1/35 AFV Club Centurion MK 5/6 into a Canadian MK11- SOD recovered !

[PanzerWomble]

Started this build a year ago , it got stalled , mainly because I got irritated with the tracks , and mucked up the front idler so it all went sideways. Fixed the idlers a while ago but still didn't get back to it . I don't do WIPs but thinking if I post here it'll force me to complete it ! 

As title says ...this is AFV Clubs rather nice Cent , with the metal 105 gun  , and parts on the sprues to make a MK 11 . 

Why a Canadian ? I love Cents , and most people wanting to do battered ones do Israeli , whereas if you want a battered Green /Black Nato 1970's one , you're looking at Canadian as they were using theirs until 1977 and they were hammered! UK forces had pretty much swapped out the Cent for the Chieftain by 1972/3 so the latter marks were little used before put into storage. Everyone else kept theirs tidy... Swedes , Danes etc. 

Canadian Cents were a little different from their UK cousins , using 50 cal MGs and American radios , foot holes in the skirts , "hush puppy " tracks to name a few. They were 3 colour early 70's but back to 2 colour by end of service . 

Some inspiration pics ..

Last parade of Canadian MK11's at Lahr , Germany , 2nd June 1977 . Swapped them out for Leopard 1's in a slightly dubious arms deal .

Steel Ttacks and LR tank , 50 Cal and US radios 

Make a nice dio ! 

 

 

 

 

[PanzerWomble]

And here is where we are today ..85% done ish . Also if you like post war Brit armour , despite being an Opsrey book ( normally bit a light on details for me) , Dunstan's compendium is not a bad one for pics and development history . It was also helpful on a Chally 1 build I did coupla years back 

 

 

[PanzerWomble]

This is the old Tamiya MKIII 1842 tooled model . This one is rocking a 30 cal that the Brits fitted during their Korean adventures . 

Still mostly ok , but no use for the later marks as the turret changed a lot for the MK 5 . And yes , I have a development map I'm that sad. ( email me in confidence if you want a copy !)  

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Nice to see some Canadian/Commonwealth armour subjects. I haven't done a Cent yet. The Amusing Hobby AVRE version got my interest piqued though. And now AFV club have come out with one as well. 

Carl

[PanzerWomble]

2 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Nice to see some Canadian/Commonwealth armour subjects. I haven't done a Cent yet. The Amusing Hobby AVRE version got my interest piqued though. And now AFV club have come out with one as well. 

Carl

I bought the Amusing Hobby MKV Cent ..and sold it on ..it's a direct Chinese knock off copy of the earlier Taiwanese AFV club release which softer plastic . Depends which China you prefer lol .

On anther note ............

Historically it irritates me that Canada never seems get acknowledged  . According to most Hollywood films, the UK wasn't around on D-Day .....and according to nearly all films ,the Canadians weren't either despite capturing the whole of Juno beach . Given they were 95% volunteers and kicked the be-Jeesus out of the 12th SS Pz Div in Normandy , it's criminal they have so little exposure.

 

 

 

[Jackster]

I do love a Centurion, and these look great! Canadian variant is very interesting and as you say, often overlooked.

Cheers

Kev

[Bomber_County]

Haven’t seen one of these built for ages. I haven’t got into post war AFV’s yet but very close, there are so many Panzer IV’s you can build. How do you find AFV as a manufacturer, never built any of their range yet. Looking forward to more pics……

[PanzerWomble]

3 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Haven’t seen one of these built for ages. I haven’t got into post war AFV’s yet but very close, there are so many Panzer IV’s you can build. How do you find AFV as a manufacturer, never built any of their range yet. Looking forward to more pics……

Plastics a little soft, as it the detail ( a bit like Airfix for my money) , but they make a lot of UK stuff no one else does . I've completed both Scimitar and Scorpion, and their range of Cents is good , bearing in mind they were the first people to do one, other than the dog old Tamiya kit ....which is crazy given the number of nation users. Just need them to do a Stalwart .....I've not bothered with their German stuff as the world and his wife offers that. 

