Canadian Army Centurion (ACE 1/72)

[-Neu-]

Hey guys... 

 

I'm sorry I've been really tardy about this build. ITs been a bit of a struggle to get it going. First I had to find a suitable tank, which I didn't until late august, and then struggle to find how to mark it. I ended up choosing this scheme. 

 

 

 

(pulled from: https://web.archive.org/web/20050505021100/http://www.armouredacorn.com:80/Reference/CVM/CVMs/CVM Part 10 (Centurions).pdf )

 

What got me going was when I found these: 

 

 

They're from Peddinghaus, which is a german company I never heard of before this. Anyways, they make a couple of sets of Canadian Shermans in WWII, which I can mix and match to make the tank in question. I was pretty excited so I bought a couple of different sets and they showed up a few days ago. 

 

So I'm using the Ace 1/72 Centurion Mk5 LR kit. It came out last year and I'm pretty excited to build it. 

 

 

 

When I was in the dumps about this GB because I couldn't figure out how to make a canadian one,  was toying doing a Aussie one from Vietnam. But now its good. I'll have to scavenge a proper turret from their other centurion kit, but beside that I think we're ready to go.

 

So I started with the wheels. 

 

 

Which I painted and assembled.... here's the decal sets I'm going to use too. This was fairly time consuming... but they're ready to go now. 

 

 

Fitted the bogies to the wheels... these are pretty nice with detail: you can see the tension spring in the middle (or I guess that's its called, no idea)

 

 

And last night I got to the hull... which is starting to look good. 

 

 

So thats that for now... I'll be away next week but hopefully have some time tonight and tomorrow. I think its pretty straightforward from here on out. 

 

 

thanks for looking! 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by -Neu-

[Graeme H]

Oooh do so love a nice Centurion, only tank I've had a ride in so far

Must get myself one of these

[-Neu-]

They're pretty nice @Graeme H... I bought three, including their FV4005 JS killer, which I'd like to build sooner rather than later. 

 

[Graeme H]

Nice, didn't know they did the JS4005 

[Giorgio N]

Welcome to the GB ! Love the subject, I was hoping to get a tank or two and I'm very pleased to see one of my favourite tracked subjects here.

Looking forward to this, the Centurion was a type that enjoyed quite a good export success, deserves to be represented in this GB

[-Neu-]

Thanks Giorgio! 

 

I too really like the Centurion. Its among my favourite Cold War tanks, behind the Chieftain and Leopard II. Its funny once you start building these things you get a different appreciation of them. I never realized how big the Centurion was... a lot bigger than something like the Tiger, similar to the IS-2, or T-55. I'm sorry about the late reply too, its been a busy few weeks with a trip and catching up. But I have been able to get a fair amount of work done. A lot of it has been small detail work that doesn't really rise to the level of doing a post. 

 

So I assembled the hull... which was a bit of a pain... I had to take it apart 

 

here it is with its turret. 

 

 

 

The turret itself was interesting. The kit in general is somewhat unlike any short run kit I've ever done. Fit: not great. Detail: awesome. 

 

Here's a closeup of some work. 

 

 

 

I eventually added the storage bins and the various parts of the drive train/tracks. 

 

 

The gun barrel shows some of the kit's problems.

 

 

 

That's going to need some filler.  Anyways I added details elsewhere, like the rear of the hull. 

 

 

Next is some exhaust action. I primed it black and will finish by using vallejo's rust texture. Later I'll highlight with some rust paints too... but much of this will be covered by a piece. 

 

 

So that's sorta it for now. I'll probably do some preshading tonight if I can safely break out the compressor, and paint it tomorrow. 

 

Oh as I mentioned the size of the centurion in comparison to other tanks... here it is. T-55, the centurion and a Tiger. 

 

 

That's it for now. hopefully more in the next few days. 

 

[Giorgio N]

Ouch, that gun barrel really needs attention... this looks like a kit that needs some work, you're doing very well here.

Didn't realize that the Centurion was that big, should be a very eyecatching addition to the collection

[-Neu-]

So this is long delayed final post. I actually had this kit done around the deadline date (maybe a week or so late), but I've had some personal issues so I didn't come on the forum. That was doubly the case around the holidays, which drained all of my time. 

 

Everything went pretty straightforward... just added the PE that comes with the kit, painted it, and weathered, as we'll see here. 

 

 

 

This is it fully painted and decalled. 

 

 

 

So this is what I'm trying to achieve, a dusty Canadian Army Centurion on maneuvers. 

 

 

Started with some light weathering. I used pigments from lifecolour among others. I also used vallejo's acrylic mud compound, mostly in the tracks. 

 

 

 

Some additional weathering. I generally used some dry pigments 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a final shot. I may add an aerial at a later date. 

 

 

 

All in all a good kit, required more work than I originally envisioned, but I liked it. Its a good looking model, I think. Again my apologies for not posting this sooner, I enjoyed the GB and the opportunity to participate... thank you for @Giorgio N for putting this on! 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2019 by -Neu-

[Silenoz]

Nice result. The only thing holding me back to buy the ACE IDF Centurion is the price, which is pretty high for a 1/72 kit. Seems like they upped their game though, so maybe...

[-Neu-]

Thanks Silenoz! 

 

If I can make a plug.... I bought mine direct from the Ukraine at hobby.dn.ua I thought they were a decent price and the service was good. Might be an option for you. 

[Giorgio N]

Glad to see that you completed the model in the end, looks really great !

[-Neu-]

Thank you Giorgio... both for the compliment and organizing the GB!  Sorry for the delay... I should just learn my lesson and not join anything with a timeline anymore.