Chinese scout drone (based on GZG Hornet drone)

Tried to paint tonight, but could not get into it, so packed all of the trade and sales stuff instead, labelled them and put them on the kitchen table. I want to get out tomorrow, so a great time to mail them. Small fortune in shipping costs, will be nice when the next paycheck comes in. It also reminds me I need to sell more. Anyway, Kim was pleased to see so much leave the house, bless her :)

Anyway, finished, I was shifting bags of bits left to right on my desk and I grabbed the GZG bag from the lot. The engines will have to wait as the vehicles are not here yet, but the drones I could start with. Well, 1 anyway. I removed what mouldlines it had, pinned all of the part together with fine wire and used a thicker rod for the stand. I reused the flight base by glueing it to a 20mm plastic base and sanding the edges. As Jon intended the model to be more in a fly (as the insect I mean) like position it has a hole in the chest for a flightstand. I wanted this one to be more upright in a attack position, like it just spotted something and it is facing a threat or target with his tri barrel laser, so I pinned it in the tail with a brass rod and repositioned it. I based it as just above a standard 20mm figure and the laser at headheight of a 28mm figure. (I know this makes it a bigger target but esthetically (?) it looks better and more imposing. I filled the hole with a Zinge Industries small socket from their socket set I picked up for some Adeptus Mechanicus conversions..

(Elhiem 20mm sniper for comparison)

This guy and the next will be in Chinese colours, so monocolour green with highlights and Chinese national markings on the head and numerals on the fans. I will filter that and add some light damage to them as I intend to use these for Post Apoc 28mm as well. 1 black, 1 red and 1 green or gold eye (representing the various camera types).

For 20mm I see them as PDF spotters and scouts, able to defend themselves with a carbine sized laser weapon. For 28mm I see them purely as scouts operating behind enemy lines while sending back data and being able to defend themself with a pepperpot laser pistol sized weapon, but nothing more then that. Now for 15mm... wait, I don't do that :)

Haven't got the foggiest what to name them though. They are a bit big for gnats, and I suspect they have a supressed but audible at short range buzzing sound from the duct fans. Can't have much armour, but speedy so not that easy to kill. I'll figure something out for it. Well, John calls them Hornet Drone so Giant Asian Hornet (Vespa Mandarina) is something to Google. Those things are big, so quite apt. One of the nick names is Yak-killer. I think I will stick to that, would be nice to have a Russian foe :)

Zinge Industries

Coming back into the rich chaos that is the background of 40K I just knew I had to have a go at converting again. I like to scratchbuild or rebuild stuff, and I enjoyed doing that in my GW days of old. Just not very often back then cause even then the models were expensive. In my previous Blogpost I mentioned several companies that make resin addon parts for 40K miniatures. I bought parts from 2 of them. And since these were the first to arrive, I will discuss Zinge Industries.

Zinge Industries

My order was made on the 16th of January, having spent the lunchbreak a day earlier browsing for bits useful for a Adeptus Mechanicus conversions sans servo arm. I ordered the following bits:

• 2 sets of couplings
• 2 sets of bullets and casings
• 1 set of large propane tanks
• 1 set of computer equipment
• 1 set of Mad scientist sprue
• 1 set of handwheels

For a combined total of 20 Pounds 50 plus 4 Pounds shipping to Europe (costing me 32 euros in total). Their pricing of the various sprues is interesting. Naturally, more resin used is a higher price per set, the propane tanks coming in at 5 Pounds for a set of 5, but these are chesthigh compared to a 28mm model so pretty big tanks! In hindsight the smaller version would have been good enough for my goals, so I will order that in the future. Also, some items have discounts if you order more then 1. For instance, the couplings set costs 2 Pounds if you order just 1, 1.75 Pounds if you order 2 or more, and 1.50 pounds each if you order 4 or more. This does not apply to all sets though!

When I got home from work on the 20th I was pleasantly surprised by a small white box from the UK with Zinge Industries stamped in red on the back. They mailed it on the 17th, so in this case kudos Royal Mail and Post.NL for being team players and delivering in just 4 days, that is pretty darn fast.

Upon opening I see that each set I ordered is packed in a zip lock bag, so if things would break off during shipping, they would be nicely contained. Also, I find I'm not hit by the strong smell of resin, as happens sometimes with companies that cast to order. Giving everything a once over, I'm almost unable to find any mouldlines on the items, which come cast onto blocks of resin. Only the propane tanks have some mould lines, and these are very faint.

FLTR: Large propane tank, Couplings, Mad Scientist sprue, Bullets and casings (normal size)

The blocks I'm quite used to, I've ordered (after market) resin details and kits for historicals before and they all come with casting blocks to be removed. Makes it very easy to give them a good rinse with some dishwasher soap and still keep a grip on smaller parts. And these are nice and small.

Resin quality looks to be the very good kind, strong and crisp details. Reminded me of Old Crow quality. And that is saying something. Also, I like how they market their bullets and casings set. There are 45 items in it, and the empty shells are made in such a way that can double as shotgun shells too. The larger complete shells work as solid slugs shells, boltgun or heavy bolter shells or even 40mm grenades, depending on which scale you want to use these for. The least impressed I am with the handwheels, quality wise they look like a recast Airfix kit handle, I had expected something more metallic. Though to be honest, the pics are pretty clear, and this was more of a case of wishful thinking on my part.

The computer parts (not pictured) will come in handy for making a Machine God shrine or stationary device, as well as the Mad scientist sprue.There are lots of little dials, vents and knobs on that one, really useful for a scratchbuilder like me.

Zinge aimes at 28mm, but I feel quite a few of their sprues are usefull in smaller or larger ranges, due to their scale neutrality.

Things to try out next time are their flexible resin bits like chain and cables, and their poseable wrapped wire (though I'm currently making my own using brass wire and solder wire). They also sell a large collcetion of hexnuts and bolts, but I have a former to make those myself from plasticcard so I can save myself the expense. Having said that they are damn nifty.

So, looking for some parts to spruce up your 28mm scenery or miniatures bases? This is a good place to stop by.

Zinge Industries