Amusing Hobby Centurion Mk.5 AVRE

[robgizlu]

Well after near a straight 12 months building the floaty things it's time for a brief return to AFVs.

This Caught my eye.  

 

 

Who dosen't like Centurions!  A classic tank.  I've built an AFV Club Shot Kal on a previous site

 

 

I have several Israeli machines in the stash but this Englsh oddity is attractive with it's first Gulf War era ERA and Stub 165mm Demolition gun.

It was referred to s the "Antiques Roadshow" by troops in the Gulf war due to it's age.  Apparently 12 served, 2 were lost to accidental explosive mishaps and non saw front line action.

Amusing Hobby have based their kit on this vehicle

 

 

There is a very fine series of Reference Walkaround pics on this site 

 

 

The kit has been reviewed elsewhere and of note is the absence of the fascine carrier that not all of the Gulf war machines carried.  In keeping with the AFV Club offerings, no attempt is made to model the cloth gun mantlett.  I'll see whether the AFV Club aftermarket ones fit and if not we'll have a go with some putty moulding. 

Notably stracks are suppplied as single link removed off the sprue which sounds pleasing.  I've taken some Skirt handles Scorpion models and some enamel taillights for a Shot kal that are always very pleasing to use

 

 

I'll need to grab some tow lines and luggage bin tie down handles from Accurate armour 

 

Intructions are conventional line printed on non gloss paper

 

 

 

The parts breakdown seems almost identical to the AFV Club models, logical really.

 

The springs supplied in the bogies are a nice touch and fit together nicely

 

 

The only real issue at present is sourcing some Gulf Light Stone paint.  I'd like to use Sovereign Colourcoats version but they are sold out at present so I'll be waiting patiently.  Having used their naval range I'm now a fully paid up fan.

More soon and nice to be back building some armour!

Thanks for looking

Rob

[Kingsman]

This kit doesn't have the correct wheel rim profile, although this is perhaps less noticeable with side shirts fitted.  There are 3 noticeable reinforcing rings inside the rim.  Impossible to mould in injection plastic in a single piece: the rim would have to be put together in slices.  On your AFV Club Sho't the wheel rims are moulded integrally with the tyres in flexible vinyl as a way around this.  HobbyBoss did this too.

 

If you want to correct this flaw you need to replace the wheels entirely.  You can buy new resin rims/tyres for the AFV Club kits but these are hard to find.  Replacement wheels are available from Panzer Art, MR Modellbau, Brach and Sovereign..  Avoid Legend as they're worse than the kit parts.

[Cerberus]

Accurate Armour might also have a set of wheels as they covered this with a resin kit years ago, but anyway the Centy is a good looking subject so this should be good

[Hamden]

 

Love the Centurion so will follow along if I may 

 

   Stay safe        Roger

[longshanks]

Your pass from the Maritime section is in the post. Just don't come back with any dirty habits 

 

Always good to see a master no matter what the subject

 

Kev

[diablo rsv]

You beat me to it Rob, this was going to be my next WIP but I am happy to shelve mine and follow along and watch your progress if I may. 

The kit all looks pretty good to me apart from the wheels as been noted above.

Looking forward to your progress. 

 

Wayne

[Dads203]

Nice choice Rob 

 

Pictures of one that was lost during Granby. Bit of a big boom 

 

https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/loss-of-centurion-avres-during-op-granby.3894/

[Greg B]

51 minutes ago, Dads203 said:

Nice choice Rob 

 

Pictures of one that was lost during Granby. Bit of a big boom 

 

https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/loss-of-centurion-avres-during-op-granby.3894/

Goes to show that tea making can be a dangerous business. I’ve been sent a picture taken by one of the boles just after it caught fire. He was about 20m away at the time and about to push out his fastest BFT time.....

[Dads203]

6 minutes ago, Greg B said:

Goes to show that tea making can be a dangerous business. I’ve been sent a picture taken by one of the boles just after it caught fire. He was about 20m away at the time and about to push out his fastest BFT time.....

I believe that they found bits of track a mile away from the small accident ? 

[Bish]

Planning on adding this kit to the stash so will be wathing with interest.

[Courageous]

Parts are bigger than what you're used to recently, so this should be a doddle.

 

Stuart

[Bullbasket]

Nice choice. If you are looking to get replacement wheels, I got a set just before Xmas from MR Modelbau for my Mk.lll conversion. Very nice.

 

John.

[ivan-o]

Carry on please and I will follow with great interest 👍😀

[beefy66]

Another build started your becoming a serial starter  

 

great looking subject and it's a Centurion what's not to like  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[robgizlu]

Thanks for all the comments, likes and interest Fellas (not at all like those stuffy boat types )

 

22 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

This kit doesn't have the correct wheel rim profile, although this is perhaps less noticeable with side shirts fitted.  There are 3 noticeable reinforcing rings inside the rim.  Impossible to mould in injection plastic in a single piece: the rim would have to be put together in slices.  On your AFV Club Sho't the wheel rims are moulded integrally with the tyres in flexible vinyl as a way around this.  HobbyBoss did this too.

 

If you want to correct this flaw you need to replace the wheels entirely.  You can buy new resin rims/tyres for the AFV Club kits but these are hard to find.  Replacement wheels are available from Panzer Art, MR Modellbau, Brach and Sovereign..  Avoid Legend as they're worse than the kit parts.