[BlrwestSiR]

9 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

I bought the Amusing Hobby MKV Cent ..and sold it on ..it's a direct Chinese knock off copy of the earlier Taiwanese AFV club release which softer plastic . Depends which China you prefer lol .

Thanks for the info. I'll try to find an AFV Club one since I technically have Taiwanese citizenship as well as Canadian.

Carl

[GazzaS]

Very interesting, Guy.  I'll follow along...   even though postwar armor is one of my weakest subjects.

[Clunkmeister]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:26 AM, PanzerWomble said:

I bought the Amusing Hobby MKV Cent ..and sold it on ..it's a direct Chinese knock off copy of the earlier Taiwanese AFV club release which softer plastic . Depends which China you prefer lol .

On anther note ............

Historically it irritates me that Canada never seems get acknowledged  . According to most Hollywood films, the UK wasn't around on D-Day .....and according to nearly all films ,the Canadians weren't either despite capturing the whole of Juno beach . Given they were 95% volunteers and kicked the be-Jeesus out of the 12th SS Pz Div in Normandy , it's criminal they have so little exposure.

 

 

 

Well, Hollywood writes the scripts, and he only times Canada gets a mention is when an American joins the RCAF to go fly in Europe before they joined the war. 

[PanzerWomble]

So some progress ....Turret now completed with the various "lil differences". The 50 cal mount appears different in virtually every pic, so reckon a lot were "workshop mods" rather than anything coming out of Vickers or Barnbow, so have picked one and gone for it. Found Sergeant Bob , who although is a little more 80's, can probs pass for a 1970's bod. ( This is a Firing Line figure from Dave J Parkins for those who get peed there are no 1980's British Army figures around) .

Completed the hull too , mainly finishing the glacis . Headlight frames in wire not plastic, bit of light wiring and we are good to go .

So now needs some nice faded green and black , probably mismatched on the skirts paint. And mud and filth..and stuff

Laterz

PW

 

 

 

 

Not sure yet if I want on Ex or on Range , cover the stuff up like IR lamps and smoke pots in tarps or let them be free?

 

Maple Cent on one of the Reforgers with the pyro pacs over the main barrel . This is the era I'm aiming for . They all started off with thermal barrel shrouds when base converted to MK 11's .....nine years later these had all literally fallen apart .

Fag in drivers mouth .....sooo 1970's  .

 

[PanzerWomble]

Base green down . A pass of straight green and then two passes with increasingly lightened with buff.

Barrel in semi gloss black, this will probably get toned down more later 

Masked for hard edge camo , Black down then modulated the same method with dark grey . 

Now the real work begins  

 

Bit earlier than mine , still on steel tracks but once the thermal sleeve is off the gun looks quite shiny.

 

 

[Peterpools]

Nice progress and save for sure on the Centurian. Cammo looks mighty good.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

That looks great. I never knew that the thermal covers would fall apart. Adds a nice differentiator to the model. 

[PanzerWomble]

Let me know if I'm telling you all what you already know? , I'm not a big WIP person .

So painting small bits tools tracks etc I use an Army Painter wet pallette as it saves lets me go as slow or fast as I like . Stuff styas fresh for 24-48 hours depending on how much retarder you add.

 

Then onto some filters  . Chose to go with oil dot filter for this one , as I know the white will make the green and black look old faded and water streaked.

 

I'm using W&N standard oils, left for an hour to leach out some of the oil . It's also important to have the correct mug for the model ...

 

 

Dotted on , and then dragged vertically or daubed horizontally with a damp brush .

 

Looks a mess at first but all can be removed with white spirit / turps . Or worked over with a dry brush until it gets ot wehre you need it to be .

 

 

And here's the whole shebang. It looks OTT right now because it will need 12 hours or so to dry properly and tone down . Even then, a damp brush can still be used to adjust, move & remove. If we are happy it'll be a quick blast with some matt varnish , some markings and then onto pin washes , chipping , mud ,rust and fuel

[Peterpools]

Thank you for the tutorial ... going to come in handy down the road. Weathering on the Centurian looks mighty good.

