21st Century Sdkfz 7 (1 Viewer)

[Alexdakar]

I painted this 8 ton prime mover to go with the Afrika troops.

 

[Leadmen]

The half- track looks neat. Been thinking of re-painting mine or making some changes. Looks good. Leadmen

 

[Alexdakar]

Here it is with the top on but I'm probably going to change the color of it to olive drab.

 

[Eazy]

I like that a lot. Really good job. The 21st stuff is really improving. Superficially it look as good as FOV but just lacks the weight and detail. I like the new Afrika Korps figures they've produced though.

 

[johngambale]

I have contacted the people at 21st century Toys and asked them if they will start producing the 1/30th Size Scale, for their WW2 Toys; and they told me, there is a good possibility that they are trying to go a little Larger in Size Scale soon? The 2- NEW Release's ( KINGTIGER II ), and ( JADGTIGER ), are looking good! I Painted Winter , on the 21st Century King Tiger and it looks Awesome! This will go Great with the NEW K & C BOB Germans, soon to be Released! I understand they're coming out with an ELEPHANT, HUMMEL, possible MARDER III? Hopefuly anyday, Fov is releasing the NEW M-3 GRANT TANK, that Andy doesn't want to make for the K 7 C 8th Army in 2006!

 

[Warbuff26]

Looks great Alex...it is fun to mix and match and repaint to get the look that you want!

 

[sceic2]

How stupid am I. I just got the K&C version AND THREW AWAY the 21st Century version. After seeing what you have done with yours. I am SO not thinking. It is a great job.

 

[jazzeum]

I think it's a wonderful job. Alex, you're truly talented. I would like to see what you have done with dioramas. I would like to line the two of them up. However, I would still prefer K & C.

 

[Gideon]

CAn I display your custom jobs in my store?

 

[TLP]

I have contacted the people at 21st century Toys and asked them if they will start producing the 1/30th Size Scale, for their WW2 Toys; and they told me, there is a good possibility that they are trying to go a little Larger in Size Scale soon? The 2- NEW Release's ( KINGTIGER II ), and ( JADGTIGER ), are looking good! I Painted Winter , on the 21st Century King Tiger and it looks Awesome! This will go Great with the NEW K & C BOB Germans, soon to be Released! I understand they're coming out with an ELEPHANT, HUMMEL, possible MARDER III? Hopefuly anyday, Fov is releasing the NEW M-3 GRANT TANK, that Andy doesn't want to make for the K 7 C 8th Army in 2006!

Be careful what you ask for, with Wallys world selling their stuff its companies that could produce a fifteen dollar tank that would put Andys $125 tank right out of business!

 

[Fullyautomatic]

Be careful what you ask for, with Wallys world selling their stuff its companies that could produce a fifteen dollar tank that would put Andys $125 tank right out of business!

TLP I have to disagree with you on this point as it stands now in the K&C world of Mr Andy Neilson. Listening to Andy first hand again this year at OTSN one learns of his openedness to competition from all other toy soldier makers.With a "bring it on" attitude he excepts the challenge at hand and has provided his answers to the challenges with each new release, as one can see that the sculpts just get better and better. As far as the price, his increase this year was the first in a long while. Sure I grumbled to hear of an increase in price but the improvement in quality has pretty much evened that out by far. Wagering that eventually the price will go to high for me to keep collecting,I'm not sure and don't have an answer as to my cut off point at this time. A good response to this would be the recent sales of the Limited edition pieces,Stug and Winter Tiger(over the standard $100/set mark). The Stug sold out in 2 days(only 499 units) while the Tiger took 5 days(999 units). So as can be seen by these numbers there are definately die-hard K&C collectors out there.
Another example of this would be the fact of how many dealers there are.Looking at the official K&C site I come up with 48 dealers in the US and 27 world wide. If each dealer had 10 WWII collectors(average that out across the board which is low for sure) then thats 750 cutomers not including sales directly from K&C Hong Kong. A 1000 unit piece as you can see will sell out quickly and not leave much leftover.
I think I lost myself from the original post.Sorry about that. Many of the collectors on this board collect 21st and FOV but most have said that there top priority is K&C so I don't think the $15 tank thing is going to hurt Andy in the long run. Whats going to hurt is when us brain washed fools pass away and there is no one else collecting this stuff. Well thats not going to happen anytime soon as I saw quite a few K&C sales at OTSN. Also one of Andy's comments at his talk was to get new and younger blood into the toy collecting world. So with the help of Ian(unofficial youngest K&C collector on the board) and his classmates a new strain of collectors has been born.... Collector K&C spawn is spreading so watch out or Andy will get you to......

 

[TLP]

Let me elaborate a little. While I agree 100% that Andy and K&C are at the top of the game there is truly no competition. While he may welcome it with open arms while not present is one thing, but to actually have it in your face is another.

As anyone on this board knows 21st is not in competition with K&C, however lets say they did jump up 60mm, and that they took the quality and detail up a few notches, Their King tiger sold through thousands of wal marts at $25.00 **** near matching the resin piece that K&C offers for $120.00 Which one you going to buy? You of course the K&C but that young blood might not see it the same way. Its simple economy of scales. Perhaps I am wrong but I see it much like the auto industry, years ago with little competition a hand built Jaguar or Morgon or MG was quite the collectors dream. People giggled at the thought of a Toyota being in the same league. Now those niche manufactures are dead and only the big boys produce cars and eat little companies for lunch. While those hand built cars are still collectors items you can get a run of the mill toyota with vetter quality at half the price.

 

[Fullyautomatic]

Point taken TLP and I have to agree that it would have been hard for me to get my parents to buy K&C products when I was a young lad on the farm. Heck a good straight stick and a cardboard box was free and provided me with endless hours of fun and war games.It wasn't until I had a decent job that I could afford to buy alot of these "so called toys" for myself.
Its like everything else.Its a product thats available and the consumer chooses what fits his/her's collecting niche and budget. If I could turn back the time clock I would certainly be hounding my dad for those FOV/21st tanks to play with in the sandbox.It was rather frustrating finding that the cat had layed a hidden landmine ,if you know what I mean.Unfortunately his answer would not have changed from then to now, providing a good stick(maybe a broken hockey stick if I was lucky) and a cardboard box. Now get back to shoveling that manure boy!!! Love ya dad!!!

 

[Ken & Ericka Osen/H&A Studio]

Alex did a great job on the repaint, and in many ways even got more bang for his buck. He now has a one of a kind vehicle and also the satisfaction of having detailed it himself.
That is just the way it used to be, I remember scratch building vehicles that I never thought would be available as kits, much less as pre finished built ups.
Why don't more of you give it a try...warning: it might be habit forming.