Small Scale Military Headquarters

If someone is refurbishing the 21C molds, I'm encouraged. Even though the P-51 is an old favorite of many, It is the one I'd pick if wanting to meet the interests of the masses.
Maybe they have other molds tucked away. I'll watch this with great interest.

I got thinking! It was stated in a post these are older molds. Do they have retractable gear? With or without pilot? Why don't these on line sellers give us details? If they want orders, tell us what we are getting. Frustrating!

Ok, here we go:

Awesome pics, COOper and thanks for posting

Yep, basically the old retooled 21c P-51D repainted. Even the figure is the same. Funny, but the box more closely resembles that used for the BBI P-51s. I think "The Hun Hunter from Texas" is my favorite of the bunch.

I don't see a lot of obvious paint flaws, though it seems like the OD paint across the nose on all the planes doesn't align with that around the base of the windscreen - that isn't all that accurate. Also, the instrument hood on several of the planes should be black, not silver, to reduce sun glare and all. At least all the props are straight and not bent! Still can't make up my mind about these. I've got 3 21c P-51s, which look just as good as these for the most part, a couple BBI P-51s, and of course the S1 21c P-51 that was my original XD purchase, so I just can't commit and say yeah, I want to spend $129 on something I once bought at Wal Mart for $40...

Congratulations Cooper, you got all four.
These P-51's look great and its a good opportunity for new collectors to get into 1:18.
I wonder who this company is and how they came into ownership of these molds? Oh well.....
....its good to see something in 1:18.

tmanthegreat wrote:Awesome pics, COOper and thanks for posting

Yep, basically the old retooled 21c P-51D repainted. Even the figure is the same. Funny, but the box more closely resembles that used for the BBI P-51s. I think "The Hun Hunter from Texas" is my favorite of the bunch.

I don't see a lot of obvious paint flaws, though it seems like the OD paint across the nose on all the planes doesn't align with that around the base of the windscreen - that isn't all that accurate. Also, the instrument hood on several of the planes should be black, not silver, to reduce sun glare and all. At least all the props are straight and not bent! Still can't make up my mind about these. I've got 3 21c P-51s, which look just as good as these for the most part, a couple BBI P-51s, and of course the S1 21c P-51 that was my original XD purchase, so I just can't commit and say yeah, I want to spend $129 on something I once bought at Wal Mart for $40...

Your right they do looked like boxed BBI's.

Cooper you got all 4 !!!!

Good for you !!!

Things must be good in Germany !!!

Hmmmm..... Should not the "Red Tail" pilot be a Black guy ?

Snake Man wrote:Hmmmm..... Should not the "Red Tail" pilot be a Black guy ?

Sure looks like a Tuskegee Red Tail..........

Thanks for the pics COOper.

Looks like Hun Hunter has a black dash at least.

So if I bought one that'd be the one I'd get. Too bad American Beauty is not quite right in that respect.
Lots of kill markings on both.

An easy fix or pain to correct?

Thanks for the pics COOper.

All in all, they look not bad, but the silver dash on 3 out of 4 really stands out, and not in a good way.

Decent repaints, but priced at $130. Going to be a bit of a hard sell for those of us who have examples of the 21 C and BBI versions, unless there is a scheme that you must have.

Not complaining about the $130 price tag, as think that these days, that is a fair price. All models these days have gone up in price, and not just the ones you could get at Walmart. Just the way it is.

I know I have enough 1/18 Mustangs, but wish Flight Wing success with these.

These P-51 looks great! But I have enough P-51, if the price is $130 that really freaking me out. The good old day is gone, so sad!!

Greetings:

I am with the consensus....these look okay. The silver dash really is not correct at all (I have never seen ANY P-51 with the silver dash) and the black pilot figure missing from the Tuskegee plane is a pretty big error as well. As far as the planes go "The Hun Hunter-Texas" looks to be the best of the bunch.

Curious about the boxes as well.

Seems like maybe 2-3 companies bought the old 21c molds as we've seen a few of the planes offered by different companies now. But this is the first plane we've seen to have the figures included.

