Small Scale Military Headquarters

I was cleaning out some stuff this weekend when I came across an old 21c pamphlet from 2004. I recall picking up the flyer at my local hobbyshop and it was most likely a 21c promo tool given to retailers. Looking through the document was sort of a nostalgic trip back in time - right into the beginning of the glory days. So much enthusiasm, so much potential, and so much to be lost only four years later when 21c crashed and burned.

Here are scans of the flyer. Enjoy

Front and rear sections:


Inside sections:

Sadly too many companies have failed or just abandoned this hobby...

Here are some webshots from one of our members from around the same time......

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/alb ... Ar?start=0

......some came to be, others?????

I. Am. Crying.

j/k but I feel like I could.

All a friend can say is "ain't it a shame"

That's very cool. I still have a small, color booklet from 2000 with a bunch of their 1/6 scale figures and vehicles depicted in it. The Bradley really looks nice. When that thing came out, I remember lusting for it at TRU.

some very nostalgic shots in there normandy. Some of the vietnam stuff would have been great. The hutch, towers, sheridan, pbr...wow.

The major question is: where are the molds for this stuff? Even these 'prototypes' or unissued product came from molds....

ketelone wrote:The major question is: where are the molds for this stuff? Even these 'prototypes' or unissued product came from molds....

There are no molds for this type of stuff, they are 1 off builds. Tooling molds is the one of thelargest costs of manufacturing.

Makes me cry. wish I had picked up more than I did.

What I wouldn't give for those prototypes, especially the A-10. Had they lasted another couple years who knows what might have been.

I wanted the bridge..........

If they would have done all those "cold steel" vehicles in 1:18 i think our hobby would be better off today. Instead we were inundated with p-51s and shermans from every company.

Greetings:

Interesting how the company did not practing what they were preaching in that brochure.

In many ways, 21st Century Toys killed themselves. I was discussing this privately with another member, but, if you think about it, with the exception of cars and trucks, 1/18 was open for the military market. 21st and to a degree BBI were first on the scene and had some great releases.

The problem was in my eyes was that something always seemed to be a bit of a miss. This was especially true for 21st. There were many things that hurt them but in my opinion, the following were all major contributing factors.

1.) Quality Control-This was by far the biggest problem at 21st Century Toys. I can't tell you how many times I passed on pieces in the store that were either broken or had paint jobs a five year old could have done better. Despite the promise to make things better, this never really happened, especially in the 1/18 lineup. I believe the bad workmanship really hurt their business. No one wants to buy something that looks like crap and unfortunately some of 21st's pieces came out of the factory looking just that way. The idea one should "touch up" and "use a tube of glue" to make a product correct just never sat well with me. I often wonder how many people broke their products putting them together or just taking them out of the box, several of the pieces seemed that fragile.

2.) Repaints-I understand repaints but honestly what 21st did was overkill, especially in a scale like 1/18. There were very few people who could buy 10 1/18 FW-190's but would have been willing to buy one of each 1/18 plane and did that. I think the repaints would have been better spread out....like a new one each year instead of five schemes at one time.

3.) Bizzare Marketing-21st and their marketing ideas were somewhat bizzare. The announcement of planes they simply did not have any intention of producing was the most bizzare of them all. The four for victory contest, while some participated in, was just a desperate attempt to clear old stock. I think the Four For Victory Contest was probably the real first indication that the company was in serious trouble and would not last. Interestingly enough I thought one of their best marketing ideas, the 32X Dogfight Packs, never really showed up in large numbers. I thought had they started the 32X planes like that, they may have even been stronger sellers.

4.) Adding Scales-I think the idea to expand into 1/32 past 1/18 was fine but it should have stopped there. I think they got way in over their heads adding 1/48 and 1/144 to the mix. This probably took away resources they could have used to keep developing 1/18 and 1/32 items. The 1/48 was a real mistake with so much already available in that scale and in much better quality. The 1/144 was interesting but again, too many of the same scheme, cheaply made, etc.

5.) Distrubution-The Walmart plan killed 21st Century as well. Poor distrubution led to some stores carrying product and others not. I personally thought when 21st lost TRU, they should have actively pursued the hobby shops and online retailers much harder. It is interesting Tman's pamphlet says "Dealer Inquries Welcome" where really if you want to sell a product, you have to push dealers to carry it a lot of the time on your own.

It is sad really as that brochure shows what this company could have been with better marketing and push for better quality. I will always remember it as a neat company with neat products but as I mentioned, there was always that little part missing in terms of overall excellence.

Corey

Blame 21st for not having a larger portfolio to use as back up, if WM failed.
Everyone else you can thank Politicians for squandering the economy, making the dollar weak internationally.
If It wasn't for the weak dollar, and the high energy costs, we would have a larger market.


Even if we got 10,000 signatures with deposits, no company is going to invest in a hobby right now.
There's no profit, the margins are small, and growing smaller. add in the ridiculous regulations being put on Corporations and small business's and you have your answer to why, we don't have new companies.

Is 21stC a Chinese or American company? I mean, management wise.

21st / AllGo is an American company. Are they still in business?
Their products....... 1:18, 1:32 and other scales were made in China.
Rather than give a history lesson on the company maybe we can get TKO to
give us an update on their status............. Yo Zach......You out there?

normandy wrote:I wanted the bridge..........

me too... so sad

sad indeed...

About how much do you think that bridge went for? I have seen some incredible bridge projects and I'm sure anyone here with at least some limited building skills can make that.

I've never seen the thing but it looks great!













~ Jeff

Didn't they make a Vietnam era PT boat, and a Sheridan?

I don't think either were made.

The patrol boat and Sheridian only made it to the prototype stage. Too bad, as both would have been nice and the Sheridian had repaint possibilities in both VN and Desert Storm cammo.

I recall they also had another prototoype 1:18 scale M-113-A1 that was in the correct Vietnam configuration with the turret shield, smooth sides, and no fuel cells on the rear deck (just like their 32x M113). It seems they then went the cheap inaccurate route, simply painting their M113-A3 tooling in a Vietnam cammo.

Very sad we never got the other WWII buildings either, like the Government Building and stone bridge. I recall 21c had pictures of the Government Building up on their website as "upcoming" but it never came.

People get enraged when I ask about 21st Century or BBI. I just started to collect the 1/18 aircraft after I went home last time looking to take some spare parts for my 64 Impala to the bodyshop, when I came across several of my 1/18 aircraft still NIB. Since I couldn't bring my car to Hawaii with me, I figured why not collect these and display them. I can't believe the prices of these things now compared to the old TRU stickers on mine. I wasn't really into them when they were out at Wally World or TRU mine were b-day gifts pushed off to the side, but I do remember seeing them and way cheaper. Oh how I wish. Hell, I thought they still made them at first because Hickam AFB has 1/18 Forces of Valor tanks on the shelf still for $30. But, I was wrong and now I'm in the E-Bay zone or a couple other websites to aircraft.

But anyways I went around Honolulu to see if I could find some and every hobby shop, toy collector, and comic book store i thought would have them, gave me a 30 min lecture about the company and how everything and everyone got screwed, then one guy went off on Wal-Mart and how he's going to heaven since he's never stepped foot into one. It sounds like a Wal-Mart/21st Century/government conspiracy the way these people sounded.