Zinge Industries Half Track Conversion Kit Review and Building

Greetings! I have an awesome review of a purchased upgrade kit for the Taurox Imperial Guard  Astra Manofsteel Fine, the Astra Militarum. Many of you remember it last looked like this when I built it right after the holidays.

Obviously, no self respecting squad will ride around in a vehicle without wheels. However, as someone who is always looking to reuse bits and pieces of a vehicle kit, I couldn't let the Taurox get away with it's oddly designed full track but in two pieces set-up. Enter google search for 'Taurox conversion kit'. It came down between an all-wheel variety and the Forest" style halftrack version made by Zinge Industries.

I liked the Zinge Industry one better, and dropped roughly $25-30 American Greenbacks on it. I also picked up some cog wheels and ladders while I was there. I had about ten other things in my shopping cart, and managed to drop them out before clicking 'buy'.

I got the kit in hand yesterday, and built the entire undercarriage in about an hour.

Image Courtesy of Zinge Industries

Contents - It comes with two half track pieces. Called 'forest' design, evidently for the branch-looking pieces? Probably wrong, but still, very WW2 looking, which is what I wanted. Alos it comes with two wheels, two separate axles that perfectly match the layout on the bottom of the Taurox, and two other sprues with a variety of upgrade pieces for the entire kit.

Brief Pros and Cons:

Pros: Kit was simple and quick to put together, matched beautifully with the main kit. Resin was not slippery, and the casting seemed pretty well done. Balance on the final model was pretty good as well. Extra pieces are a bonus and provide extra bits for other kits too.

Con: The upgrade sprues (not wheels or tracks) are really hard to pull pieces off without damaging the rest. I had to use a hobby saw, and many of the pieces are so close together that I would end up cutting one that I hadn't meant to. A few of the more fiddly bits - ends of shovels and the like - had snapped in transit. Finally, It would have been nice to have a pdf or paper insert detailing what each piece was. As you can see in the photo above, it comes with two little end pieces. But I wasn't sure where they went (Evidently over the wheel hubs) but they aren't show in the pictures on the Zinge Industries website or anywhere else that I could find.

So final photos - here's the final result.

Overall - I love the kit and think it was a great purchase. If you're looking to change your weird full track into a half track that looks semi-plausible, check out Zinge Industries!

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Ask!

Blockade Out.

UPDATED: Here's the painted version!