I had heard some of the molds were destroyed so I doubt we will see all the planes offered again.

Corey

I like the weathering around the exhaust stacks, the boxes look sharp; appropriately labeled 'United States Army Airforces'!

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I don't think 'The Hun Hunter from Texas' had a tail fillet.

$130 seems about $30 too much, considering BBi's 109 is still retailing $89.99 and is frankly a more detailed product.

I thought the exhaust staining was quite heavy-handed. I never saw that much blackening around P-51 exhausts. Take a look at the actual aircraft picture included in the photo set. I would rather not have any attempt at weathering at all than to have it poorly done. I would rather do my own weathering. Easier to do my own than to have to paint over an over done attempt.

The Hun Hunter is tempting me the most. American Beauty a close second. That silver dash does blow... Oh well maybe I can fix it easily?

Wow...for the price point, that's a pretty big paint mistake. Not JSI-Spotcat levels of crapness, but a big boo boo nonetheless.

I'm not trying to be picky but the C on the tail of The Hun Hunter is backwards.



.....for the price they're charging, quality control should have caught some of these mistakes.

Hey TKO, great to hear from you! Working on any customs?

Good to see you posting again, Zach.

And the backwards C, means every one of them has a qc issue. Simple mistakes like this drive collectors crazy, especially with the new price tag.

Not a rivet counter, but these are pretty glaring mistakes. You would have hoped that these would have been spotted before going into production.

Greetings:

You have to wonder about these why in the world they would paint the dash black in one of the planes but not all of them. That is kind of a strange situation.

The backward C is a very glaring error.

I am not overly impressed by these. I hope it brings new collectors into 1/18 but honestly there are a surplus of old Mustangs out there and the ones already offered are superior to these. I think these will be a tough sell.

Corey

As noted, these definitley have their paint issues. American Beauty should have two different names one on each side, and also on the gear door I think it had a squadron or group insignia. Hunter indeed should not have the fin fillet and has the C issue. The other two look ok except for the silver dash. At least that will be an easy fix, just get a $1.50 bottle of testors flat black at AC Moore. But when you pay $130 for a model pre painted and you have to fix it, that's something that just doesnt sit right w me.

Hello Gents
I have a question for anybody who has purchased the 'Man O War' P51...
The one I got has two tail wings with identical paint jobs, which means the green stripes are correct on the starboard side, but end up underneath on the port.
Is this just on my example, or are they all like this? I'd like to find out before taking it up with the retailer.
Regards
Kev

I don't have one but it sounds like you have two starboard side pieces. But then you'd know right a way by the fit.
If each of the horizontal stabilizers fit correctly than they painted the wrong side of the port stabilizer.

So this one must be painted on the wrong side, because it fits in place fine.

Snake Man wrote:I thought the exhaust staining was quite heavy-handed. I never saw that much blackening around P-51 exhausts. Take a look at the actual aircraft picture included in the photo set. I would rather not have any attempt at weathering at all than to have it poorly done. I would rather do my own weathering. Easier to do my own than to have to paint over an over done attempt.

As someone who is blessed with being around a Mustang a lot, including pulling it out and towing it in as well as post flight clean-up, I can tell you there is no staining around the stacks. There is faint discoloring, kind of a dirty irridescent well to the rear of the stacks where the hot exhaust blows back. Black soot would probably only occur from a lousy engine running lousy fuel on full rich mixture. Even then it would be blown back and very faint. you're more likely to see exhaust blow-back against darker O.D. paint and even then it is more a khaki stain. Don't know what it was about Desert Hurricanes (and to a lesser extent Spitfires) but they are the exception as seen in this photo.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-43YFEesbq-4/T ... +LB680.jpg

Greetings

It is sad these planes are such a mess. The silver panel, the backwards C, bad weathering and now someone got one with two of the same stabilizer. It is really a shame because given the nice boxes and presentation, I think a lot more was expected of this new offering. Seems like more of the same 21c gremlins showing up

Corey