Small Scale Military Headquarters

I have over 20 21st Century 1/32 WW II fighters, and every time I get one, I check to see what defect it has.

Some of them are in storage and haven't been checked, but are are few glaring examples---most of them have small paint smears or scratches.


1. P-51D "Mrs. Bonnie"---cowling paint abrasion from the plastic tie that keeps the model in the plastic tray, and the cowling insert in front of the canopy was not correctly painted so the olive drab paint is not aligned with the rest of the paint.
2. P-51D "Double Nuthin"---the cowling insert in front of the canopy was not correctly painted so the olive drab paint is not aligned with the rest of the paint.
3. P-51 "Bald Eagle"---fuselage gap behind the rear-right canopy because the fuselage insert behind the canopy was inserted incorrectly.
4. P-51 "Berlin Express"---cowling insert was not inserted properly causing a big gap.
5. Spitfire---missing the large "XR D" lettering on the left fuselage, so I had to buy a decal sheet.
6. Zero---missing the red trim paint on the right wing aileron.
7. Another Zero--the rear wheel door was not painted ( I saw a similar unpainted rear wheel cover on a built Tamiya-? kit Zero, so maybe the rear wheel cover is supposed to be unpainted---but it seems bizarre).
8. FW-190---big scratch on the right fuselage.
9. FW-190D---most of the left canopy is covered with a large glue smear or scratch and missing a screw hole cover on the fuselage.
10. ME 262 right wing was not glued correctly which caused a gap when the wings was attached to the fuselage.

I haven't noticed any real obvious problems on the P-47s, P-40s, Stuka, Folgore, or Corsair.

I've got a Fw190A-8 with 2 different main gear wheel hubs. One side has a late style A-8 hub and the other side has a early style A-3 hub which goes to show that 21st was eventually going to make the early butcher bird before the company tanked. Most of the models I've seen always had something small wrong with them I think that's what happens when you use cheap, low budget chinese labor.

HARRY:

The P-51 "Mrs. Bonnie" comes with a pitot tube, so I guess 21st Century decided to save money and exclude the pitot tube for the future Mustangs.

Seeing this thread almost made me laugh because it’s been a foregone conclusion for many years now that the 21st Century products in nearly all their scales were continually dogged by quality control issues for the entire production run

Still, I find it telling that other companies that mass-produced 1/32 aircraft models around the same time had significantly fewer QC defects. All the BBI 1/32 planes I got had no issues. The FOV planes (despite some horrendous toolings) generally came in good shape. My premium Corgi and Hobby Master 1/32 planes were perfect right out of the box.

However, now that I’ve been collecting the premium 1/30 scale soldiers, armor, and aircraft, I’ve seen what good quality is really like. Outside of the fact that the 21st Century pieces had a lot of working parts, they were basically toys and almost junk compared to some of the premium 1/30 scale items...

That said, I’m still hanging on to my 21st Century items all the same

Well, you can't really compare 21st to Corgi and the like, as like you said 21st were toy-like...because they WERE toys first and foremost. The other were geared more to the collector crowd with BBI being the low-end of that spectrum.

[CAT]CplSlade wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:55 pm

Well, you can't really compare 21st to Corgi and the like, as like you said 21st were toy-like...because they WERE toys first and foremost. The other were geared more to the collector crowd with BBI being the low-end of that spectrum.

Yeah, remember that 1/32 21st century could easily be had in any walmart for $15. BBI realized (only too late) that there was a market and jumped in around the $50 mark.
I take the 21st stuff for what it is, a great model for repaints.

I personally miss the 21st stuff. The thrill of the hunt and that satisfaction when you finally found what you were looking for.

dragon53 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:38 pm

HARRY:

The P-51 "Mrs. Bonnie" comes with a pitot tube, so I guess 21st Century decided to save money and exclude the pitot tube for the future Mustangs.

I don't have any of the D models, but I'm pretty sure the "B" models had the pitot tubes.

HARRY:

I've got four P-51B models (Berlin Express, Shangri-La, Bullfrog and Bald Eagle) and none have a pitot tube----but they do have a hole for a pitot tube.
So I've been thinking about making crude pitot tubes from a paper clip, but it seems like a lot of trouble for something on the bottom of the plane that isn't seen much anyway.

dragon53 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:18 am

HARRY:

I've got four P-51B models (Berlin Express, Shangri-La, Bullfrog and Bald Eagle) and none have a pitot tube----but they do have a hole for a pitot tube.
So I've been thinking about making crude pitot tubes from a paper clip, but it seems like a lot of trouble for something on the bottom of the plane that isn't seen much anyway.

Hmmm I could've sworn my Shangri La had a pitot tube. Guess I was wrong.

dragon53 wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:38 pm

HARRY:

The P-51 "Mrs. Bonnie" comes with a pitot tube, so I guess 21st Century decided to save money and exclude the pitot tube for the future Mustangs.

If I remember correctly, "Miss Bonnie" was one of the last P-51D's they made, so they may have decided to finally add it.