While thinking I shouldn’t have deleted from my phone the WIP pics of my Mirage IIIEA from Kinetic, I decided to start a new thread for my entry on the BoB’s 85 years GB.
The kit is one of the three Ju 87Bs ever done in 32nd scale, the 21st Century Toys one. Revell originally tooled it with rivets in the 70’s, which is said to be the most accurate version. 21st came with their effort in 2007. After that one, Trumpeter jumped into the bandwagon and released three B versions in 32nd. The Trumpeter kit is, however, the least accurate version of the three, amazingly having Ju 87D armament and poorly researched decals regarding size of the crosses.
Ok, I’ll stop ranting, onto the pics.
Here’s the boxart, a very attractive CGI one. The kit comes inside such small box for its scale because 21st had the policy of not using sprues to hold their parts. This makes it easier to build because there’s no need to clean sprues, but it also makes it harder to paint because, well, you don’t have sprues to hold the parts.
My first assembly was the propeller. I decided no spinning one on this kit, just because I want to add the prop last. If you wish it to spin, you’ll have to add the propeller in the fuselage assembly.
I also have this and a couple other 21st Century Toys kits in my stash so I’ll be following your build closely. Good Luck with this build. BTW, I love that snake art work along the side even though I know that it doesn’t fit with the Battle of Britain build.
Some assembly has finally happened! The main assemblies were glued and fitted easily into their respective areas. I personally like the horizontal stabilizers, they were a much better fit than the Hasegawa ones (which end up poorly aligned if you use the struts to align them).
The wings have big locating tabs and fit perfectly.
I have built their Corsair and the Stuka. The only issue I had with them was filling the huge plugs that cover the screws. The detail is very nice, decals are great and the pilot figures rival some of the best resin ones out there.
tcoat, I agree with everything that you said about 21st Century Toys kits. The other manufacturers’ could learn something from them about designing pilot figures for kits. BTW your Stuka turned out great.
I bought mine for $7 at Walmart back in 2007 when I was just first getting back into modeling. Still wasn’t great at the whole putty thing so I got it about half done and it went to the shelf of doom until last year. By that point the putty job didn’t intimidate me any more so I pulled it out and finished it.
The Corsair is every bit as nice with the exception of the simplified wing fold mech so the C202 will indeed be a great build.
That’s a steal! More so when the decals that came with the kit were (and are) great! I read some people opened the kits at Walmart and stole the decals, and then placed them back on the shelves, was that true?
I deviated a bit from my usual building process and glued the landing gear after painting and before decalling. I usually decal and add the gear after.
I painted everything with brushes and Revell Aqua paints, excellent if you paint like me. The gloss and matt varnishes are from EQ Arte. Somehow the finish of the models ends up satin after I brush the matt over the gloss.
Pre-final reveal pics if the Stuka. Prop is drying as we speak.
Also, for those who have this kit and haven’t built it yet, the two small circles on the transparent box that holds the caps go on the Jericho props, they aren’t called for use on the instructions!
Wow @Sturmovik you really knocked that Stuka out of the park. Sorry, it’s baseball season so the baseball metaphors flow freely from me this time of year. The splinter camo looks great, and the weathering is real evident especially on the yellow nose.
I tried the 21st Century Toys Macchi C.202 several years ago, but never finished it. I wasn’t real enthusiastic about the panel lines, which looked like the Grand Canyon given the scale. I use that as a paint test bed these days.
That’s something that I’ve been told, but I don’t weather my models. Must be the different shades/paint coats I add that make the scheme look battered.
Regarding the Macchi, I found it cheaper, way way cheaper, than the Italeri kit in the same scale. 90$ (shipping plus the comission the guy that goes to pick it up in Miami charges) vs a whooping 177$ from Sprue Brothers! I get it’s more detailes and has like 8 painting schemes, but I don’t find it worth the money. I suggest you give yours a new chance in life and paint it as an operational aircraft, maybe fill the panel lines with some Mr. Surfacer?
I have the Stuka, BF109, the Fulgore and the zero from them. Bought them about 15 years ago. I believe from WalMart. Then they went out of business. Sad…. Haven’t made any of them yet…
Welp, time to wrap this build up. Very nice kit, very good fit overall and great decals. The only modification I did to it was to glue the prop at the end, that means it doesn’t spin, but being comfortable while painting outclassed the desire for the spinning prop. However, I was careful enough in the build of the landing gear, and managed to let the wheels free of glue!
P.D: This is an older build, I’m now ready to glue the clear parts on a Trumpeter Bf 109E-4 in 32nd. That one was near perfect, but the way Trumpeter decided to build the gear legs ruins it if you aren’t careful on the legs’s alignment.
Excellent job Sturmovik! These 21st Century kits can be turned into “gems” with good basic construction techniques and masterful painting. I’ve always liked the early war Ju-87s & the Me-110s(I have a thing for the underdogs) Funny how both of those planes were “written off” and found a new niche for themselves later in the war.
