POST BUBBLETOP P-47 FINDS AND DISCUSSION HERE!

JOC · Post by **JOC** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:58 am

I did get through to 21st this afternoon while trying to get a replacement part for my Eileen, which was broken on arrival. The person (I did not get his name) was filling in for Michael Cordero and said they were aware of the quality problems with the Bubbletops and he did admit that it was not there most shining moment. He did not indicate what was being done to correct the problem. I asked about the TBM Avenger, and mentioned the concern that this too meet the same fate as the Bubbletops. His reply was, they were working very hard on the Avenger and did not expect QC issues, if fact, he said that they were working to make it their best XD aircraft ever. He also said they were shooting for a release in April 2005.
Stay tuned!!!!!!!!

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:08 am

Good work with contacting 21st. ...and April 2005 for the Avenger - what a long wait! It better be the best XD aircraft ever! With the detail seen on the ME-109G, we should be in for a treat if they keep their standards up. All the playability options for this plane make me quiver with anticiaption! Cockpit canopy, turret, landing gear, prop, bomb bay with ordinance, movable control surfaces, aircraft interior, side door, belly gun, and dare we say folding wings and 3 man crew? Can't wait!

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 9:47 am

You should get the folding wings, but the plane will come with only 2 crewmembers. There was no way that 21st could fit a guy in the turret and interior....... 2 is fine by me really.

As far as the P-47, I got mine today in the mail from boomboomjr (thanks dave!) and it was definately less than stellar on the QA front. The prop broke off (real quick fix) and there was glue on the tail along with black marks on the horizontal stab. A step back for sure.....

-Ski

MightyMustang · Post by **MightyMustang** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 2:08 pm

Hey teamski whats wrong with 21st? They drop the ball on their Bubble Top P-47? Some of their Luftwaffa planes are suffering the same fate I hear. I just want to know what their prob is. They used to be a company that cared and now its seems they are getting sloppy. There has been no word on how their re-tooled Mustang is coming along, if its coming along at all now that BBI has set the standard when it comes to the P-51. My freind Julie at Bad Cat says that 21st shouldnt even waste their time with another P-51 being that BBI has done theirs so well and I tend to agree. What 21st should do is fix the problems their haveing with the quality of their recent releases because if they dont they will lose alot of customers. time will tell I guess.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 11:41 pm

MightyMustang wrote:Hey teamski whats wrong with 21st? They drop the ball on their Bubble Top P-47? Some of their Luftwaffa planes are suffering the same fate I hear. I just want to know what their prob is. They used to be a company that cared and now its seems they are getting sloppy. There has been no word on how their re-tooled Mustang is coming along, if its coming along at all now that BBI has set the standard when it comes to the P-51. My freind Julie at Bad Cat says that 21st shouldnt even waste their time with another P-51 being that BBI has done theirs so well and I tend to agree. What 21st should do is fix the problems their haveing with the quality of their recent releases because if they dont they will lose alot of customers. time will tell I guess.

I think this has to do certain factories or specific runs that do these things. Think about it. The P-47 line has ALWAYS been a sour spot as far as QA is concerned, but the Corsairs went through relatively unscathed. The bubbletop has the same problems it's razerback brother did. If you look at the Stuka line, they usually turned out pretty good throughout the line. The P-40 as a line looked good as well.

Of the current runs, the Kepford Corsair and 109s all seem to be pretty crisp. Maybe the 109G will be another crappy line. So far, it looks that way.

I don't think these planes are coming out of the same building. Their design and paint look quite a bit different from plane to plane. I mean, compare the Galland 109 to the Skull P-47. The Galland wins hands down. You wouldn't even think they were from the same company. My feeling is that the Avenger will be a winner. That is strictly a gut feeling.

It comes down to this:

21st Century XD products are like a box of chocolates, you never quite know what you are going to get. But don't forget this. For $40-$50 a pop, you are still getting a steal compared to that small mahogany desk model............

