Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hello, thank you for the opportunity to join in.

I'm new to the forum but not new to the hobby or industry. I've been collecting for about 10 years and been in the toy industry for more than 15 years. I view this forum many times a week and find it very informative and quite interesting. So, I finally decided to register and hopefully join in the discussion with a great bunch of well informed folks and maybe I can bring some news to the forum that otherwise might not be available.

To my subject: I am a very serious collector of all 21C products.

I was surprised when JSI splashed on the scene completely from the dark and with a hand full of 21C items. I believe all to be the initial 1:18 scale products. This to me looked a bit odd.

Knowing the difficulties and business habits in China, it is amazing that JSI could obtain tooling, fit the tooling to their machines and execute in their factory, molding, painting, tempo print, inspect, and package, not to mention having a paint master to copy and the decipline to execute such exacting toys.

To that end.

Who are these folks and why only the earliest 21C items?

After a great deal of research using my contacts in China and here in the USA I have uncovered a very thinly vailed attempted to hide the maker of the so called JSI 1:18 scale product line.

JSI is Joy Star International, they are makers of typical low end open market import items from China, coordinated through their Hong Kong office. (jsitoys.com)They have never supplied 1:18 products to 21C, they have never been a supplier to 21C.

Why the cover-up?

i think bbi is in some way behind JSI

I don't get it, then. Why use 21st's outdated Corsair mold instead of their own superior version?

Another poster has mentioned several times on SSHQ that he has heard through reliable sources that BBI is connected to JSI.
Assuming that this is true, why would BBI cover it up?...Why not announce that BBI has bought some of 21st Century's assets? Is there a copyright problem if BBI did buy 21st's molds so BBI uses the JSI name instead?

I hope that poster will clarify the BBI/JSI connection.

Who is John Galt?

interesting point about using the 21c corsair. It may be that JSI is its own company but i still think it has some tie in with BBI. Perhaps the Tomcat was a BBI prototype that BBI decided not to proceed with and that JSI decided to produce?

I know 21c used at least one BBI factory to have their products made...i don't know if 21c knew it or not but i had some intel on the 21c avenger from Mike before it was ever shipped.

I don't know if JSI has its own factories or not. If not then how would they get hold of the 21c molds? Perhaps they also use a BBI factory and just bought them from BBI?

Hello and Welcome JOSHA, thats some interesting intel on JSI/Joy Star never being a supplier to 21st.
I have to agree with Aferguson that BBI is somehow part of JSI/Joy Star.
In a past post a member posted this.....interesting........ viewtopic.php?t=3176&start=1080
I guess time will tell............................

Well if bbi is connected to JSI somehow, that 1/18 A-10 prototype that bbi supposedly has should be put to use real soon...

Strange to me that the other two aircraft weren't an A-10 and an F-4 if bbi has a connection. With bbi's length of time in the 1/18 scale market and involvment with fans, you would think they would have picked these two over the F-15 and Su-27 to start off with since they always appear in fans/collectors discussion on what jet aircraft they want.

it may simply be that JSI is a big customer of bbi, bbi had the molds after 21c folded, JSI wanted them so bbi sold them to JSI. It's odd that JSI would produce such a huge expensive plane as the f-14 as their first offering. That's why i thought it might be a bbi model that bbi had lost interest in producing and JSI grabbed it.

Some day we'll probably know..

JOSHA HAZELWOOD wrote:Who are these folks and why only the earliest 21C items?

After a great deal of research using my contacts in China and here in the USA I have uncovered a very thinly vailed attempted to hide the maker of the so called JSI 1:18 scale product line.

JSI is Joy Star International, they are makers of typical low end open market import items from China, coordinated through their Hong Kong office. (jsitoys.com)They have never supplied 1:18 products to 21C, they have never been a supplier to 21C.

Why the cover-up?

Welcome to the forum.

I guess every 1/18 company had to start somewhere. JSI, apparently was able to get a head start with the acquisition of the 21C molds.

This was probably far more economically efficient than starting from scratch.

If I were in charge of introducing a new product division and line from pre-existing molds, I would probably come to the conclusion the 21C's earliest molds were their easiest/simplest. I would also believe that 21C must have had some strategy in releasing the models in the order they did. So, I would begin production with the early models and gain experience through the process. I certainly wouldn't start with the 88mm until the workforce had gained sufficient experience on the simpler models.

I might notice what 21C's P38s were selling for and want to get some of that market in a hurry.

I doubt this is some sort of cover up. The company name difference is probably nothing more than wise marketing. Which name has more market appeal to a military collectors clientelle, JSI or Joystar International?

It appears they have an established business where childrens toys are their primary customers. Perhaps they simply want to differentiate/insulate product lines or customers. Maybe they don't want military/war models sharing a website with toys.

I'm not particularly interested in who they are or if some other entity is behind them. More interested in seeing what they do after exhausting the existing 21c molds market.

JSI International would seem to have a redundant International in its name.

If JSI owns factories, that might explain why they offered a model like the F-14 as their first offering. Owning the factories cuts out some of the overall costs that would have to be passed on through the price tag.

Maybe the factory that produced 21st's models developed the F-14 and JSI is their middle man for the marketing. The manufacturer's do employ master modelers who work at the factories to create the prototypes we see.

If you look at the time frame of when the initial rumblings of the F-14 came to light and now, it has been long enough for a company to have developed one from scratch if they focused on it.

