21st Century 1/32 built A/C back

[RT-14]

And two more.

 

 

 

And I also have some 1/35 21st Century armor X 9 from my kids. (scratch that...make it 10...I just spotted a Panzer 38(t) Light Tank on the shelf that I didn't phot-recon)..

Edited September 3, 2011 by RT-14

[ssculptor]

I started building models in 1942. By this time there is nothing in model building to tempt me to spend the time and effort except for the fact that if I feel the need to have a model of a particular airplane I will build it, either from a kit or from scratch. So when I saw all those delightfully colorful 21st Century built and painted models in 1/32 scale I bought as many as I could find. I want the model, I no longer feel the need to build the thing myself. I have built way to many over the past 69 years to feel the need to do the work myself.

 

After all these years, building models has become a means to an end, not the end in itself.

 

So I have models in my collection that are build of solid wood, some from the Philippines and a bunch by a member of this forum who was an F-100 pilot in 'Nam and who is a natural wood craftsman. The biggest one I bought from him is a 1/32 C-47 on floats, carved in hard wood. Yes, there are no details but so what? I could not care less about panel lines and rivets and cockpit details and extended landing gear.

 

The models made in the Philippines are amusing but quite attractive and over the years I have purchased about two dozen from people who no longer wanted them and thus offered them on eBay at very low prices. I simply love eBay as a source of models. To explain what I mean when I say the models from the Philippines are amusing, let me use the example of the 1/32 scale Duck I have. It is painted in late 1930's colors but it carries banks of five (?) rockets under the wings as armaments. Rockets in 1939? Banks of five of them? But the best part is that fact that the struts on the tail runs not from the horizontal stabilizer to the vertical stabilizer, but from the elevators to the rudder! An airplane built like that should have some interesting flight characteristics, to say the least. I would correct it but every time I look at it I start chuckling, sometimes just laughing out loud and I leave it alone. I need a good laugh every now and then.

 

Thus I am not ashamed to say that I like the 1/32 built up scale aircraft models by 21st Century. The reason I will not buy the two that Algo just released is because I already have them.

 

Enjoy, it is only a hobby.

 

Stephen

[RT-14]

It's funny Stephen, that until I read this thread I didn't know how valuable these are. I went on eBay and I see almost NOTHING...and I mean NOTHING... on 21st Century AC, and that's the international scene too; and the few examples I did see? They were pretty expensive. I had no idea. So my kids were right on the money. "Dad, these will look great in your office!"...so back into the cases they go, with something under the LG to keep them from splaying.

 

I'm getting to that age where the old eyes and fingers are finding it a tad difficult to work on 1/48 anymore. That's why I'm all over the 1/32's and am happy that manufacturers are putting out some splendid kits.

 

I LIKE the Phillipine wood kits, desktop models are very well done. But I still have the weakness to built kits, and hopefully when the grandkids come along I'll be able to tutor the young ones. THAT'S what I'm looking at. Boy or Girl, lets build baby!

 

I was born in '52, so you've got some mileage on me, and I'm happy to meet another kindred soul familiar with the old Monogram and Lindberg kits! Some of those kits (Liked the 1/48 Hellcat) had folding wings, retractable LG, push down, turn sideways, shut. If I remember correctly the Wildcat's wings folded backwards, the TBF had retractables, bomb bay doors opened and torpedo came out, The Helldiver's wings folded up and the bay opened and presto! a bomb.

 

I'm looking at 3 of these in my case as we speak. We're old friends me and Monogram. Here's a photo, see if you recognize them. Amazing amounts of movement in these old kits.

 

Helldiver: Prop spins, both Canopies still slide,wheels retract, bay opens, bomb (arounf here somewhere sling comes down and the bomb is slotted so it falls out like the real thing, wings fold, but like me, her joints are getting old so I dare not tempt fate!

 

Hellcat: Prop spins, LG gear folds like the real thing,, wings slide out and fold back but I tempt her not...and tail wheel retracts. When it opens, the tail hool slides out! Ingenious design!

 

TBF: Bay opens, torpedo has two holes that fit pegs extending from center wing spar so when doors open, torp drops out! doors snap securely too after all this time. It has the same tailwheel/hook configuration as the HC, turret swivels and gun elevates.

