New Arrivals from Scotia-Grendel and Shapeways

I've received a number of orders in recent weeks for 6mm miniatures for my third world imagi-nation campaign, the Uwanda-Mugabia War.  The first order came in  early August from Shapeways, and the next was my first order with Scotia Grendel.

The shapeways order was for three 1/285 scale G91R aircraft in the frosted plastic.  The ordering process went smoothly; the models took 8 days to arrive, were well packed, and are of very nice quality.  An odd characteristic (to me) is that they are hollow, such that if you look into the jet intake, you can see out of the engine nozzle.  As a result, they are exceedingly light weight.

I think that most gamers would be happy with the quality and detail, and I am thankful to have them, so that my G91 ground attack aircraft can be represented by something that is close to the actual aircraft in my game.  They do have a light texture from the printing process, and the fuselage is faceted, being made of a series of small flat surfaces, as opposed to "being" round.

The other order, received from Scotia Grendel was for some 6mm Jet Provosts.  This was my first order with Scotia Grendel, and it went very smoothly, with items arriving to me in the US in about 11 days.  The Jet Provost is the aircraft from which the Strikemaster was developed, and is very similar in appearance.  It also is the closest thing in scale to the Strikemasters used by Uwanda in my game.  Upon receipt, I was quite happy with the quality, though slightly surprised at the size.  But after comparing the 1/100 scale Tamiya models, discovered that the 6mm model is appropriately sized.

The photos below illustrate the comparative size of the 6mm models and the 1/100 scale plastic models for relative size comparison.

Shapeways G91 and Scotia Jet Provost

Next up is a follow-up order to Scotia, again with perfect service.  This order included a small number of aircraft, infantry and vehicles.

For no good reason, I have always had a bit of a thing for the SU-15 interceptor, so when I saw that Scotia offered one, I had to order it.  Again, I was very happy with the quality, and it is a beast.

Scotia SU15

In addition to the SU-15, I picked up a pair of Mig 27s.  These are a little rougher than the other aircraft that I received from them, but sill not bad by any means, and well worth it, given the price.

Scotia Mig 27, near model still has sprues attached to wings.

Scotia Mig 27 underside

I'm in the US and "grew up" with CnC and GHQ micro-armor, and for years I've heard criticism of the 6mm models from the British manufacturers, so I ordered the Land Rovers with recoilless rifles to represent Uwandas Wombat systems with some reservation, given that I bought them sight unseen.  My reservations were ill-placed, as the models came with seated crew, and featured fine and well proportioned detail.  I am quite happy with the models, and future vehicle purchases will not be made with such reservation.

Scotia Landrover with Recoilless Rifle

Lastly, I am looking for figures to represent Uwanda's infantry, which are generally equipped with British weapons.  I ended up purchasing Scotia's South African infantry, which is offered in two packs, Infantry with Command, and Heavy Weapons.  To be honest, I can't tell the packs apart, other than they seem to have a slightly different number of figs.  I received three packs of figs, two infantry, and one heavy weapons.  The first (first photo below) was marked as heavy weapons, and the other two were not marked (one pack depicted in the second photo below).  For my application, this isn't a problem, as the Uwandan infantry only carry Minimis and Law rockets in addition to their FN FAL rifles, and I expected that most heavy weapons figs would simply go unused.  So I have all of the figs that I need.

Scotia South African Heavy Weapons pack (mis-marked?)

Scotia South African Infantry with Command

The figs are pretty cleanly cast, no real flash, and clearly depict rifleman, prone machine gunners, and a leader figure standing and pointing.  They stand from their bases closer to 7mm, than 6mm, add not quite another millimeter with the base included.

All things considered, I am impressed with the service, and quite happy with the quality of the miniatures, and will be ordering again soon.