[dragon53]

I bought my first replica, a 21st Century P-51D "Big Beautiful Doll" a few days ago (when I was a kid, I was an avid model builder-collector). My BBD had the following problems:
1. Large scrape on the rudder tip and a contiguous 1/2" glue smear on the gray-painted part of the rudder.
2. Several superficial black paint smears on the wings.
3. Left landing gear in the down position is angled inwards.
4. Gun sight is off-center to the right.
5. Wing flap flops and won't stay up.
6. Pilot's right leg falls off.

So I took my BBD back to Wal-Mart and showed the rudder problem to the customer service rep who agreed to me that it was very noticeable. I looked at the store's three remaining BBDs: #1 also had the rudder scrape. #2 also had the rudder scrape. #3 didn't have the rudder scrape, so I got that one. When I got my new P-51D home I noticed BBD-2 had the following flaws:
1. The red paint on the propeller hub ranges from thin to very thin so the dark plastic underneath is visible.
2. The screw covers on the right fuselage are missing.
3. The pilot's parachute is missing.
4. The pilot's right leg wouldn't bend so I couldn't put him in the cockpit (I had to remove the entire leg to fix this, but now it falls off like the first pilot, but at least he's in the cockpit).
5. Pilot's eyeballs--one is much bigger than the other---it looked like one eyeball was looking up and the other was looking down. I'm a cartoonist, so I partially corrected that with a pen.
5. Left landing gear in the down position is angled inwards.
6. Gun sight is off-center to the right.
7. The left upper wing has large splotches of "polished" silver areas vs. the flat-finish silver of the rest of the wing.
8. A slight scrape on the rudder tip which I corrected like the pilot's eyeballs.

I was at another Wal-Mart which only one BBD and it had overspray on the checkerboard paint so I skipped that one. As of now, I plan to keep BBD-2--even though the semi-red nose bothers me. 21st Century's website has been down for several days, but I plan to email them about my BBD quality control problems.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems with their 21st Century replicas?

[STARMAN 352ND]

That sounds like you must of got the 1st batch of BBD....They were known to have some problems...Overspray,paint smears.glue marks in some areas...Almost like a monday morning job..
The new BBD Mustangs that comes in a special BBD package had no flaws that i could see...
JP

[dragon53]

STARMAN 352ND:

Yep, my 2 BBD's came in the old box. I haven't seen the new BBD boxes in Wal-Mart.

On the Small Scale HQ board, I haven't seen others who bought their BBDs at Wal-Mart complain about their BBDs---assuming their Wal-Marts have the old boxes, too.

If I email 21st Century, will they send me the missing parts?

[STARMAN 352ND]

It does not hurt to email them and let them know about the missing parts...
they have helped me in the past with my TBM i have it was missing 2 screw plugs and
a few weeks later i got them..
JP

[dragon53]

STARMAN 352ND:

Since the whole d*mn BBD is defective, do you think 21st Century will send me a new BBD in the new box?

[Raven]

Based on my experience, most 21C planes (all models) at Walmart have at least some sort of issue (poor paint, overspray, blemish, broken/missing parts, crushed box). When I was looking for an F-86 Huff, I literally looked at 15+ planes at several stores and most had some issue visible through the packaging. When I finally picked one up, I found a paint blemish that was not visible until I took it out of the packaging! At that point, I threw in the towel and just kept it. I had a similar experience with the last USAF F-104C. The only planes that seemed to have consistently good paint were the MiG-15's and no one seemed to want them.

Assuming that on-line retailers carry the same stuff from 21C quality wise, I could never see ordering one - need to see it first!

[dragon53]

RAVEN:

I agree. One Wal-Mart had four BBDs (all defective), several MiG-15s, a few Pearl Harbor P-40s (very little detail) and one Old Crow P-51. The other Wal-Mart had one BBD (defective), one Pearl Harbor P-40 and one yellow RCAF F-104.

Based on my experience I would be reluctant to order 21st Century stuff online because it would be too difficult to send it back for another--only to find the replacement is defective, too. Since I'm wary of ordering 21st Century online, basically I'm stuck with my Wal-Mart Rudolph the semi-red-nosed BBD----unless 21st Century has pity on me. Replacement screw covers and parachute won't cover up for the semi-red nose and the wing blemishes.

[smartd]

I have had the German F104 for over a year,... have not seen any problems.

[flyXwire]

It's quite hit-n-miss with quality on the 1/18th scale of most 21st Century products nowadays, and it's also a most recent 'anomaly'? When I say that, I really mean to say that the quality has dropped off tremendously! When I started buying the larger scaled models when these first came out 4 years ago, I hardly noticed any of the quality issues that have been mentioned here and I speak from experience. That is why I'm staying away with 1/18th products from 21st CT for the time being and I would much rather buy the 1/18th BBI products without hesitation - site/product unseen.

[STARMAN 352ND]

If your not happy with your BBD i would take it back and get a refund..No point to keep it if your not 100% happy with it.
I have been lucky so far with my 1:18 21st fighters and i will say that BBI is also another great 1:18 company too...
They make really cool looking planes and great detail...You can find them at your local TRU store.
Also Admiral toys is a newer company that makes 1:18 with super details...so far they only have (4) paint schemes of the F-86 and (1) scheme of the Me 262 out (A Hartmann F-86 and White 7 Me 262 is due out soon)... they also have a SBD-2 Dauntless and Skyraider that's coming out soon.
JP