Small Scale Military Headquarters

I had planned on just buying the one plane.But dang those paint schemes are really cool especially the flight 19 one I guess I am in for those three!

Just to clarify, all 4 planes on the table (3 had their wings retracted) are ALL 1/18 scale, correct?

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Bring 'em on before Christmas and 21st Century will have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Yes!

-Ski

Ski? What about the doors?
Aaron

Quixote511 wrote:Ski? What about the doors?
Aaron

The bomb bay doors on the Avenger should be 2 pieces each that fold. Like this:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... D%26sa%3DN

As Andrew mentioned, it's probably too much of a pain to engineer....

-Ski

Incredable pictures. This could be the best release so far, by 21st.
I wonder if this is the most complicated undertaking so far?
Absolutely amazing detail. - aside from the main landing gear struts & the bomb bay doors - the whole thing is spot on.

This is certainly worthy of some interesting detailing and upgrading. Not to mention owning a few of them.

This is the most exciting (big) release since the F18 & F16.
I'm sure it will attract a lot of attention from collectors who, up until this point, had not considered getting one.

Also looking forward to the Zero.

Bravo! 21st Century, Bravo!

HD

Here is another site with Avenger detail

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/avenger.html

Here is one on the TFB Tarpon (Avenger) - some nice paint schemes, as well.

http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircr ... enger.html

Check out the Avenger photos by HpH - the Chech master modellers:

http://www.hph.cz/

Then click on - Historical Planes
- and go to page 3. Then sit back and marvel.

21st looks pretty darn excellent, don't you think!

HD

Wow! Just saw the pics, they look amazing! I really hope these make it out before year's end, the anticipation is grueling Definitely going to have to get one of each of these, and my wallet is already protesting

Those Avengers look beautiful!! Hopefully, we will get simultaneous paint scheme releases and not have a repeat of the ME-109G with one scheme being released then only to have the rest show up a year later! We've all waited years for this release and we should be able to have our pick of the litter

Waiting with much anticipation now!

Great pictures! Don't understand why they don't have all their markings yet. Is it that difficult to pick a specific example of each paint scheme, or what's the deal with that?

Someone mentioned a problem with the gear struts. Sorry I don't remember who said it, but whomever you were, can you specify what the nature of the problem is?

Now, would the double-folding bomb bay doors be a grater engineering challenge that say, the main landing gear retraction mechanism on the F-104? Have you seen the detail on those?

Anyhow, I'm very much looking forward to getting my long awaited Avenger. Didn't G. H. Bush fly one during the war? Thought so.

P.S.: Now give us a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon.

See you all after Wilma. Best regards from Miami, Florida...Eddie372

Actually the markings have already been picked. My understanding is that the marking masks were not ready yet for this stage for the 2 planes. In fact I think these were "base coat color proofs" for 21st to approve before moving on to markings. (minus the flight 19 version) that one looks finished. the great news is that they gotta be close now if we are seeing them in color!

The flight 19 one needs its star and bars on the fuselage....

-Ski

tmanthegreat wrote:Hopefully, we will get simultaneous paint scheme releases...We've all waited years for this release and we should be able to have our pick of the litter

I hear you Tman but I think they should consider doing what bbi does which is release a new plane in one scheme and wait a year before repainting like the P-51. That way if you want the new highly anticipated plane you have to get the S1. Then, when S2 & S3 are the schemes you always wanted, you have to get them.... Think about it - you don't even hear about a bbi S2 Corsair so that you buy S1 which is not a wartime scheme, and probably would be a bad seller if there were more accurate schemes available.

21st got burned releasing all the 190s at once....but something tells me they could release 6 Avengers at once and it wouldn't be a problem.

I think it still would be a problem to have too many schemes out at once. I would release 2 or so and that be that for a while, one PTO and one ETO. I would hate to have to see them do a 4 for Victory fiasco on such a major project as the Avenger.
Aaron

I think the Tri Colour scheme would be the first choice to release. It was used on the East & West coasts and by a variety of nations.

I thought about the bomb bay folding issue and I think it could be resolved quite easily:

Use piano type hinges on the inside and locate them evenly along the length in either 3 or 5 places. Do the normal split down the lenght of the bombay door - being careful not to alter the natural angle of the cut, in relation to the curve of the door. With hinges on the inside - you could only fold out the doors to their present natural curve - and it would be strong.

Once opened, you could fold then them as per the real thing.

The main struts could use better porpotioning & more support braces in the correct positions.
I know they could do it - look at the incredable job they did on the F104s.

I do believe that this is the new Flagship from 21st and is the latest pinicle in this art form. As such, well worth doing in my humbe opinion. Of course I don't know all the logistical issues they face.

Keep up the great work. This is probably the most exciting hobby area to be around these days. Even the prolific 1/35 scale has to admit to serious competiton when you look at what is being released. Amazing!

HD

Does any one know if wal-mart is going to carry the avenger for sure or not?

Got home from the Convention last night, and my cable was out until right now.

These are test-shots from the molds. The paint work, as TKO211 said, is in the proofing stage. I was able to unpack/look at/assemble several of the various schemes of the Avenger (and two of the new Mustangs ) in the booth, and can say that this is easily the crown jewel of 1/18 aircraft so far.

There is no issue as far as rear landing gear, as much as that is still in the refining stage. I spoke with Roy about a couple features, and those were already being perfected. This release is going to be as bug-free as a toy can get.

Thanks for the info. Well, based on what you are saying regarding more refinements I don't think I'll make holiday plans around getting this plane. I hope I'm wrong, though.

21st is still very optimistic about an end-of-year release.

Like I said, I've had several of these inhand, and can honestly tell you that it is VERY close to release. The refinements are minor tweakings and addition of smaller parts that weren't quite ready for these test-shot shipments.

I see these hitting very soon.

Mighty fine recon, LG, mighty fine.