Time will tell I guess.....

I myself thinks that JSI is somehow part of a 2012 conspiracy.

JOSHA HAZELWOOD wrote:
I was surprised when JSI splashed on the scene completely from the dark and with a hand full of 21C items. I believe all to be the initial 1:18 scale products. This to me looked a bit odd.

The F-104, the US Halftracks (both versions), and the PaK 40 hanomags weren't initial products. Out of the old 21st products JSI are selling (or plans to sell) right now, the only initial models were are the Panther, Sherman, and the BF-109E. I'm not sure when the Corsair was released, but I'm pretty sure the P-38 was not an initial release.

Who are these folks and why only the earliest 21C items?

After a great deal of research using my contacts in China and here in the USA I have uncovered a very thinly vailed attempted to hide the maker of the so called JSI 1:18 scale product line.

JSI is Joy Star International, they are makers of typical low end open market import items from China, coordinated through their Hong Kong office. (jsitoys.com)They have never supplied 1:18 products to 21C, they have never been a supplier to 21C.

Why the cover-up?

Are you even sure that the www.JSItoys.com is the same as http://www.js-int.net ?

A quick google search will net you a bunch of Chinese companies whose names are similar to JSI, and their products range from medical tools, to rock drilling equipment...like this one.
http://www.jsintl.com.cn/en/welcome2.asp

There's no cover up. Maybe your "contacts" just doesn't know which JSI you were talking about.

*EDIT* Here's a cute JSI website.
http://www.joystarco.com/

you all didn't know???? the presidents of all the companies are master freemasons.......not only do they control all the major governments and militaries of the world, but they also control our toys.....erm collectables!!!!

GooglyDoogly wrote:*EDIT* Here's a cute JSI website.
http://www.joystarco.com/

Yeah, somehow, military collectibles on that website just wouldn't be right.

Anyway, I guess I haven't been paying attention enough to get their name right.

But since we're speculating and I finally have their name correct, I'm wondering if JS International has some affiliation with an electric skateboard manufacturer, Smart Pioneer/PioMart. *Edit* Who owns the domain name for JS International?

Press release about moving to Guangdong.

Regardless, I don't think there's any kind of 'cover up.' Plenty of companies have different brand identities for different markets and product offerings. It's perfectly normal.

Cool lead. I've found these two sites that define this company a little more. Though I don't know what it tells us.

http://www.list-of-companies.org/Detail ... _Smart_Ltd_/

http://www.asiannet.com/company/161441/2727.html

One mentions pens, nicknacks, etc. and the other mentions those skateboards. Notice the phone numbers they're the same.

It does sound like this is more a marketing firm rather then in production itself.

edit: here's the whois for jsi.
http://www.whois.net/whois/js-int.net

Here's the domain info of www.JSItoys.com (alleged to be our JSI)

Domain name: JSItoys.com

Registrant Contact:
Xusnet LTD
Wayne Walker ()

Fax:
Success Comm. Bldg. 6B
251 Hennessy Road
Hong Kong, HONG KONG N/A
HK

Administrative Contact:
Xusnet LTD
Wayne Walker ([email protected])
+1.3038006568
Fax: 27241116
Success Comm. Bldg. 6B
251 Hennessy Road
Hong Kong, HONG KONG N/A
HK

Here's the domain name info on *our* JSI (the one that makes 1/18th stuff)

Domain name: js-int.net

Registrant Contact:
Smart Pioneer
Eric Cheung ()

Fax:
Flat D 24/F Block 22,
Cityone, Shatin, Hong Kong
HK

Administrative Contact:
Smart Pioneer
Eric Cheung ([email protected])
+852.27376526
Fax:
Flat D 24/F Block 22,
Cityone, Shatin, Hong Kong
HK

So yeah, no connections.

Edit

Hong Kong Toys & Games Fair BBI and JSI were both at this toy show. (wow, BBI is a much larger and diverse company than I knew.)

Who is JSI? They are the one and only hope for our hobby, that's who.

I think the likely scenario is that JSI is just a new brand name under use by a factory that 21st Century was using, and that factory was probably owed money at the time 21st went belly up so the factory seized the molds and decided to make good use of them. Wasn't hard for them to do so, considering that they'd already been making the 21st Century product.

Who are they?

Our 1/18th savior

Who is JSI? Who the Hell cares. Just give me my friggin' airplanes.

Jericoeagle1 wrote:Who is JSI? Who the Hell cares. Just give me my friggin' airplanes.

Yeah, considering how limited our options are these days, I motion that we not create any unnecessary controversies them, leave them alone and let them crank out some 1/18 scale items

If we prove ourselves to be a pain in the... customer base, they might just choose to pursue a different product line.

Jericoeagle1 wrote:Who is JSI? Who the Hell cares. Just give me my friggin' airplanes.

AMEN!!!!

coreystinson wrote:I think the likely scenario is that JSI is just a new brand name under use by a factory that 21st Century was using, and that factory was probably owed money at the time 21st went belly up so the factory seized the molds and decided to make good use of them. Wasn't hard for them to do so, considering that they'd already been making the 21st Century product.

That's what makes the F-14 so much more mysterious. Was it really a JSI design, or did 21c have one in the works and it was sold/seized along with the rest?

Maybe it was another start up company that JSI was working with that folded before they could get their product out?