 

My link

 

 

 

Tail wheel retracts, main gear does, bays open, torpedo drops out, turret and prop swivel:

 

 

 

 

Tail wheel retracted, hook in:

 

Tail wheel extended, hook out. Yes there is a hook there, just gobbed up with silver paint...lol

 

 

Correct paint scheme? You must be kidding...did I care back then? Heck no! I was just happy to have them and a paint can, a couple of bottles of Testors flat paint, and a brush or two was just fine and dandy. I had to gently wash them before I showed them to you, hence the water spots on my desk... Not beer! I don't drink. Clean and sober 10 years now. But I can salute you with a 'pretend' beer, no? SALUTE!

Edited September 3, 2011 by RT-14

[RT-14]

A couple of more to illustrate the bomb on the HD and then it's back to topic before the mods run me up the pole! But hey, it's a holiday weekend, I'm here, you're here. Old memories stir...

 

Pretty ingenious little devices here.

 

1. Slotted bomb. I have this one and then another finned one, both slotted the same except for an extra hole on the finned example.

 

 

It goes on like so:

 

And fits on the tang on the aft-end of the bay: Sorry about the pic. My camera doesn't do macro.

 

And then the doors snap shut.

 

I'd love to find some of these old kits again and re-do them with correct colors! I watch ebay for them, but they're pretty scarce.

 

OK, done with Monogram! Back to 21st Century and 1/32" scale AC.

Edited September 3, 2011 by RT-14

[ssculptor]

A couple of more to illustrate the bomb on the HD and then it's back to topic before the mods run me up the pole! But hey, it's a holiday weekend, I'm here, you're here. Old memories stir...

OK, done with Monogram! Back to 21st Century.

Those are really neat. I do not remember them as by that time I was involved in college and then graduate school so modeling took a back seat to just about everything. Except when I went for my Masters of Fine Arts and started making sculpture. After a while I started to incorporate my models in my sculpture. After the masters came the doctorate so it was a long while before I got back to making models just for the fun of it. I did make a lot of models which were used in the sculpture, however.

Eventually I got back to making models but they all seemed to end up in the sculpture. Now I am back to accumulating the models as I love airplanes and tanks and the like. I just wish I had the time to make the models for the fun of it.

By the wsy, the market for the prebuilt and painted models, like those from the Philippines and 21st Century, are executives who like to display them in their offices a well as at home.

 

Another by the way, it was a lot more fun building model airplanes when I did not have to conduct an investigation into the exact colors and markings used on the model airplane. BAck In the old days I bought a bottle of paint the right color, more or less but so what? Then a couple brushes and thinner and some decals and I enjoyed making my models. None of this anxiety ridden life of getting the rivets correctly placed and the panel lines correct and the interior details absolutely correct. Just build the model for the FUN of it.

Enjoy, it is only a hobby.

Stephen

Edited September 4, 2011 by ssculptor

[RT-14]

Those are really neat. I do not remember them as by that time I was involved in college and then graduate school so modeling took a back seat to just about everything. Except when I went for my Masters of Fine Arts and started making sculpture. After a while I started to incorporate my models in my sculpture. After the masters came the doctorate so it was a long while before I got back to making models just for the fun of it. I did make a lot of models which were used in the sculpture, however.

Eventually I got back to making models but they all seemed to end up in the sculpture. Now I am back to accumulating the models as I love airplanes and tanks and the like. I just wish I had the time to make the models for the fun of it.

By the wsy, the market for the prebuilt and painted models, like those from the Philippines and 21st Century, are executives who like to display them in their offices a well as at home.

 

Another by the way, it was a lot more fun building model airplanes when I did not have to conduct an investigation into the exact colors and markings used on the model airplane. BAck In the old days I bought a bottle of paint the right color, more or less but so what? Then a couple brushes and thinner and some decals and I enjoyed making my models. None of this anxiety ridden life of getting the rivets correctly placed and the panel lines correct and the interior details absolutely correct. Just build the model for the FUN of it.

Enjoy, it is only a hobby.

