Interview questions for 21st

[sluff]

Next time you talk with 21st, please ask about 1:32 larger aircraft, B-24s, B-17s, PBYs, they will fit perfectly insibe the 1:18 scale boxes!

[toyktdlgh]

Any news on this topic yet?

[Jericoeagle1]

It does seem to be coming along pretty slowly.

[toyktdlgh]

I bet TKO is out of town or something.

[tko211]

The wait is OVER! I think it might be safe for me to come out of my foxhole now?

A BIG THANKS to everyone who contributed questions and the patience as we awaited the final version of the interview. This one was a bit tougher to approve as we asked some tougher questions.

We are proud to bring you the latest interview as we take a peek into the world of 21st Century Toys!

[Quixote511]

Well hot damn! It had been too quiet for too damn long. Who wants to take odds on the suprises? This is great.
Aaron

[SpareParts]

Arggh! Secret 1:18 armor project ? I can tell right now this one is going to be a whole lot worse than who shot JR! Don't care what era it is for, I just truly hope it is a new product and not a repaint. My hope of hopes is that it is an M1A2 done right!

[tko211]

Just to clarify. It is confirmed as a NEW mold for NEW Piece of Armor!

I asked more about it off record. I am not going to tease you. I don't know for certain what it will be. I was told that it was for sure all new! I would put my money on WWII era though. I have had discussions on other Era's for armor and planes WWII is where the mass market is.

[normandy]

TKO, Great interview and once more thanks for all your efforts. 21st and Mr. Sutherland many thanks for a fantastic porduct line. I collect WWII XD, some 32x and 1/6th. You guys must be into the history of that era as much as I am.
Roy , will we see your work on the Fan Gallery of Area 21 ? As for somthing new in 1/18th,if its WWII I might go with a King Tiger

[DocTodd]

Really cool interview. Thanks very much to both of you. It is always great to hear from someone on the inside like Roy. It seems like a very interesting but challenging job. Keep the cool stuff coming Roy!
Todd

[donnieboy]

Hmm-looks like we're in for another year or two of "wishin' and hopin' "(as Dusty Springfield once sang). Nonetheless, thank you Zach (tko111) for taking the immense amount of time it took to put that interview together and have the suits at 21C vett it. Thank you Yoda (Roy Sutherland) for taking time out of your busy schedule to inform us Groundpounders about things to come. The new piece of armour? I say either King Tiger or M-26 Pershing. Yowzah!

[Teamski]

Great interview Zach! And, thanks to Roy for the intel. It's interesting to see that 21st will release the Zero! I'm surprised that they are going to do it after all....

New armor! Bravo! This oughta be good and I'm definately in the mood for some new treads....

It's great to hear about the F-86 and Mig 15. They will be popular, that's for sure!



-Ski

[boyx30]

I was a little surprised that there was no mention of the Me-110 or the ME-262 that came up last time? The ME-110 would be roughly the same as a P-38. I like the thoughts of a 1/32 Mosquito too! Also the mention of Legends vs. Special additions ala the Gunther Rall in relation to the Pappy Boyington as being somehow different? Don't get me wrong I really like their products and I really hope 21st Century decides to put out a truely higher quality line in addition to the current line and of course with the appropriate price tag. Maybe in the range of $125.00 to $200.00 for really great item. Collectors would go for it when compared to the FOV Tiger at $400.00 plus this seems doable. All food for thought, by the way Roy you're a tease and I for one will not be asking you to the prom! but thanks for the info!!!!

[demetrop]

21st Century Toys ought to make a Macchi C.202 in 1/18 scale or an Il2 Sturmovic.

[Jericoeagle1]

TAKEN FROM INTERVIEW

Area 21: This next question has been asked frequently, and so it isn’t from any particular fan because so many of us are asking. Are there plans to do more modern vehicles, perhaps airplanes and figures? And by modern I’m assuming that we’re talking post-Cold War.

RS: You’re talking probably Desert Storm and things like that?

