21st Century Toys

[dahut]

And of the gazillion Messerschmidts around these days, they picked my favorite to do: the late F model. I’ll have to get that one, too, I suppose…

[nfafan]

Okay, okay lets keep some perspective here. These kits are intended as desktop displays, meant to be built by kids and weekenders. Yes, they’re held tegether with screws, but no one says you have to use them. And, no, they are not up to the OOB standards of the Trumpeters and other hi-tech kits we’ve been seeing on the 1/32 bandwagon. They also dont have the leviathan price tag of those kits - for $10, whaddaya expect??

But, with some common modeling skills (you guys do remember those, right?), the abundance of references available and a decent plan of action, these kits can surely be made up into nice pieces. Now, if it were in a lesser scale, I would probably take my Folgore back to WalMart and get a refund. As is, working it up in the larger 1/32 scale will be both a challenge and a pleasure. I wonder it some of us haven’t gotten rather spoiled by the high-priced kits we see these days?

There ARE inaccuracies, like an almost nonexistent wing dihedral and overscale details. The cockpit is spartan and at the same time cheesy and so is the little dummy pilot (prepainted, no less.) The kit strikes me as an obvious marketing angle, more than a purpose designed scale model.

But Oh! Sweet Mother Mary, those decals. Are they ever nice! I’m tempted to frame them until such time as I build the kit and I may go get another one at WM just so I can. You could pay more than the cost of this KIT itself to get this quality… for aftermarket decals alone. HaseTamiMonoReveTestoGawaCraft oughta take some lessons from 21st Century on those babies.

But, $10 for a neat subject in this scale is a cool thing, especially with those decals. I’m sure one of the Big Boys will soon best it, so keep your wallet topped up (as I’m sure you’ll need it). Until then, I wouldn’t expect to do more than clean up the build as a canvas for displaying the excellent markings.

It’s all in how you look at things; all of this kit’s faults can be dealt with pretty handily, if a little work is something you can face up to.

Gotta jump in here; I’m with Dahut 100% on these kits.

Do yins guys recall when we could get a 1/48th plane for well under $2.00 to build over a weekend? Or a 1/32nd Revell plane for under $3.00? I know I didn’t sweat the petty stuff for the $2-3. I spent.

You’d be hard pressed to find a decent 1/48th kit for under $10. anymore.

These 21C kits are an excellent way to attract fresh blood to our hobby; decent FUN kits at reasonable prices for a youngster with some snow-shovelling money, or an eldster modeller on a limited budget that has been turned off by the high prices of kits these days.

Or any modeller who wants a relaxing build without the tensions of possibly hosing up a $50.00+ Tamiya-gawa Zero, or wrassling a resin Maccchi.

[justplanenuts]

If you buy the Zero kit, you may see the drop tank on the box art, and in the photo for the instructions, and even in the painting instructions. Problem is, there is no drop tank in the parts for the kit.

If you want one - good luck!

There is one available on the built up version.

Perhaps a few more people making the point with 21st Century toys “Customer Service” would help: info@21stCenturytoys.com

[Borg_R3-MC0]

They are currently working on a 1/18 me-262, it’s going to be in their pre painted series. But if I look at the parts I do hope they make a kit version as wel.

http://www.hyperscale.com/reviews/kits/me262ab18previewmb_1.htm

[jwb]

Can you imagine the kind of crazy scratch building you could do in 1/18th scale? I’d love a 1/18th P-40 kit!

[the_Baron]

21st Century Toys makes completed models, which are really intended more as very detailed toys than as model kits. They have a series of 1/18th scale aircraft, from WWII to post-war jets, and the 1/32nd scale line, of which your Macchi is part. The kit you have is a newer product, as another poster pointed out here in the thread; the kits are based on the 1/32nd scale completed models.

I have seen modelers do some very nice superdetailing on these kits, but remember that they aren’t intended necessarily to compete with traditional models, like Hasegawa, Tamiya, Revell, and others.

They make armor models as well, and their website is www.21stcenturytoys.com.

Thanks!

[Borg_R3-MC0]

Can you imagine the kind of crazy scratch building you could do in 1/18th scale?

Not to mention that there already is a 1/18 MPM Me-262 kit which costs…$600!

If 21st century would make it as a kit how much would that be? Their 1/32 kit’s are just $ 10,-… so $ 30 or 40 for a 1/18?

[jwb]

I picked up the -109F last night. Rivet counters will probably dislike the deep panel lines, the holes for the screws and the minor innaccuraices. But I think it’s great- a nice kit with some great markings. I was really surprised at the detail. Take a look at this shot from Brett Green’s build on Hyperscale- 'cept for the belts, half of the yellow fuel line and the toe straps, it’s OOB. Pretty sweet for a 1/32 kit under $10.

What else is cool is the fact that the kits are moving off the shelves, at least at my local Wally World. I go in there quite a bit, and I’ve been checking the 21st CT kits since they hit the shelves about 4 weeks ago. I’m pretty sure at least 8-10 have been sold, and certainly more could’ve been. But that means modelers- hopefully new ones to the hobby- are picking up a relatively simple but nice kit. And if they’re selling well, then maybe they’ll enlarge their line.