Stephen

 

Hahahahaha! I know, it's amazing that such a fun hobby can become...well, tedious..or a race to the finish line.

 

By the way, here's the box. I think 1963. If you look on my very first picture on the last post, you will see the two AA's on the tail, the number 107 on the fuselage side, and the small 107 on the cowling of my model. I bought it brand new when I was 11 or 12 years old. That airplane model is 48 years old! Do you know how many times I've moved since 1963? I take care of my models.

 

It says on the box, "Wings fold, landing gear retracts, bomb drops." In black right below the "1/48 Scale Model Kit" in red letters. Hard to find these anymore cheaply on ebay. Perhaps some day...

 

What they don't tell you is that the bomb bay doors open and close, the bomb fork comes down and the bomb slides out of the grooves and drops, the tail-hook slides in and out, both the pilot and the gunners canopies slide, the gunners MG moves up and down, the wheels roll, and the propeller spins. You got a lot for your money back then! I think it was a whole dollar and a half for that model! You know how many lawns (I made a quarter for each lawn)I had to mow back in '63 to make that much loot? SIX! Sometimes more if I only made 15 of 20 cents from the crabby old neighbors...With a two wheeled hand mower...no motor...the kind you pushed! Nasty West Texas grass, hard as iron. Gas was 14 cents a gallon, soda's were a dime, a QUARTER? You held on to that puppy like it was gold-plated...Saturday, finish my chores, jump on my old rickety second-hand bike and ride a 5 miles down to Star Discount in Snyder Texas....and buy a model! Gosh those were good old days...deciding WHICH model I was going to buy...I spent hours in that place.

Edited September 4, 2011 by RT-14

[R Hunt]

I have a few of these kits, used to sell them like crazy on e-bay until Wally mart got out of the model bussiness, I loved them! for all the above reasons and hope they come out with the kits but there not worth 40.00 bucks, the Stuka's are very good and I still have a couple in the stash as I like them much better than the Revell kits,

R Hunt.

[ssculptor]

Hahahahaha! I know, it's amazing that such a fun hobby can become...well, tedious..or a race to the finish line.

I think it was a whole dollar and a half for that model! You know how many lawns (I made a quarter for each lawn)I had to mow back in '63 to make that much loot? SIX! Sometimes more if I only made 15 of 20 cents from the crabby old neighbors...With a two wheeled hand mower...no motor...the kind you pushed! Nasty West Texas grass, hard as iron. Gas was 14 cents a gallon, soda's were a dime, a QUARTER? You held on to that puppy like it was gold-plated...Saturday, finish my chores, jump on my old rickety second-hand bike and ride a 5 miles down to Star Discount in Snyder Texas....and buy a model! Gosh those were good old days...deciding WHICH model I was going to buy...I spent hours in that place.

Keep looking on eBay if you want one of these oldies. You can set up a search on eBay and set it for 1/48 Monogram kits. Then eBay will notify you when these are on sale. I just sold a bunch of these identical Monogram kits on eBay a few months ago.

 

Y'know, all that work you did back then was really pretty good exercise. I remember playing baseball out on the street every evening until it got too dark to see anything. I also remember those long bike rides. All in all we were in pretty good condition back then. You country bred guys did get more exercise than us city cousins because you had lot longer trips to make. When I wanted to go to the hobby shop I would walk only a mile round trip. When I wanted to go downtown the elevated train/subway station (I grew up in Chicago) was a half block from our apartment. Elementary school was only 1/2 mile from my home and high school was only one short block away. I still remember 12 cent hamburgers at McDonald's back then. Of course that was so long ago that they were really dinosaur-bergers. I remember standing on the running boards of moving cars, sitting in rumble seats, etc.

 

I also remember spending lots and lots of time in toy and hobby shops. I guess there are some things we never grow out of. Which probably accounts for our stashes of models acting as insulation in the attics today.

 

Happy modeling,

Stephen

[RT-14]

Keep looking on eBay if you want one of these oldies. You can set up a search on eBay and set it for 1/48 Monogram kits. Then eBay will notify you when these are on sale. I just sold a bunch of these identical Monogram kits on eBay a few months ago.

