Philippe de Lespinay started with Heller, the French model kit company in the 1960s as a designer and project engineer. He also also worked for Cox, who are now known for their remote control and gas powered vehicles, but also created many kits over the years. More recently, he was the curator of the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum. And he’s on the hobbyDB Advisory Board, so yeah, he’s our kind of guy.
hobbyDB will be regularly sharing his insights on particular models he has worked on including production kits, never-produced projects, and his own custom builds. We hope you enjoy the journey through his career as well.
Read more about his history in the toy and model business here.
Heller Ferrari 512
1970 was a big year for me as I moved to the United States and brought my finished models as a business card to find job opportunities.
The Heller models, that were by then distributed by AMT in an exchange deal with the French company, were appreciated by the Model Car Science magazine’s editors and they ended on the front page of the February 1971 issue.
This was another Ferrari kit drawn from pictures, the 512M of 1970. The actual kit turned out quite well.
I remember reading Model Car Science back in the 1970s… but I never built any Heller/AMT kits! Oh well.
Enter your email address if you like to receive notifications of new posts by email.
Email Address
Subscribe
hobbyDB is a participant in Amazon, eBay, Entertainment Earth, and other affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to other websites. While we also accept consideration from Brands or Retailers (which is then clearly marked as Sponsored Content) all editorial opinions are our own.