 

Thanks - I hadn't realised this - as it happens I have a couple of these in the stash

 

 

1 hour ago, beefy66 said:

Another build started your becoming a serial starter  

 

great looking subject and it's a Centurion what's not to like  👍

 

Stay Safe

beefy

 

Thanks Beefy - can we expect a similar build from you soon?

 

9 hours ago, Dads203 said:

Nice choice Rob 

 

Pictures of one that was lost during Granby. Bit of a big boom 

 

https://www.militaryimages.net/threads/loss-of-centurion-avres-during-op-granby.3894/

 

9 hours ago, Greg B said:

Goes to show that tea making can be a dangerous business. I’ve been sent a picture taken by one of the boles just after it caught fire. He was about 20m away at the time and about to push out his fastest BFT time.....

 

That really was a quite a display - amazing that no one was injured 

 

11 hours ago, longshanks said:

Your pass from the Maritime section is in the post. Just don't come back with any dirty habits 

Kev

 

Understood Skip  

 

More soon 

Thanks again

Rob

[beefy66]

13 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

(not at all like those stuffy boat types )

 

 

11 hours ago, longshanks said:

Your pass from the Maritime section is in the post. Just don't come back with any dirty habits 

Stuffy well really   Hey Kev I think we all know he already has the dirty habits not a clean monk is he  

 

17 minutes ago, robgizlu said:

Thanks Beefy - can we expect a similar build from you soon?

I have the Sexton to finish and base up and my eye's could do with a rest from 350 for a little while and I have a few Sherman's in the stash as they say a change is as good as a rest.  

 

looking forward to your progress on this one.

 

Stay Safe

beefy

[robgizlu]

There's always a lot of leg-work in terms of running gear preparation with a Cent.

I'll run through and let the pics speak for themselves.

Amusing Hobby have really lifted the assembly process and fittings directly from AFV Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a comparisoon of the AH kit wheels with aftermarket PanzerArt...

 

 

The PanzerArt wheels have the circumferential ridges that are prominent in the above pic on the isdie of the tyre.  They generally have better definition particularly with the central securing nuts.  Theya re about 0.5mm less in diamter compared to the kit versions and have those lottle holes that you can see pre-drilled,  As to whether they are worth an extra £17?

 

Centurions have a lot of wheels 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jumping ahead - the tracks are good - really good - they come pre-prepared loose in a bag and need NO clean up ().  Assembly is easy with good articulation and definition of the track structure is good.   The AFV Club kit supplied tracks remain Vinyl .  The Hobby Boss tracks are not so well detailed and do not articulate.  Here's a comparison of the Amusing Hobby tracks up against the aftermarket AFV Club workable tracks...

 

 

The AH tracks are on the Left.  They are easier to fit together and have NO sink marks on the wheel side unlike the AFV Club tracks - I've scraped them off in the next pic!!!

 

 

Kudos to Amusing Hobby for top notch tracks 

 

More soon though progress may hit buffers with Sovereign Colourcoats Light Stone still being unavailable.

Thanks for looking

Rob

[Courageous]

15 hours ago, robgizlu said:

central securing nuts.

I'll ask a stupid question. Why do some wheels have no nuts?

 

Stuart

[robgizlu]

2 hours ago, Courageous said:

I'll ask a stupid question. Why do some wheels have no nuts?

 

Stuart

 

Stuart - The 2nd wheel along from the left should be on the "inside", I just got it wrong for the pic.  

Rob

[robgizlu]

Hi Team

Does anyone know the likely colour of the interior.  I'm aware that early Centurions had silver painted insides.  Would that be true of these machines or would in-life updates have converted to an alternative?

Still deciding whether to have hatches open?

Thanks in anticipation

Rob

[diablo rsv]

Nice progress Rob,

I have heard mixed things about the Panzerart wheels regarding alignment and casting issues. I'm also struggling to find them.

The inside of the hatches would be the same as the body colour. If you are putting crew in I doubt you will see much of the interior colour but silver would be my guess.

Wayne

[PDH]

I'm just about to start building my AVRE kit. Been collecting a some replacement parts, these road wheels from Sovereign 2000 arrived this week.

 

They look good and have two circumferential ridges on the outside rim- hope the photos show you.

 

 

 

 

The grey are Sovereign, buff the kit!

 

P

 

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by PDH
Predictive Text!

[Courageous]

19 hours ago, robgizlu said:

hatches open?

A must me thinks, you never know, you may want to get a figure and become a figure painter too, another dirty habit to pick up .

 

Stuart

[ivan-o]

20 hours ago, robgizlu said:

Hi Team

Does anyone know the likely colour of the interior.  I'm aware that early Centurions had silver painted insides.  Would that be true of these machines or would in-life updates have converted to an alternative?

Still deciding whether to have hatches open?

Thanks in anticipation

Rob

Good work going on👍
You won’t be far wrong with silver on the inside.

[NickStraw]

My first ever post.  I have bought the Amusing Hobby Centurion Mk V.  Has anyone figured out whether the  AFV Club mantel it will work with this? It is billed as a mantel for a Mk I one which is differently configured to a Mk V .  But the rather blurred photo on the Hannants site seems to suggest it will fit.