two delightful models available on Ebay from Italy at very reasonable prices.

A 2 seat Bleriot Monoplane and a Sopwith Triplane.

HECO AEREO giocattolo fatto a mano in metallo ottimo stato cm 25 c. Limited ED.

HECO AEREO giocattolo fatto a mano in metallo art. 12 cm 25 c. Limited ED.

 

[Louis Badolato]

There are now more than 250,000 views of this thread!:salute:: How is it possible that only a handful of us post photos of our Heco collections? Come on guys, post some photos, especially of the dozens of sets we know exist but have no photos of!{sm4}

 

[saxon lions]

Well said Louis I agree whole heartedly

 

[saxon lions]

Two HECO Conversions (1) Albatros DV to Pfalz DIII

This HECO conversion was a spur of the moment decision involving converting my Albatros DVa to a Pfalz DIII. This may seem an odd decision but for a while I had been aware that this particular model was much smaller and had an odd shaped fuselage when compared to my other two HECO Albatros models (and indeed also the Blatch one) and I had determined to replace it with a better example if one became available., Then I lined it up next to my newly repainted Pfalz DIIIa and 'bingo' I realised that the fuselage was that of a slightly elongated Pfalz.. A HECO Pfalz DIII in the markings of Karl Pech was top of my wish list so the decision was taken. It was relatively easy to remove the extension piece and I was able to recreate an almost exact copy of my original Pfalz even managing to reproduce the moving rudder. The only three differences between the two models were those between the DIII and the up rated DIIIa. Thus the new model had the pointed lower wing tips, smaller horizontal tail surface and internally mounted machine guns that characterized the DIII. along with amended markings for the Jasta 29 ace Pech. Now all I need is a replacement Albatros DV.



Karl Peck Jasta 29 with his new Pfalz DIII



The first picture shows the differences in the wings between the DIII and DIIIa, the second the mounting of the machine guns - if you look carefully on the Diii you can see the muzzle of the machine gun just behinthe leading fuselage strut

 

[saxon lions]

Two HECO Conversions (2) Sopwith Pup

As per post 1489 below Louis and I believe that HECO never made a Sopwith Pup unless one appears as a special, but now thanks to Louis I have been able to add a captured Sopwith Pup to my collection of planes flown by Saxon Aces by converting an Early HECO Sopwith Camel similar to this one which made up a part of a recent over priced lot on Ebay.


The conversion was slightly harder than I expected but the result I feel was well worth it.

I painted it as the captured Sopwith Pup B1721 of 54 Squadron, flown by Lt. ‘Fred’ Kantel. It was brought down relatively intact on 30th May 1917 while escorting FE2s on a bombing raid having been in service for less than a month. The victory was claimed by Vzfw. Karl Holler of Jasta 6, although Holler a prewar Folk singer was not a Saxon the plane having been given German markings remained with Jasta 6 for some weeks for evaluation before its commander Otto Bernert took it with him when he took command of Jasta Boelcke. During this period it is likely most of the pilots of the Jasta would have been given the opportunity to fly the Pup including the Saxon Fritz Krebs soon to become the Jasta's leading ace scoring eight victories prior to his death on 16/07/17.


Hope you like them

 

[Louis Badolato]

Terrific conversions, Mark!:salute::

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Hi Guys,
I was scanning an auction and by chance saw the following offer...

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/heco-or-similar-maker-tinplate-ww1-aircraft-2150-c-36c4285a11

And thought of sharing it here in case someone is interested.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Thanks Luiz. I am going to let anyone else on the forum have first dibs, as I already have a couple of SE5a’s. If no one else indicates they plan to bid I might.