[CaptFrank]

While shaking my head at the plethora of car kits in the
model section of the toy department at Wal-Mart, I saw
another plane kit from the 21st Century Toys model
company. This one is the JU 87 B/R STUKA.

Wal-mart had two kits on the shelf.

I was looking for the Corsair, but went back and settled for
the Stuka.

A woman at "Customer Service" told me four Corsair kits would
be in over the next few days. :hat:

I'll be purchasing one of them, as well.

 

[jlspec]

I picked a couple Corsairs and a Zero kit. Haven't started them yet. Did not look too bad for $10. I do have a couple preassembled 1/32 Corsairs.

 

[CaptFrank]

I've completed the Zero.
It is a nicely engineered kit. It almost stays together without glue.
However, where I did use glue, the glue merely dried. It did not
melt and fuse the plastic like other plastic kits. Whatever type
of plastic 21st Century Toys uses, it is resistant to the model glue
that comes in the red tube.
I'm considering using Superglue for the Stuka.

 

[jlspec]

Thanks for the tip. I had read that somewhere before. Would that apply to the Corsair also?

 

[CaptFrank]

I hope not, but probably.
I would assume the company makes all the kits from the same
stock plastic.
Looking at my finished Zero, I see that the wings have split open
along the entire length of the seam.

Must be that cracking noise I hear at night.

 

[The-Nightsky]

Only use superglue....My Miacchi fell apart after a week! [email protected]$%$%%

 

[Andrew Gorman]

My guess is the plastic is probably ABS- possibly Ambroid Pro Weld, Plastruct Plastic Weld, or any other solvent cement with methylene chloride in it would work. Also, are these kits available anywhere other than Wal Marts?
Andrew

 

[CaptFrank]

The-Nightsky sadly reported:

Only use superglue....My Miacchi fell apart after a week! [email protected]$%$%%

Sorry to hear it.
I guess I get to experience the fun of re-building my Zero soon! :freak:

Andrew Gorman wrote:

My guess is the plastic is probably ABS- possibly Ambroid Pro Weld, Plastruct Plastic Weld, or any other solvent cement with methylene chloride in it would work. Also, are these kits available anywhere other than Wal Marts?

Thanks for the tip.
I only have one model shop near me, and I didn't see these kits the
last time I was there.

 

[jlspec]

I have only seen them in WM

 

[CaptFrank]

Action Update!

The Corsairs are in!
I picked up an F4U - 1A/D kit today! :hat:

 

[machine shop to]

I have only seen them at WM. Seems to me that many times WM will require being the exlusive seller of a product to be the requisite for buying if from a supplier.

to(m)

 

[CaptFrank]

Sounds like a good deal for 21st Century Toys!

 

[omnimodel]

I called the company, and for about the next 6 months or so, WalMart will be the only seller.
I haven't found the Bf-109 yet, but I've got the other four. The Corsair and the Stuka are a grey styrene, the Zero and Macchi are a translucent cream color. I used straight MEK for my glue (like Testors liquid cement but stronger...) and haven't had any problems with the bonding.

Overall, the kits are well engineered and a steal for the price. The instrument panels are a little lacking detail wise, but that's the only drawback I've found so far. The Corsair is my favorite in terms of detailing and finish.

Also, the Zero kit is not the A6M2 model 21 listed on the box... It is and A6M3 model 22. The cowl is completely different, and the model 22 has two additional cannons in the wings. This kit is also the most difficult in terms of getting the wings glued up. I had to remove the landing gear retaining ridges from the upper wings just to get the seam to close.

 

[jlspec]

I called the company, and for about the next 6 months or so, WalMart will be the only seller.
I haven't found the Bf-109 yet, but I've got the other four.

The Bf-109 is the only one that is sittng on the shelves around here

 

[thunder44]

Just recently came across this thread and it seems a bit old, but our Wally World off and on had the 21st Century Model kits from 1/72, 1/48, 1/32 and now 1/18 but as soon as they went on the shelves, they went to the discount aile where I picked up the #10163 P-40B Tomahawk, for like $25.00 During the holidays they had the ME 262/P-51 combo for $28, but now has discounted thos as well.. I had a problem with my left stablizer not fitting tight so I use CA glue, (standard equipment for my RC car racing, LOL).

Has this company discontinue producing their kits, I am serching for a P-51D Mustang at a reasonable price??

 

[CaptFrank]

I checked the www.21stcenturytoys.com website, and they list the
P-51D Mustang in 1:32 scale. The page for it is here:

http://www.21stcenturytoys.com/area21/articles.asp?newsID=297

The date for this news is December 10, 2007, so the kits should
be out there somewhere.

In the "Tragedy at Wal-Mart" thread, I mentioned my local
Wal-Mart discontinued all kits. Just before Christmas, I looked
again, and all kits were gone. It's too bad. 21st Century Toys
has a kit for the ME-262B-1A/U1 listed on their home page.

I would like to have been able to buy that.
Now, I don't know where to get one.

 

[thunder44]

Have you checked Ebay, I know the shipping can be a bit much, but I did find several of the 1/18 scale Mustangs, I wouldn't mind a 1/32 scale version but the 1/18 are so huge, and when I was growing up, the largest model I recall building was either 1/24 or 1/28, but that was so long ago, like earlier 70's.

 

[omnimodel]

I'm still trying to figure out what is going on with WalMart. About a month ago, the woman who stocks the shelves told me that models were being discontinued. This didn't make much sense to me, as these were the one item in the toy section that didn't sit on the shelf.

I called the WalMart corporate office to ask what was going on, and sure enough, the manager of the local store called me back and and assured me that neither he nor anyone at the corporate offices had heard anything about this.

Earlier in the day, I called 21st Century to get their take, and they said that not only were the models going to continue to be sold at WM, but they were in the process of getting a distributor for model shops and other retailers.

Of course, now there are no models at my local WalMart, so I guess I'm going to have to get on the phone again... but at least 21st Century kits should be available at one retailer or another.

 

[jlspec]

The new mold 21st century P-51D has been showing up on the west coast and midwest. This is not a model in the strict sense. It is a prebuilt with some assembly required but they are nice in any case. The P-51B/C has been the nicest so far.
As far as WM and models, our WM keep the area well stocked until mid-December. Now there are only 3 or 4 kits and a half dozen bottles of paint. Other toys have been moved into 2/3s of the area previously occupied by models

 

[The-Nightsky]

Nothing at my Walmarts....Including the supercenters.... acouple of car kits but thats it. The only thing 21st century they have is some action figures and a few of the 1/144th dogfight series....this is really starting to suck. I did manage to score the c-202 and the zero.....Thats it. Never saw the stuka