A.41 Centurion prototype. Operation Sentry.

[diablo rsv]

A.41 Centurion prototype. Operation Sentry. May-July 1945.

 

 

Development of the A.41 'Heavy Cruiser Tank' began in October 1943, (it would not be known as ‘Centurion’ until later). There was a need for a vehicle that would be at least equal to the German Panther tank with a weight of 45ton, a 650 horsepower engine, well sloped frontal armour, and it was to carry the new and powerful 17 pounder gun. Early trials proved very promising and an order was placed for 20 pre-production vehicles. The first of these was finished in April 1945. It was decided that six of these prototype tanks would be sent to the front in Europe for evaluation by combat units. The plan for this evaluation was called ‘Operation Sentry’. With the war ending in May the tanks arrived too late to see any actual combat but the trials continued until mid July. More information about Operation Sentry and the early development of the Centurion can be found on the Tanks Encyclopedia website Here.

 

 

The AFV kit can be built as either one of the pre-production prototype tanks or as a Mk.1 Centurion however for an accurate representation of the prototype tank the wheels and tracks need replacing.

The tracks on the early Centurions were narrower at 20 inches wide and AFV only supply the standard width tracks in this kit and those are the rubber band type.

Fortunately Accurate Armour kindly sold me some resin 20'' tracks from their A41 conversion set. The early Centurions ran on what were basically  Comet wheels which had one less reinforcing ring and a smaller outer ring.

I used some resin Comet wheels from Brach model in Italy. I still needed to make some alterations to them though as the Comet hubs are wrong, so I had to cut the AFV ones from the wheels and fit them to the Brach ones.

 

 

 

The kit doesn't provide a mantlet cover but it would make sense for an operational vehicle to have one so I fashioned one from Milliput. This is one of the parts of my model that I am least happy with. It just looks to thick and heavy compared to the one or two images I could find of the original. In hindsight I should have used some tissue over the putty.

 

 

 

 

The model was painted with MRP SCC.15 Olive Drab and the and all of the markings were spray painted using stencils. The weathering was done with various pigments and oils. These tanks covered hundreds of miles during Operation Sentry and a lot of that was off road so I figured they would have gotten pretty grubby along the way. It was however early Summer so probably more dust than mud. Hopefully that is the look I have achieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did do a work in progress for this build and this can be read HERE

This kit was a real joy to build and a pain to photograph, the colour balance was hard to get right probably due to the dusty tones on the green paint.

It actually looks better in the display cabinet than it does in the photos.... Honest 🤞

Please feel free to point out anything I have missed or maybe could have done better. 

Anyway it's a nice feeling to get another one completed and now I can look forwards to the M3/M4 Medium Tank group build.

 

Wayne

[Courageous]

Very nice, I like that...love the weathering. 

 

Stuart 

[firefly7]

It looks excellent in the photos Wayne, one of my favorite tanks beautifully modeled.  cheers,  Ruben.

[Model Mate]

Thats’s a fantastic result - subtle and believable weathering. Really nice.

[LeeM]

Excellent finish. Very life like. Weathering is superb. 

[voozet]

Awesome work! 

[diablo rsv]

On 17/03/2022 at 22:20, Courageous said:

Very nice, I like that...love the weathering. 

 

Stuart 

 

On 17/03/2022 at 22:25, firefly7 said:

It looks excellent in the photos Wayne, one of my favorite tanks beautifully modeled.  cheers,  Ruben.

 

On 17/03/2022 at 22:55, Model Mate said:

Thats’s a fantastic result - subtle and believable weathering. Really nice.

 

21 hours ago, LeeM said:

Excellent finish. Very life like. Weathering is superb. 

 

16 hours ago, voozet said:

Awesome work! 

 

Thank you all very much! Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Wayne

[Jasper dog]

Great work Wayne, another modelling masterpiece.

I really like the careful weathering, looks just right to me, well used but not battered and caked in mud. I could imagine that coming straight off the ranges or exercise.

Just a little thing but I really like the heat staining to the paintwork on the exhaust shield, nice touch.

 

Cheers 

Darryl 

[StuartH]

That is very smart indeed. I love the blending of colours you've achieved. Makes for a very harmonious finish which is very easy on the eye.

Great work 👏

[diablo rsv]

23 hours ago, Jasper dog said:

Great work Wayne, another modelling masterpiece.

I really like the careful weathering, looks just right to me, well used but not battered and caked in mud. I could imagine that coming straight off the ranges or exercise.

Just a little thing but I really like the heat staining to the paintwork on the exhaust shield, nice touch.

 

Cheers 

Darryl 

 

Thank Darryl! I appreciate that.

