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Excellent detailing work, looking forwards to seeing this progress. Wayne

The paint work looks good Darryl, the chipping on the suspension units has worked well. Wayne

Up to your usual high standards again Ed, looks really good. Wayne

Thanks Guys, looks like I've been neglecting this thread a bit. I have a Silhouette Portrait cutter John, it's become one of my favourite tools now, I try to use it as much as I can to create masks so I don't have to use decals and it's very handy for the wheel masks as well. I have managed to get some paint on at last. Using my preferred brand, which is MRP, I put down a base coat of SCC.15 Olive Drab and in an attempt to add some variation I mixed in some very dark brown for the shaded areas and some buff for the highlights. I like to keep the effect pretty subtle as I find that the monotone schemes are generally broken up by the weathering stages. The phone photos actually exaggerate the effect a little. As you can see I have also added the markings. I used the kit decals despite what I said above, in this case the ones AFV provided were quite nice with fairly thin carrier film and good register. I used some Micro Set/Sol on them and they settled down very nicely. Once dry I gave them a slight misting with some SSC.15 to tone them down a little. MRP paints dry to a lovely smooth satin finish which is ideal for the pin washes which is what I will be doing next. Wayne

I've managed to find the time to tackle the tracks and I thought it would be easier to fit them before joining the upper and lower hull together. The Charioteer ran on a wider 15.5” track and Accurate Armour provides these as resin sections. I've used resin tracks a couple of times now and I actually quite like them. They need a bit of care removing them from the casting block as they are quite delicate and I found with these ones a couple of passes with a knife blade did the trick. Once removed there is a bit of cleaning up to do but it is mostly flash and doesn't take too long. The sections are then superglued together to make up one complete run. There was quite a curve in the run but I would rather have a tight join between the sections as they can be straightened out afterwards by applying heat from a hairdryer and pushing them, up against a straight edge. I then heated up the rear section of track and placed the track over the wheels. Whilst still soft the rear section can be formed around the drive sprocket and allowed to cool. The front section was then heated and formed around the idler wheel. The join was made at the bottom of the track and once dry more heat can be applied where needed and the track moulded to the required shape. It's actually easier to do than it is for me to explain. They still need a little tweaking but that's easy enough to do by re-heating as necessary. The new turret ring was also a little warped in my kit but using the same heating process as the tracks it was soon sorted it out. Once I was happy enough with the tracks I could join the hull together and now I carry on with detail parts. Fair play to Derek at Accurate Armour as well, a couple of days after emailing him regarding my missing drivers door and other parts they arrived in the post. That's it for now. I really should get back to the Centurion. Wayne

Thanks Darryl They do do some interesting stuff but from what I can gather the quality can vary. My only experiences are the Matilda Mk.1 and this conversion plus a few bits and bobs. Thanks John, I've started on the easy stuff really, the pace will soon slow down. Thanks for the link, I have been using some images of that tank but it's handy having them all in one place. Probably this time next year knowing me, I'm trying to not get tempted away by other projects. Thanks Dave. I did find some of those scrap yard photos, mostly they focus on one tank though. I did read somewhere that they used whatever hulls were available but most of what I've seen appear to be F hulls. I wonder if they upgraded the hulls during the conversion work. Wayne

Fascinating stuff. I enjoy your scratch builds so I shall watch this one with interest. There is always something to learn from you guys. I wish I had the patience/ time to attempt one. Wayne

Very nice work Stix, I really need to up my weathering game, I play it safe too often, good idea trying out different methods on unseen areas. Wayne.

As Ed said, that is an excellent finish, a good example of how washes and filters should be used, they make a big difference when done properly. Wayne

Lovely work! That looks like a great little kit, it's a shame that the British didn't use them, as far as I know. l wouldn't mind having a go at making one of them but I'm trying to build a collection of British used vehicles. Wayne.

I think it was the standard one Darryl. I seem to recall that it listed that it was suitable far plastic.

Thanks for the interest in this thread guys and welcome along. I'm hoping this will be a relatively quick build. Apart from the turret the main part of this conversion is to alter the hull, turning it into an F type hull rather than the Tamiya C . For this Accurate Armour have provided a new engine deck and the swing out style drivers hatch as well as a new front plate. Unfortunately the engine deck AA has provided wasn't great and the panel line for the access door is in the wrong pace anyway so I decided to stick with the Tamiya one and alter that as John has done here on his Cromwell build HERE . Below are the engine decks from Accurate Armour, Tamiya and then Airfix on the right. The drivers hatch replacement requires a little surgery but it's a fairly straight forward job of cutting along the panel lines where the existing drivers roof is. A bit of filing on the edges and the new roof can be glued in with some super glue. Unfortunately the actual door is missing from my kit, it could probably be scratch built quite easily but I emailed AA and he has promised to send me one ASAP. There is a new front plate to replace the Tamiya one and this dropped in with a little fettling. The splash rails on the glacis plate need to be altered slightly by cutting away the central section and cutting the ends back by a few millimetres. The top and bottom row of rivets also need to be removed as these plates are now welded. I shall add the weld beads latter. Under all of the debris you can see the cut back splash rails and weld beads on this sadly decaying tank. There is a track guard support on the left hand side that needed removing, the grooves in the track guard then had to be extended where the support had been which wasn't the easiest job. On the Charioteer the exhausts exit through the rear hull plate and end in a fishtail so there is a replacement rear hull plate to be added. On all of the images I have seen of Charioteers the tow bar is of the sprung type, however AA don't provide one. After a little head scratching I remembered I have a Bronco Comet in the display cupboard which does have the tow bar that I needed so I borrowed the Comet one and used it as a master to cast a new one in resin. It's not perfect but good enough. The rear hull plate is bowing in slightly so I will need to add a support behind it. I still need to replace all of the handles, add some welds and all of the little photo etch details but the hull isn't far off. Hopefully I will have another update soon. Wayne

