Amusing Hobby 1/35 FV4005

[junco 22]

At last a real Cold War beast!

And it still survives.

 

Neil

[Das Abteilung 1,369]

Something British from Amusing that actually existed, Conqueror 1 notwithstanding.  Who would have thought it?  I had no idea it originally had a recoil spade.  I like the Phase 1 with the autoloader.  '7.2 inch, 6 rounds rapid.........fire!'

 

Now they've tooled a Centurion hull I wondered if we might see a Conway too.  But, assuming they got it right, FV4005 was on a 'long' hull with the extended lower rear while Conway was on a short-hull Mk3.  However, a long hull opens up later Centurion Marks not currently kitted in plastic. A flat-mantlet Mk8 or 13 would be nice.

[Troy Smith 6,385]

2 hours ago, junco said:

And it still survives.

 

I had too look this thing up...

Quote

The FV4005 Stage II is the only one of these 183mm armed vehicles to survive to this day. The turret is original, but it was mounted on a spare Mk.VIII Centurion hull, not the original it was trialed with. It is missing the recoil spade and travel lock. This “Cut-and-Shunt” representation of the vehicle now sits as a “gate-guardian” at The Tank Museum, Bovington

 

never heard of this before (cold war armour is not my thing)  but bonkers....

Quote

Britain’s Biggest Boom-Stick, the 183mm L4

In 1950, work started on the Ordnance Quick Firing 183 mm (7.2 in) L4 gun. At the time, it was the largest and most powerful tank gun in the world. The cannon was based on the 183 mm (7.2 in) BL 7.2 inch howitzer, a WWI era weapon. The gun itself weighed a mighty 4 tons and when fired it produced the equivalent of 87 tons of recoil force.
The L4 was designed to be chambered for only one type of ammunition, HESH (High Explosive Squashed Head). It was separately loading ammunition. The projectile was loaded first followed by the correct propulsion cartridge. Each shell weighed a combined total of 104.8 kg (231 lbs). A shell of this size understandably produced a substantial amount of fumes and smoke inside of the fighting compartment. As such, a large fume extractor was added to the barrel, a relatively new feature at the time.
The 183 mm was tested in live fire trials against a Centurion and a Conqueror. In 2 shots, the 183 blew the turret clean off the Centurion and split the mantlet of the Conqueror in half. In total, the gun fired 150 shells.

 

from here

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/UK/fv4005-stage-i-ii

 

Glad to see British oddities getting done,  still there really can't be anything left Nazi to kit now ? 

[Bullbasket 7,257]

14 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

still there really can't be anything left Nazi to kit now ? 

Don't you believe it. I bet someone somewhere has got some "paper Panzers" ready to go. Just what we need.......NOT!!

As an aside, seeing as my knowledge of Centurions is limited, what marks had the short hull, and which had the long hull? Were any of the short hulls rebuilt into later marks, and retained the short hull?

 

John.

[Das Abteilung 1,369]

The long lower hull with the additional fuel tank came in on the Mk7. Earlier ones, 3s and 5s, could not be rebuilt.

 

The main production marks were 3, 5, 7 and 8. Mks 6 and 9 - 13 were upgrades or rebuilds of those. There was no 4. The Mk8 introduced the flat fronted Metalastic mantlet.

 

I didn't realise that the surviving 4005 was a cut and shut.  So my previous comment seems irrelevant. It seems that it should be kitted on a short hull, which puts us right back into the same territory as the AFV Club kits. But that's assuming that Amusing haven't goofed and just copied the survivor. Ace did that with their 1/72 kit, even down to leaving off the now-missing fume extractor.