-Ski

MightyMustang · Post by **MightyMustang** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:55 am

Very well said teamski.

jhogan · Post by **jhogan** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 2:18 pm

I found one Silver Bubbletop (Eagleston?) at the Peoria (Allen Rd) W-M.
Although I want a silver bird to go with my green PEG, this plane has a bad paint job. I'll pass for now. I'm sure I'll find a good one. No hurry!
With the BBi P-51 such a nice release, I hope 21C has better quality on the Avenger.

Mad Ewok · Post by **Mad Ewok** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:32 pm

jhogan wrote:I found one Silver Bubbletop (Eagleston?) at the Peoria (Allen Rd) W-M.
Although I want a silver bird to go with my green PEG, this plane has a bad paint job. I'll pass for now. I'm sure I'll find a good one. No hurry!
With the BBi P-51 such a nice release, I hope 21C has better quality on the Avenger.

Last time I was there they had 3, do you happen to know if they still have a stack around the toy isles? There were 2 bubbles and a new 190.

wm69 · Post by **wm69** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 5:24 pm

I've been all over the place over the last couple of weeks doing work and have been stopping in quite a few stores. The P47 paint jobs are horrible (yes I like to repeat things). I found one decent one and it still has overspray on the star/bar on the fuselage and two of the kill markings are smeared (found one with a nice paint job and the prop was broken). The FW190 Black 1's are found wherever the P47's are (so far) and I've found two that were "acceptable". Not great but ok. Lots of them have yellow drips all over them.
The 109 night and tropicals I saw had great paint jobs.
Looks like most places are getting packages made up of:

P47 eagleston and black 1 FW190's OR
Tropical and Night fighter 109's

I found the 109's in memphis TN
P47's and 190's are in OK (Norman, Moore, Edmond), KS (Derby), and TX (Sherman, Mckinney, Gainsville), and AR (Fayetteville, Bentoville, Rogers) All are full price and have crappy paint jobs. Hopefully they will start marking them down with the xmas season over.

Looks like guy in Jonesboro is on the geographical "line" and got both types of shipments. I'm going to check around Little Rock and down into Mississippi later this month, but I'm really waiting on the 109G to come out so hopefully they will have better paint.

KWR190 · Post by **KWR190** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:42 am

BCT has a new P47 coming 1/25/05 Snorting Bull the plane looks good
Kurt

digger · Post by **digger** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:54 am

Something tells me pre-orders on that one won't be as robust now that people know the P-47s need to be examined in person, and will be at WM for $40 in the same box.

jhogan · Post by **jhogan** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:05 pm

Mad Ewok, I when back to the Peoria W-M after reading your post to look around the corner for the Bubble tops. No luck. An employee said she set three out and only one was left. I asume the others had good paint. I also visited the W-M on University Street, Washington, Pekin, Morton and E. Peoria. All kinds of 109-D-9's in the Candy Cane and Black Chevron and some new release 109's in 21C boxes at Allen Road. I found a few RAF Spits and P-40's (AVG and RAF) at University store. I'm sure the Bubble tops will show up since we got 109's all over the place.

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 4:54 pm

Man the new T-bolt does look good, but I'll hold off till I see them in person at WM..

grockwood · Post by **grockwood** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:22 pm

I found the Bubble top P47'S at two Walmarts in the north KC metro area for reguler price.. Th P47 had the black skull and crossbones on the yellow cowling. Don't know if this is the usual packaging being seen, but this and the new FW190 with the black 1 were in 21st century boxes, not Motorworks.

Rogo · Post by **Rogo** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 1:32 pm

HEY 21C! Please, Please, Please make a Bubbletop version with "Gabby" Gabreski's paint scheme!!!

Rogo

nomo4me · Post by **nomo4me** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 7:10 pm

Yep, I'd buy that one in a heart beat. I loaded up on all the Razorbacks and it will take something special to get me to buy another P47

nomo

Small Scale Military Headquarters

POST BUBBLETOP P-47 FINDS AND DISCUSSION HERE!

Painted with a broom.

Re: Painted with a broom.

hmm..

Only one Bubbletop

Gabby