A couple of years passed, my son had a room with airplanes, but I was collecting Hot Wheels and some 1/18 cars so I didn’t really give much thought to the 4 For Victory contest when I found out about it on the 21st Century Toys Fan Club site. Not many people did and only a total of 27 completed the mission.
As more time passed, I started to become more and more interested in the history of WWII, the men, and the machines, and my son became less interested in airplanes. My other collections were sold, so I could put a concentrated effort into my deepening interest in 1/18 airplanes. To me the airplanes are items that I could relate to while reading or learning about the different aspects of WWII, with most of the planes being true (or very close to) representations of the machines flown during the war.
I was now on the search to find the 1/18 airplanes that I had missed and/or passed over when they were in the stores. I have been able to buy, sell, and trade to fill in the gaps in my collection, and luckily many were acquired before 21st Century Toys closed there doors. I still don’t have every one that was released, but I am not that far off. I refuse to pay any amount just to get one that is missing from my collection, so that is why there are still missing airplanes from the line up. Most of all I had basically accepted the fact that the 4 For Victory, The Tender Terror, P-51D would not be in my collection, for I did not participate and I was not willing to pay what they are currently selling for (that is if you can find one for sale).
The closing of 21st Century Toys and the attempted start up of All Go has allowed for some interesting items being released to the public. Many remember seeing the BF 109 that fellow member John Lumley acquired. Many have seen the prototypes that have been offered, too. This liquidating of 21st Century Toys items has brought me to a point that I am considering to be as close to a true Tender Terror, 4 For Victory P-51 as I will most likely get. I was able to get what is being called a Tender Terror shell. What is a shell? It is one of the unused Tender Terror P-51s that did not receive the final markings and artwork that were hand applied by Roy Southerland to make a complete and true Tender Terror prize airplane. There were a few more TT’s produced and shipped to California then what was scheduled to be given away. These were spares in case of damage or if some unforeseen accident were to occur.
My airplane was authenticated by TKO211 as truly one of the “shell” aircraft that had just recently been pulled from the 21st Century Toys vault. There was one other shell that is known to have been released from the vault earlier this year. That one ended in the hands of the real TT pilot’s grandson. There may be a couple more in the vault, or the vault may be empty of them now. Only a select few really know for sure. In an effort to protect the contest winners, people form 21st Century Toys has allowed Zach (TKO) to produce documentation to clearly identify the two known shells as just that…”shells”. I am completely supportive of this action of protecting the contest winners, and at the same time my shell is basically being given its own pedigree. In the end I am very happy to have been able to get this factory made TT, even if it is missing the final artwork and details of a true award prize. A side benefit is that it will be documented that my TT will be 1 of 2 shells known to exist.
In the end I am happy with my find and the rest of my 1/18 airplane collection. I don’t plan on parting with any of them anytime soon.