Area 21: Yeah.

RS: It’s a possibility. The problem with those airplanes is that they’re so large, and the tooling is very expensive. It’s something that definitely gives you pause to think whether or not this would be a profitable product. But yeah, we’re certainly looking at it. We’ll let you know when and if we decide to do that.

Area 21: Okay. This is another popular one that seems to pop up from time to time. Is there a chance of us seeing medium size bombers in 1:18 scale, for instance, the B-25, the B-26 and your favorite, the Mosquito?

RS: I’d certainly like to make those. Once again, it’s a size issue. The B-25 in 1:18 scale would have nearly a five-foot wing span. You’d probably be looking at a retail cost of $150 – it might be lower than that, but they are huge. That definitely limits the number that we’d sell. A lot of people would really like to see them, but when it comes to buying them and taking them home and trying to find a place to put them… well, then the reality starts coming into play. I would very much like to do them, but we’ll have to see.

If it can fit through my doorway, I'll buy it. I'm not a homeowner yet but when I do buy in the future fitting these airplanes inside will go into my decision on what to get even if I have to build a custom room for them.

Must feed my obsession.......Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[mediump]

From Roy's interview:

Now Gustav writes: “ Can some of the 32X stuff be upscaled into 1:18 scale? Some of those 1:32 pieces are so cool; they would be outstanding in 1:18 scale.”

RS: I’m assuming Gustav is talking about armor, because just about everything we’ve done in 1:32 scale we have in 1:18 scale, as far as aircraft go. The short answer is no. Upscaling does not work very well. Small errors get magnified, and it’s just a completely different process. It’s much easier to just start from scratch. You can downscale, that works reasonably well, but upscaling… eh, there are many production problems involved in that.

Area 21: So the problems are kind of multiplied and whatever you see in 1:32 scale becomes more difficult in 1:18 scale, I take it?

RS: Yeah, and also the engineering of the product is usually totally different.

Well, I say what about down scaling some of the 1:6 stuff that is out, particularly the pak 40 gun and ( I just saw this on Bad Cat site) a 1:6 nebelwerfer! ! or the kettelkrat

[mediump]

Oh... Ah... that 1:6 nebelwerfer is DID not 21C...but hey would it be cool to have a 1:18 M5 stuart!

[aferguson]

good rants, Centone..

[CW4USARMY]

"My other main gripe here is that the Avenger tooling is still in development. Sorry but WTF? " - centone

LOL!!

[digger]

I love a good rant but I might only say that you're being right about the upscaling is not incompatable with what Roy was saying. You pointed out correctly that they have upscaled old Tamiya kits - but it is exactly those pieces where the small problems get BIG. For example, the gear on the M113 was obviously over-scale for detail on the smaller kit, and then didn't translate to 1:18. The rotors on the Cobra were reversed on the Tamiya kit and it really came to light in 1:18. I believe the same is true for both the bbi & 21st Sherman, which both seem based on a 1/35 model kits. The WC-63 too (also showing poor detail after upsizing - have you seen the front winch? It looks like Chap Mei). Perhaps what we're seeing is just the realization that it is not the best way to proceed, and I think with that we agree.

[Jesse James]

I read through the interview, so thanks for that effort. It's appreciated...

Out of the Q&A I was only disappointed at, once again, a lack of figure discussion, however I do like to hear about the Platoon stuff going through. Nam's not my thing, but I would collect figures for a Nam line even if I wasn't touching vehicles of any kind. Not to mention getting a Berenger headsculpt, or Sheen, for customizing is a kind of neat idea in and of itself.

Disappointed at no talk of future World War 2 figures though of any nationality, which is what strikes me as important. The plane stuff I'm sorta just skipping through anymore and just hoping to find out more ground items, playsets (however unlikely) and figure information. The new articulation style sounds intriguing and I'm anxious to see it now, and how quality it is.