The heat staining on the exhaust shields is a very prominent feature of Centurions. The longer the tank has been running the more it shows up, unless the crew has given it a touch up of course. 

 

Wayne

[diablo rsv]

13 hours ago, StuartH said:

That is very smart indeed. I love the blending of colours you've achieved. Makes for a very harmonious finish which is very easy on the eye.

Great work 👏

 

Thanks Stuart,

I appreciate that, I was looking for a way to break up the monotone finish without relying on too much paint modulation, weathering seemed to be one way of doing it so I'm really pleased that you think it has worked.

 

Wayne

 

[APA]

I've really enjoyed this build and the result is first class. Well done Wayne. Love everything about it including the subject. Cracking stuff 👍🏻👍🏻

 

Andrew

[Viking]

That is astonishingly realistic, an absolute joy to look at.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Autle]

That's just brilliant, I can't fault it in any way. The photography worked out superbly as well.

[Kelscale]

Awesome build and finish and the photos look good to me👌

[Getting Old]

excellent work 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

That's a very convincing finish. I can 'see the weight' of the thing.

[FrancisGL]

Hi Wayne,

It looks great work, I love the net on the turret, and its straps, a sober finish, but very convincing as you detail in your explanation.
You are right, when working with a white background, it is very complicated, or you find it easy, at least for me, to adjust the color, since it reflects the projected light, which changes the tone of the model...
Still, the photos are great.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

[Nenad Ilijic]

Another beauty! I love all the little details... straps, heat marks... and weathering is gorgeous.

Photos look great to me as well.

 

I'll have to read through this WIP, I am sure it will be fun.

 

Best,

Nenad

[diablo rsv]

On 20/03/2022 at 17:52, APA said:

I've really enjoyed this build and the result is first class. Well done Wayne. Love everything about it including the subject. Cracking stuff 👍🏻👍🏻

 

Andrew

 

On 20/03/2022 at 19:28, Viking said:

That is astonishingly realistic, an absolute joy to look at.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

On 20/03/2022 at 20:36, Autle said:

That's just brilliant, I can't fault it in any way. The photography worked out superbly as well.

 

On 21/03/2022 at 15:31, Kelscale said:

Awesome build and finish and the photos look good to me👌

 

On 21/03/2022 at 21:12, Getting Old said:

excellent work 

 

 

Thank you all very much! Your comments are very inspiring.

 

Wayne

[diablo rsv]

On 22/03/2022 at 10:42, Bertie Psmith said:

That's a very convincing finish. I can 'see the weight' of the thing.

 

On 22/03/2022 at 17:39, FrancisGL said:

Hi Wayne,

It looks great work, I love the net on the turret, and its straps, a sober finish, but very convincing as you detail in your explanation.
You are right, when working with a white background, it is very complicated, or you find it easy, at least for me, to adjust the colour, since it reflects the projected light, which changes the tone of the model...
Still, the photos are great.
Cheers and TC
Francis.👍

 

10 hours ago, Nenad Ilijic said:

Another beauty! I love all the little details... straps, heat marks... and weathering is gorgeous.

Photos look great to me as well.

 

I'll have to read through this WIP, I am sure it will be fun.

 

Best,

Nenad

 

Thank you all very much! 
I know what you mean Francis but I use a grey card to get the colour balance right which tends to give a more accurate result but for some reason it just didn't look right compared to the actual model. My monitors are calibrated but in the end I had to resort to doing it by eye.

Hopefully you will find the WIP interesting Nenad but I'm not so sure it's fun, I leave that sort of thing to Bertie, he's the master of that. 😄

Am I right in thinking you have a Border Models Crusader in progress? If so I shall look forward to seeing that.

 

Wayne

   

[Nenad Ilijic]

On 3/23/2022 at 8:55 PM, diablo rsv said:

Hopefully you will find the WIP interesting Nenad but I'm not so sure it's fun, I leave that sort of thing to Bertie, he's the master of that. 😄

Am I right in thinking you have a Border Models Crusader in progress? If so I shall look forward to seeing that.

Actually, currently I have Gecko's A9 Cruiser in progress, while I am doing some research as a preparation for my next build, which will be Border Model's Crusader.

First time building Gecko kit and I must say I love it so far! It's like a Dragon kit, but better engineered and with great instruction sheet. Someone would say perfect  

I'm still thinking between two vehicles for Border Model build: 6th Armored Division in Tunisia, in SCC No.2 with black patches or 3CLY in Egypt, beginning of 1943 in Desert Pink/Green combination.

 

Nenad

[Carius]

Superb build and finish mate.