P-38 "California Cutie" reviews?

[dragon53]

Can anyone post a DETAILED review of the 21st Century P-38 "California Cutie"?....(I couldn't find any detailed reviews elsewhere on SSHQ)

[MG-42]

......... No , but all I can say is ,.. "I like it" * ... and I got one helluva deal on it though , $45.00 bucks ! * =



Mitch v MG

[exether_mega]

I realy love it ! The only P-38 I have but for my part the best of all.

phil

[pickelhaube]

......... No , but all I can say is ,.. "I like it" * ... and I got one helluva deal on it though , $45.00 bucks ! * =



Mitch v MG

Wow $45 !!
What kind of review do you want ? It is a nice looking P-38. It is one of 3 OD green P-38's that have been made by 21st.
1. Cally Cutie
2. Samantha Peyton
3. Haleanka ( spell)
My opion on the OD green 38s is that the Haleanka is the coolest looking one.
I got one C. Cutie from Bad Cat and one from Mili. Toys on preorder. Both of them are still in there boxes. They are a bunch of them on e-bay selling for a little less.
Mg-42 were did you get yours for $45 ? What a deal !!!

[MG-42]

* Well , it sure was'nt eviLBay. I bought it off a very influential and kind friend , after an excellent trade we had made prior.



Mitch v MG

[dragon53]

In terms of a detailed review, I'm looking for how the California Cutie rates in terms of detail, workmanship, etc. compared to other 1/18 planes.

In searching for reviews of the California Cutie and 21st's other P-38s on SSHQ, the reviews seem to be that owners like them a lot, but don't love them like owners of BBI Hellcats/Mustangs/Corsairs or owners of 21st's F-86 Huff, AH-1W SuperCobra, ME-26s, etc.

[olifant]

Positives for CC are crisp painting and sheer, unaldulterated size. Bigger is sometimes better.

Down side is this is an older mold and doesn't have the detail of the newer releases. I would say better than the P-47, on par with the FW-190D but not as good as the retooled Mustang and 109.

[Black Lion VF-213]

I had the Cal Cutie but sold it. I used to have Pudgy V also at one time. Have sold both. Liked them both. Liked Cal Cutie better. Just not enough room anymore for 1:18 planes and I wanted to get more Century Wings 1/72 Tomcats.

Anyway I thought Cal Cutie was great. True its detail isn't as great as some newer 21st century planes but its paint was excellent and they did a pretty good job of slight weathering by making different lighter shades of olive drab painted on the plane's topside. The cockpits on P-38's are decently detailed. Suprisingly better than expected. The props spin counter from one another just like the real P-38. The rear landing gears aren't correct by any means. They sit way too far to the rear under their respective fuselage booms. I don't think there's anyway 21st could have engineered them to sit in the correct position without making the tail fall to the ground. Unless they put some serious lead weights in the nose. Straightforward to assemble, however each piece fits in real tight. gotta use muscle to get the pieces to fit inside one another.

As far as workmanship I think the Cal Cutie is better than Pudgy with regards to seam lines, panel alignment, and is more realistic in the paint department. There's no way to get close to duplicating bare natural metal finish like the real Pudgy using 21st' paints. Much easier to get Cal Cutie correct as far as paint goes. If you wanted to make a Cal Cutie look like the beautiful (now dead because of a 1995 crash) restored Cal Cutie, all you would have to do is paint the landing gears silver, and coat it with a clear coat and you have below:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/UR ... p38-15.jpg

I really wish they released them in 1/32 also. Would have made a great compliment to the 1/18 versions.

[dragon53]

BLACK LION VF-213:

Thanks for the very good review.
I think the reason that there aren't a lot of reviews about 21st Century's P-38s is because everyone seems to like them a lot, but not love them.

The SSHQ reviews of BBI's Corsairs, Mustangs, Phantom and Hellcats (except the wing problems) are near ecstatic as are the reviews for 21st's ME-262s and AH-1W, etc.

[dragon53]

My P-38 California Cutie arrived yesterday ($63 plus shipping). I decided to buy Cutie because I've read that's its been discontinued, and I like the paint scheme a lot---D-Day stripes look great contrasting with olive drab. Cutie will apparently be replaced by a new 1/18 P-38 repaint in silver (unfortunately, not Bong's "Marge")----and I assume the new P-38 repaint will be more expensive (like 21st's 1/18 Panther repaint).

The Cutie reminds me of my other 21st 1/18 planes (P-51 Big Beautiful Doll, F-86 The Huff)---all three look stunning from several feet away because of the fantastic paint schemes, but at close range, their lack of detail is obvious (especially compared to my BBI F-4U, F-4J and P-51).

I like the flat finish of Cutie's olive drab paint which implies weathering. The real weathering (the streaks on the wings around the cockpit and the superchargers don't fare well compared to BBI's weathering). As BLACK LION VF-213 said in his review, it requires a lot of muscle assembling the Cutie---especially the rocket pylons---I thought I was going to scratch the wing paint off or break something.

The Cutie had 2 workmanship problems I've noticed---the fuselage seam near the Cutie nose art didn't fit together properly and the lower canopy slides down by itself (I fixed this with Elmer's glue).

I would give the Cutie a "B" grade because of the great paint scheme---it only lacks detail and weathering.

[dragon53]

PS---Is anyone disappointed that 21st Century didn't provide screw hole covers for the 2 screw holes on the fuselage bottom used to attach the P-38 to the plastic pack?

[kevrut]

I think it's the best one 21C put out.