Small Scale Military Headquarters

Did 21st Century own the molds of the AH-1W Cobra?

I believe so. I know Motorworks was involved as well.

I would think that if ALLGO had those molds that it would be a money maker if rereleased, camo, grey and maybe a sand camo?

bobb428 wrote:I would think that if ALLGO had those molds that it would be a money maker if rereleased, camo, grey and maybe a sand camo?

I would like to see it in green like the Vietnam Cobra.And yes i know that is a Super Cobra not a Cobra,so it will not be authentic,but i think it will look good in that color.

I don't have much hope -- haven't heard a word about the Cobra mold since 21C went belly up. But it sure would be nice ... Having finally snagged a Spit, the Cobra is the only thing from the Golden Age I don't have at least one example of.

I recall hearing that certain 21c moulds were destroyed including the Spitfire, P-47, and sadly, the AH-1W among them. This happend some time ago (well prior to 21c going under) and is one of the reasons why we never got repaints of those particular aircraft beyond the few that were produced.

The fact that 21c only ever did two repaints of the AH-1W is a shame. It is simply the best 1:18 helicopter tooling and one of the best modern aircraft out there. Its one of my favorites in 1:18 All the opening bays, engines, the super-detailed cockpit, the ingenious removable canopy, chin turret, weapons, and all the other details really show what 21c could do when they put their mind to something. What's even crazier is that the AH-1W tooling dates from the same time as 21c released the vastly more toyish P-40 and P-47s! Only drawback is it didn't come with any figures, but BBI solved that problem with their carded helicopter pilots

Just curious...but is there some reason why they cant design the molds again to the exact specs of the original ones? Sorry if this is a dumb question, im just trying to learn..

cjg476 wrote:Just curious...but is there some reason why they cant design the molds again to the exact specs of the original ones? Sorry if this is a dumb question, im just trying to learn..

I've heard figures of low- to mid- hundreds of thousands of dollars to create molds for injection molding for 1/18 birds.

Frankly, I'm somewhat skeptical of why these figures get quoted, though. With the way CNC tech keeps getting cheaper and cheaper, it just seems like it shouldn't be that expensive. If those numbers are right, I'm thinking maybe the "big boys" who do these products are paying top-dollar contract rates for the CAD and CNC work. We have talented CAD folks in the hobby who would be happy to do the design work much more cheaply than paying market rates as an "outsider." And I think you could BUY a CNC machine to cut the molds for well under $100K.

Well its not like they wouldnt make there money back in a few months...I mean sell a few thousand at a hundred and you have more than the cost. I just hope they figure something out. I miss the good ole days.