Wonder when we’ll see AM parts start popping up for them?

[stevedavis709]

Hi,

Thanks for all the information. It is really quite useful. Do check out the links given by me, I think you may like them.

---

Looking for nice toys: Children’s Outdoor Toys and Outdoor Toys

[coogrfan]

Sadly, 21C has been out of business for a couple of years now. You can still find most of the kits on eBay, but be prepared to pay at least 2-3x the original $10.00 asking price.

[Sprue-ce_Goose]

Sadly, 21C has been out of business for a couple of years now. You can still find most of the kits on eBay, but be prepared to pay at least 2-3x the original $10.00 asking price.

Unless someone wants the decals , I don’t see a reason for paying 2x-3x for the 1/32 kits.

[telsono]

I have built their Macchi C. 205 which is basically their C. 202 with a few embellishments. Two glaring errors is the incorrect spinner (rounder on the C. 205 in all cases) and the rigid tail wheel. Wartime C.205’s had retractable tail wheels. Post war, Macchi upengined many C.202’s to C.205’s and they had rigid tail wheels, but they had the C.205 spinner, not the narrower spinner of the C. 202.

As mentioned earlier, what do you expect at that price?

BTW for both the C.202 and the C.205, the antenna should be varnished wood, not camouflage color. Many references have this wrong. The highly varnished wood reflected the color of the fuselage, but was natural wood in color.

Mike T.

[coogrfan]

coogrfan:

Sadly, 21C has been out of business for a couple of years now. You can still find most of the kits on eBay, but be prepared to pay at least 2-3x the original $10.00 asking price.

Unless someone wants the decals , I don’t see a reason for paying 2x-3x for the 1/32 kits.

Depends on the kit, imo. With a little TLC the Corsair, Stuka, and BF 109 F and 109G kits all build up into very nice models.

The A6M2/A6M3 kits are also useful as aftermarket sets for the Tomy/Swallow/Doyusha A6M2 and the Hasegawa/Revell A6M5 kits. The cockpit is a simplified copy of Tamiya’s, so much so that the parts are interchangeable, and represents a significant upgrade on the cockpits offered in those kits. 21C’s decals are also outstanding, well printed and in perfect register.

[Sprue-ce_Goose]

Sprue-ce Goose:

coogrfan:

Sadly, 21C has been out of business for a couple of years now. You can still find most of the kits on eBay, but be prepared to pay at least 2-3x the original $10.00 asking price.

Unless someone wants the decals , I don’t see a reason for paying 2x-3x for the 1/32 kits.

Depends on the kit, imo. With a little TLC the Corsair, Stuka, and BF 109 F and 109G kits all build up into very nice models.

The A6M2/A6M3 kits are also useful as aftermarket sets for the Tomy/Swallow/Doyusha A6M2 and the Hasegawa/Revell A6M5 kits. The cockpit is a simplified copy of Tamiya’s, so much so that the parts are interchangeable, and represents a significant upgrade on the cockpits offered in those kits. 21C’s decals are also outstanding, well printed and in perfect register.

I completely agree !

My comment was mostly due to demanded of 2x / 3x original price starts placing it in competition with better kits offered either on e-bay or dealer tables in contest meets.

21st Century decals are outstanding.

I bought a spare Stuka just for decals.

[Mikeym_us]

Sprue-ce Goose:

coogrfan:

Sadly, 21C has been out of business for a couple of years now. You can still find most of the kits on eBay, but be prepared to pay at least 2-3x the original $10.00 asking price.

Unless someone wants the decals , I don’t see a reason for paying 2x-3x for the 1/32 kits.

Depends on the kit, imo. With a little TLC the Corsair, Stuka, and BF 109 F and 109G kits all build up into very nice models.

The A6M2/A6M3 kits are also useful as aftermarket sets for the Tomy/Swallow/Doyusha A6M2 and the Hasegawa/Revell A6M5 kits. The cockpit is a simplified copy of Tamiya’s, so much so that the parts are interchangeable, and represents a significant upgrade on the cockpits offered in those kits. 21C’s decals are also outstanding, well printed and in perfect register.

the only problem with the cockpits on the 21st Century Zeros is the lack of instruments in the IP you have the IP and bezels but no instruments. With the 2 Zero kits I have I am looking for some IP film like what EDUARD used to put out. Unless the PE set for the Tamiya kit would work?

[coogrfan]

the only problem with the cockpits on the 21st Century Zeros is the lack of instruments in the IP you have the IP and bezels but no instruments. With the 2 Zero kits I have I am looking for some IP film like what EDUARD used to put out. Unless the PE set for the Tamiya kit would work?

The Eduard sets for the Tamiya kits include instruments that will work with a little careful sanding of the rear instrument panel openings. Alternately, MDC makes some very nice generic Japanese Army/Navy instrument decals:

http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/16561/1059/japanese_army_navy_instruments_wwii

Here’s one other interesting solution to the lack of instruments that was posted over at LSP:

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=32852&pid=305759&st=0&#entry305759