And obviously that's intriguing news about the mystery armor. Hope it's something everyone can be happy with. I'm pulling for a piece of allied armor, preferably British from my POV though a Russian tank would be welcome just because. Either way it'd be nice if it was another nationality piece to give us hope for other nationalities of figures to run alongside it.

[hworth18]

My question is in regard to 32x figures. I remember about a year ago maybe longer seeing a 75mm german infantry gun and a german MG nest in development. With no figures being put out for quite a while and most of them being sold out and almost imposible to find, are they doing anything new with figures. If this post is late I am sorry, just got back from deployment.
Thanks,
Meskary

Meskary,
I think I might be able to answer this.. The new playsets that have come out feature many of the old figures, but also offer new options... The "Coastal defense" playset features, 3 German artillery crew members, (1) 75mm PaK 40, (1) 75mm leIG 18 Light Infantry Assault Gun (which is brand new), ammo crates w/removeable ammo & lid, plus 2 x 3-story concrete bunkers complete w/sandbags.
I believe that one of the other playsets also has the mg bunker, but I am not sure.. I do know that most Walmarts in my AO have these new playsets and also new Series of British and DAK German soldiers.

[tko211]

I had this in my e-mail box this morning from Roy Sutherland at 21st Century Toys. He had asked If I wouldn't mind posting his reply to some of the topics of discussion that have come up from the interview that was conducted and posted on the AREA-21 site a couple weeks ago.
Please everyone keep a little perspective when reading the interviews and understand that we fans really don't understand all the challenges and cost involved in producing war toys. Especially when competion drives and demands better and better quality and value.

I am posting this quote as it was provided to me.

“The Avenger tooling is not being held up for accuracy or detail issues. There are many other forces (business, technical, manufacturing, scheduling, etc) that come into play when determining release dates. When a project is as huge and technically complex as the Avenger is, it only compounds the possibilities for delays. No one is more frustrated than we are here at 21C. If you think we are screwing around over here to keep you guys in suspense, you are misguided in your thinking. The bar is constantly being raised in the competition for your dollars, and getting the factories to understand the quality needed can be challenging. We are racing to get this Airplane done and released. Money good. Delays bad.

As to the scaling up issue, I am referring to taking an existing tooling and scaling up or down (which saves a lot of steps), versus starting a new pattern of the same subject to a new, larger scale. It is much more expensive and time consuming to start from scratch.

Finally, in another discussion thread, there was a question about what tampo printing is. The answer that was supplied was not correct. Tampo printing is a manufacturing method that involves the application of markings to a product through the use of rubber stamps. A part to be printed is jigged up into the printing machine so that the marking is applied in the exact spot desired. The machine can then apply the stamp in exactly the same place on each subsequent part. Copper masks are used to apply larger markings to a model by limiting the areas painted with an airbrush. Hope this helps you guys understand the process a little better.

I understand the frustration you guys feel, With over a hundred projects going at any one time, sometimes it takes longer than both you and I would like to get these beasts to market. Hang in there, lots of new stuff is coming.

Happy collecting!  Roy”

Obviously Roy is true to his word that he does read the board. He had also asked that I let fans know that this was meant as additional information to suppliment the already published interview. This is not meant in any way to be misread "firing back" it is merely addition information that he thought needed to be shared. This also is not an open Q & A answer session, as Roy really is too busy with deadlines to even talk to me on more than a semi monthly basis.

I would personally like to add that I have
handled the AVENGER in its most complete form at ComicCon. It was in plastic at that point and while it was VERY VERY impressive there were still a couple refinements that simply required more work for final production. The Avenger is without a doubt the biggest most complicated, feature packed 1:18 scale airplane EVER. This plane requires a very tricky wing fold hinge that will stand the test of time as well as provide a nice solid fit to ensure that the wings won't sag in the flying position.

Words simply can't express how great this plane truely is. I can assure each of you that it will not disapoint when it is released. In fact I think you will agree that when we do see it finished an in our own personal collections everyone will agree it was worth the wait.

-TKO