It was this one (not my image by the way) but it's a long time since I used it so I don't know if they still do it.

Thanks for the link, I've not seen that one before. There's some handy reference shots there. Wayne

Looking forward to watching this one progress, I have the same kit in my pending pile so it will be handy to see any pitfalls you come across before I start mine.😁 Wayne

Coming along nicely Si, I like the look of those grab handles now you have some primer on them, I need to invest in some of those. I used to use Halford's primer as it is convenient but I also started to get inconsistent results, I even tried decanting it so I could put it on with an airbrush to get more control. Nowadays I think it's hard to beat Mr.Surfacer but that's if you're happy using lacquers. Looking forward to seeing some paint on it. Wayne

I went down the route of altering the Tamiya deck for my Charioteer conversion as the Accurate Armour 'F' engine deck that they provided wasn't great, it was warped and still has the panel line in the wrong place. The Aber set that John mentioned is quite handy. Wayne.

Looks like your making good progress Darryl, Despite the extra work those manlet covers look great. Wayne.

Nicely done Simon, I have built a few of these Bronco kits and as you say they can be a little more challenging but as you have proved if persevered with the end result is very rewarding. Wayne

Whilst my prototype Centurion build is going through the painting stages I thought I would make a start on my next project which is Accurate Armour's Charioteer, a conversion kit for the Tamiya Cromwell. Actually this will be three builds in one as I shall simultaneously build the Airfix Cromwell making use of the left over Tamiya turret and the Tamiya Centaur. The main focus here will be on the Charioteer though as John @Bullbasket is making an excellent job of the Airfix Cromwell in his WIP HERE and the Centaur has probably been covered enough on this forum and elsewhere. A brief history of the Charioteer As WW2 ended and the Cold war began it soon became apparent that a more powerful gun would be needed to counter the threat of the heavier Soviet tanks such as the T-44 and so the Ordinance QF 20pdr gun was introduced in 1948. It had been developed for use in the Centurion Mk.3 however Centurion production was slow and there was a surplus of the 20pdr's. Cromwell tanks had been retained in service but it's 75mm armament lacked the punch to deal with the newer Soviet tanks so as an interim measure it was decided to up-gun the Cromwell. To do this a new two man turret was developed to accommodate the gun. The resulting vehicle was originally named FV4101 Cromwell Heavy AT Gun but renamed 'Charioteer' before entering service. There was an expected production run of 630 vehicles but this was soon cut to around 440 and only a small number entered service with the Royal Armoured Corps units of the British Territorial Army the surplus being sold to Austria, Finland, Jordan and Lebanon. The Accurate Armour conversion kit is designed for the Tamiya Cromwell but the Airfix kit could probably be used as well. It includes resin parts for a new turret, gun, tracks and drive wheels. There are also a replacement engine deck, rear hull plate, drivers hatch and front plate to convert the hull from the Tamiya 'C' to an 'F' along with a few other smaller items and some photo etched parts. I also added an AFV Club barrel as I'm not sure about resin ones. I have made a start so I should be able to post some progress soon. Wayne

Very nice detailing work Roger. Wayne

Very nice Nenad! I'm glad to see you did your research into the subject, I've seen a few of these built as King Force Churchills where they have missed out on the subtle little detail changes. I like the way you did the dust shield on yours, I chickened out on my Tunisian Churchill and depicted it stowed.( mostly because I didn't spot that they had one until I had finished the build). I like the fact that you added some history to the subject, it's a poignant reminder of what the crews of these vehicles that we depict went through. Wayne

Interesting subject Ed and a very good start, the engine looks excellent. Looking forward to seeing this one progress. Wayne

Nice work on the bins John. The Airfix ones do look more like a solid block. Thanks John, I think managed to find the answer. This is from a Charioteer based on an F deck. Wayne

This is rather timely John as I have just reached the same stage on my Charioteer /Cromwell / Centaur builds. On the Accurate Armour F deck that they have supplied for the Charioteer the forward doors have the locking points towards the outside edges of the doors and I noticed that you have left yours in the central position, do you know which is correct for the F deck and should they be central for the D decks? My AA deck is a bit rough by the way so I may as well just alter the Tamiya one. On the Airfix deck there is a row of screws along the outside edge of the fixed panel, should those screws be filled in where the rear access panels have been extended? Wayne