Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Development of the Centurion tank began in 1943. The intention was to take the experience gained from the design of the Cromwell and Comet cruiser tanks, together with some design aspects of the Panther and T-34 tanks to build a tank was capable of taking on the best that the world could offer. The Directorate of Tank Design succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The resulting A41 Centurion simply outclassed every single one of its contemporaries. It was capable of surviving a medium range hit from an 88mm round and its cross country performance was better than that of even the early British cruiser tanks although the reliability was an order of magnitude better. Add to that the power of the 17 pdr gun, and the Centurion was clearly a winner. After its service introduction in 1945 the Centurion set the standard for main battle tanks for the next two decades. Modified versions were still in service in the early 21st century. The Centurion was too late to see combat in the Second World War, but a number of pre-series vehicles were sent for field trials in Belgium and Germany in late May 1945, codenamed Operation Sentry. This model represents one of those vehicles. I will be using the AFV Club Centurion Mk.III kit with the Accurate Armour conversion kit. I don't mind confessing that this whole project terrifies me! 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Good luck with this one Enzo, the Centurion is another one of those clanky targets which fascinates me along with the Firefly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Okay, here's Why This Project Terrifies Me, Part 1. There are just so many parts!!!! I have a feeling that this is basically the Centurion Mk.5 kit with extra sprues to provide Mk.3 specific parts, For example, there are two glacis plate parts in the kit as well as two complete turrets. Lots of other stuff as well, so that I am totally lost! The only part in this photo that will actually be used is the lower hull. The mantlet cover is squidgy vinyl. I wonder how well it will hold paint. Just for future reference as I eventually intend to build a Centurion Mk.3 which will need the cover. Don't like the look of those rubber tyres. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Why This Project Terrifies Me, Part 2 To start off with, we have an incredibly complex (not to mention expensive) kit. Now I'm going to throw a bit of resin at it. Okay... more than a bit. The Accurate Armour conversion kit provides almost a complete upper hull; different suspension parts: different tracks and a complete new turret. The turret is a single casting Thankfully, AA provide a very comprehensive instruction booklet. Oh... remember how I said I didn't like the look of the kit roadwheels with their seperate vinyl tyres? Well, I won't be using them. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Why This Project Terrifies Me, Part 3 There is a lot of work to be done there and the GB is shorter than usual - about the same length as an STGB. But I'm going to take Pat Benetar's advice and hit it with my best shot. So... why didn't I just simply use the AFV Club boxing of the Centurion Mk.I ? Well, where's the fun in that? Besides it's not available yet and I had the Mk.III kit and conversion set already in The Stash. Building from The Stash, people! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 The thing that bothers me with anything to do with tanks is I don't really know a damn thing about them! I mean I know and understand how they work but the terminology is so totally different from aircraft and floaty things, what the hooting heck is a glacis? To me a mantle is what some birds and other critters do to stop their food being nicked by other critters! What is it? And then how do you paint and weather the damn things, you see some of the wonderful jobs done by the AFV modellers on here and I think there's NO WAY I could do anything like that! Seriously, good luck my friend, I shall be following this build as I might learn something of the whiles and ways of the mysterious clanky beasties! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 55 minutes ago, Wez said: what the hooting heck is a glacis? It's the slopy bit at the front. 55 minutes ago, Wez said: Seriously, good luck my friend, I shall be following this build as I might learn something of the whiles and ways of the mysterious clanky beasties! You and me both! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Just out of curiosity what did the whole pile cost ? I like the idea of a very early Centurion. Or Possibly a Korean war option ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 Probably in the region of 130 quid. Spread over a couple of years though... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the resin tracks work as well as they did on my ongoing Korean Cromwell build. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyGair Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Looks a good project. At least it seems the mantlet cover is cast into the turret casting itself, so no problem with the vinyl. Davey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Okay... deep breath and then dive in. Hold on tight, rider!!! The first stap is easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Remove the turret support brackets from the lower hull edges, otherwise the resin parts will not fit. Next, I removed some of the upper hull parts from their casting blocks and compared them to the kit parts they will replace, (The kit part for the glacis plate is umop aps!dn ) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Stop messing around, Matrix! Build something!!! The kit suspension is designed to be workable. There are some real springs supplied, which look good. However, as the tracks will be rigid resin, having workable suspenion will just complicate matters. Besides, the assembly is easier. The forward and rear suspension units have rod assemblies. The centre units do not. The kit accounts for these nicely. However, the Mk.I Centurion had a very different centre suspension unit, which is supplied be AA as resin parts (shown on the right) Assembled, with my usual ballast weights added in the hull. The ballast weights are not essential. I just like tank models to have a bit of heft... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 Accurate Armour have provided a lot of attention to detail. The Mk.III Centurion had reinforcement ribs on the drive sprocket transmission housings. The Mk.I did not. Rather than just allowing the modeller to sand the ribs off, AA provide resin parts for the earlier housing. This is typical of the attention to detail shown throughout the AA conversion kit. Now we come to my first bodge-up of the build. No doubt the first of many! This is a very complex kit and it is essential to pay close attention to the instructions. I didn't at first, and I assembled the arms of one of the suspension units back to front. In that configuration, the foul the drive sprocket transmission housing. 🤫 don't tell anyone. I'm hoping no one will notice as they should be hidden behind the side armour... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted May 8, 2020 Author Share Posted May 8, 2020 The turret is easy to assemble. Still needs some edges cleaning up though. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Lloyd Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Accurate Armour set a high standard at the time- at a price. It's really depressing that the country that invented the tank only built one good one- a really good one... too late for WW2 service. Not for nothing did David Fletcher call his book The Great Tank Scandal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronKSJ Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 That turret looks cracking. I agree that the the rubber road wheels look dubious! Good luck with the build. I'll tag along 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 24, 2020 Author Share Posted June 24, 2020 This thread hasn't been updated in quite some time. There's a reason for that. I had a complete and utter disaster with two of the roadwheels - entirely of my own doing. I tried to see if I could use some of the kit wheels. I thought it might work as they are partially hidden behind the sideskirts. Well... it just didn't look right. I ordered some more wheels from AA and they have just arrived. So now we can proceed - and I have lots of spare roadwheels for future Centurion projects! The Spreadsheet tells me that if I stick to The Plan I can still finish within the GB time limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 Finally got going with this one. Running gear complete. On to the tracks. Accurate Armour provide these as resin strips. The idea is that they should be bent into shape by heating them so the resin becomes pliable. You can do this in two ways: immersing the part in hot water or heating it with a hair dryer. Considering the amount of hair I have, I don't own a hair dryer so I took the former option. One section is in its pristine state. The other has been formed to the required shape. And fitted in place. Tracks fitted. A little untidy along the top run, but that will be hidden by the side skirts. Then primed with black auto primer and some coats of Lifecolor UA270 SCC-15 Olive drab sprayed on. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 I painted the wheels and tyres over the weekend and followed up with spraying the tracks using Vallejo Panzer Aces track primer. Then some work this evening. I started off with the resin glacis plate and the kit running boards, which have to be cut down to match the glacis part. Added to the hull and followed up with the relevant resin and kit parts as detailed in the AA instruction booklet. Suddenly I have a tank! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 I was always under the impression that the Centurion was developed from the earlier cruiser tanks such as the Cromwell. In theory that may have been true, but it certainly wasn't a linear development. Maybe developed using experience from the Cromwell. The Centurion is significantly larger than the Cromwell, as you can see by comparing it to my concurrent Cromwell build in the They Also Serve GB. The Centurion is a similar size to the Panther, which makes sense as the Panther was the vehicle that the Centurion was designed to counter. Incidentally, there's about a hundred quid's worth of AA resin in that photo as the Cromwell uses significant amounts as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Having added the resin storage boxes to the hull, I then masked the running gear and primed with my usual grey auto primer from a rattle can. The metal 17-pounder barrel was added to the turret, plus the resin hatches. And the whole assembly was primed again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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