 

Y'know, all that work you did back then was really pretty good exercise. I remember playing baseball out on the street every evening until it got too dark to see anything. I also remember those long bike rides. All in all we were in pretty good condition back then. You country bred guys did get more exercise than us city cousins because you had lot longer trips to make. When I wanted to go to the hobby shop I would walk only a mile round trip. When I wanted to go downtown the elevated train/subway station (I grew up in Chicago) was a half block from our apartment. Elementary school was only 1/2 mile from my home and high school was only one short block away. I still remember 12 cent hamburgers at McDonald's back then. Of course that was so long ago that they were really dinosaur-bergers. I remember standing on the running boards of moving cars, sitting in rumble seats, etc.

 

I also remember spending lots and lots of time in toy and hobby shops. I guess there are some things we never grow out of. Which probably accounts for our stashes of models acting as insulation in the attics today.

 

Happy modeling,

Stephen

 

Hahaha! Yes, my city cousin, yes, possibly all the hard work is paying off now in my aging body, but I see your memory is clear,your spirit and love for this hobby is exuberant, as is mine.

 

Stephen, one thing I noticed about these 21st Century planes that puzzles me. They are VERY solid and durable...much more so than an ordinary built kit. Not delicate like them. Very strong. And the decals appear to be not decals but painted on. Did they use thicker plastic and better glue?

 

Ah yes, the rumble seats. My best friend across the street from me back then had a '34 Ford with a rumble seat and we'd head down with our dates to Dairy Queen or A&W Root Beer where they had outside posts with an intercom...like the old drive in movies (I miss those) you placed your order and here comes a girl on metal skates with your platter of burgers and fries witch you hung on your half-open window.

 

I was a plumbing contractor in Southern California for 25 years, sold my business, retired for some years, got tired of that, then went back to work building 1/1 scale airplanes for awhile (Replica racers for airshows), and now my wife and I design eye doctor offices all over the country and Canada. So I am semi-retired and still very active.

 

I play drums professionally and am playing the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas and the Venesian Casino the 22-23 with a rehearsal on the 21st of this month in Vegas. I lived in Brooklyn through my senior year in HS and college and played the NYC clubs in the early 70's and recorded in Jimi Hendrix studio in 1973, then my band went on tour with Leslie West and Mountain. 70's rock band. Ended up in CA where I met my wife and settled down in '79, our first child Rachael in ,80, our second child Jonathan in '84.

 

So I still keep active drumming at 59 y.o., designing offices with my beloved wife from our home offices and, of course, modeling.

 

We share a lot of views you and I. Funny that my name is also Stephen.

 

I wonder when the mods are going to 'bust us'? ...

 

But it is your thread, no? So we meet and we talk a little. No harm done, and when we finish we go back on topic, which in my view is modeling in general, and 21st Century in particular, and so we are discussing 'on topic'...here and there.

 

We modelers share a wonderful hobby and experience has taught me that membership on a board should be more than just 'Hi, how are you? And it is nice to see the younger and older folks taking such an immense joy in our old (new) hobby. It gladdens the heart, and yes, some may get carried away with minute details...a rivet here, a rivet there, a wire here, a wire there, an instrument panel

here, a radio there, but I've had my share of crawling over, under, and through aircraft, installing engines, hours of of riveting, cutting aluminum IP's, drilling holes for guages, installing wiring, plumbing, linkages, covering spars with fabric, sanding aluminum, working an old English wheel, welding and bending on real airplanes, so this does not interest me in my model building.

 

I love to build for the joy and fun of it...taking my time, and learning to paint better camo schemes and masking techniques...mastering my airbrush..painting figures, and building diorama's. This interests me.

 

It is good to see such enthusiasm and joy and such talent as I see here on LSP and reading Junker88a1's website on raising the HE-111 and Ju88 from the lake bottom and examining the photos of the 88's restoration on here...following the works in progress, completed builds, reading through the group builds, meeting fellow modelers and sharing in their delight...This interests me.

 

I found this site purely by accident looking for 1/32 scale models...and instead I found you all, and will be a better modeler for it.

 

I, like you, have never given it up...through childhood, adolescence, marriage and children, busy days as a contractor, musical career, retirement, and semi-retirement...it has always been here, like an old and dear companion, this hobby of mine, and will always be so. Like the stash of models I have yet to build, I fear...

Edited September 4, 2011 by RT-14

[MikeMaben]

Hey RT, remember the original Helldiver ? Boxart was much cooler then.

 

 

You used to live on the Columbia in Portland ? If you were to head out to Sandy from Gresham (where I live),

about half way you'd find an A&W that still has girls on roller skates and an intercom for ordering from your car.

 

If you like old kits DON'T go here as you might wind up with

alot less money than you have now. It's a fun trip down memory lane tho.

[RT-14]

Hey RT, remember the original Helldiver ? Boxart was much cooler then.

 

 

You used to live on the Columbia in Portland ? If you were to head out to Sandy from Gresham (where I live),

about half way you'd find an A&W that still has girls on roller skates and an intercom for ordering from your car.

 

If you like old kits DON'T go here as you might wind up with

alot less money than you have now. It's a fun trip down memory lane tho.

 

OMG! THAT'S the box my model came in. I was going to bid on ebay for the kit I showed in my previous posts thinking that was the one. I was sure of it. 48 years ago is a while, but the writing on the box convinced me...but it's not the one mine came in now that I see this. That sure brings back old memories seeing this box art.

 

Thanks for this link! This is SOoo cool, I can't begin to tell you! It's now in my bookmarks!

Gosh! $45-$85 for this kit? Yikes! Still in shrink-wrap so the decals should still be good!

 

Yes, we owned a floating home on the Columbia on Bridgeton Road. We lived there for 8 years. I used to visit Bridgetown Hobbies on Sandy Blvd just off 33rd quite a bit. Pretty pricey, but they had a 'slash and stash' table where you could get deals, but that was spotty. Still, it was fun to browse. And I they had (have) a bunch of 21st Century aircraft there in boxed sets.

 

 

429 N. Bridgeton slip # 12 @ Bouy One Moorage right across from Hayden Island/Jantzen Beach. Me sitting on (my) Dock of the bay...lol

 

We sold it a year ago after building a new house here in Brentwood on the outskirts of Nashville TN to be closer to my wife's relatives and mother (who's 93) and lives in New Jersey, my daughter who lives in Brooklyn with her new hubby, and my relatives in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We can now drive and visit rather than take those long 5 hour flights from Portland to NYC. My best friend and bandmate owns a recording studio 3 miles from here so I play drums in his band and record for some of his clients.

 

Our Ophthalmology design studio is above the garage, my private office/model building emporium is on the second floor, left side of the house facing East.

 

 

One surprising fact about this area. There are NO hobby shops here. Oh a few models in Hobby Lobby, and Hudson Hobbies has a little office here, and there seems to be a great interest in RC planes and train stores. But of our kin? Zip. Nada.

 

So I shop online and ebay and when we go to NYC to visit family 4X a year, I go over to Ridgefield Hobbies in North Jersey and browse. Jimmy, the owner, is a fine fellow and lets me go downstairs in the store's personal 'stash' where I can pick and choose from many older kits, but it will take me MANY many trips down there to go through the whole lot. But this is so much FUN, and Jimmy gives me great deals, so I get my 'browsing time' in spades.

Edited September 5, 2011 by RT-14

[LSP_Ray]

 

You used to live on the Columbia in Portland ? If you were to head out to Sandy from Gresham (where I live),

about half way you'd find an A&W that still has girls on roller skates and an intercom for ordering from your car.

 

Same if you head further down I-5 to Salem, hang a left, and head for Stayton. Well, no roller skates, but the intercom system is still there! Just stopped by last week!

[MikeMaben]

Ray, no rollerskates ?? !!

Gotta have rollerskates

[MikeMaben]

Thanks for this link! This is SOoo cool, I can't begin to tell you! It's now in my bookmarks!

Gosh! $45-$85 for this kit? Yikes! Still in shrink-wrap so the decals should still be good!

 

You bet, have fun.

[R Hunt]

And to think it was a 1.50 for that kit back then, mine met its match in a firecraker/BB gun attack around 68,

R Hunt.