 

[Bomber_County]

Stunning Camo and oil washes. I haven’t tried oil yet but like the look of the results. Do you hard mask the camo or freehand and then fill in…….

[PanzerWomble]

2 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Stunning Camo and oil washes. I haven’t tried oil yet but like the look of the results. Do you hard mask the camo or freehand and then fill in…….

Masked it , I often suffer from overspray otherwise 😔 as it needed a hard edge .

Re oils - I occasionally use oil dot filtering , acylic washes of base colour are better for German WW2 cammos IMHO , or even wet on wet acrylics . For stark colours like this , or say Panzer grey , I find oils are a good way of breaking the monotone .

FYI Brit vehicles of that era were painted by hand , on average once a year , by bored soldiers , and the Canadian tanks look similar. The synthetic enamel rubbish in Army use till the mid 90's fades, scratches  and chips like ....so it needed doing frequently, over the mud quite often  For parades a good spraying in WD40 to give them a shine was also popular. 

The move to true IR reflective paints in the mid 1990's meant a move to 2 pack paints , that needed to be base unit sprayed , baked etc ., so a lot less layers on modern vehicles .

 

 

 

[GazzaS]

Guy,

    That’s a great looking effort.  I too didn’t know much about heat shrouds falling off.

[PanzerWomble]

 

19 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Guy,

    That’s a great looking effort.  I too didn’t know much about heat shrouds falling off.

 

They were canvas with fibre glass inside, after a few years out in the German weather they literally rotted and fell to pieces . Canadian tanks got more of a pasting on exercises than the UK Chieftains or German Leopards, mainly because they were much fewer in number . 75 Centurions 11's served with Canandian forces in Germany , compared to 1000 Mk V Chieftains or nearly 2000 Leopards.  No wonder they kept winning the gunnery competitions they were far more active. 

 

Link ...I'm not making it all up !!

 

I need to find the other source I had a year ago , it was a wealth of info about the Canadian tankers  in Germany , the run down and decision not to upgrade Centurion ( Vickers had quoted, as had the Israelis) and the way Germany insinuated if Canada wanted their special EU trade deal (Framework Agreement on Economic Co-operation 1976)  then they might like to consider buying European tanks ....not harking back to their Commonwealth roots and buying British . Trudeaux quickly signed the deal  for Leopard 1's .  And who says politics and national interest don't rampage through arms procurement 🤣

[PanzerWomble]

Slight sidesways move ....working on Sgt Bob today ...

Sequence of :- base prime , sprayed black upwards / sprayed sand downwards to give false shadows , glazed olive uniform, filling in some detail , mixing oils for flesh colours , basic face hands hair and eyes.

I've tried using acryllics for flesh , but now find oils a lot easier with the longer working time and blending .

Will now leave all him to dry out for a few days and then go back and add some final details and highlights . Looks a bit naff with close ups, but sat on the tank with the naked eye should be fine . We'll find out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HubertB]

He looks more British than Canadian , but great job on the figure painting.

Hubert

[PanzerWomble]

5 hours ago, HubertB said:

He looks more British than Canadian , but great job on the figure painting.

Hubert

Pretty sure the Canadian army don't wear lumberjack shirts ......not sure they were as keen on moustaches as 70's squaddies though 🤣

[PanzerWomble]

Said I wasn't great on WIP threads ...I get stuck in and forget to take pictures ....

 

Anyhoo .

Coat of W&N Galleria Matt varnish - I swear by this stuff , you can literally throw it from the bottle , it levels well and dry flat flat flat.

Pin washed with Black/ Brown oil paint

No particular markings- towards the end of service, less and less are seen of photos

Acryllic buff lightly spray for mud , chose to keep this light .

Oil/fuel spills via Tamiya Smoke , rusted exhaust mixtures of Tamiaya X9 Hull Red mixture adding several drops of X4 Yellow green

Some resin NATO stowage . Tamiya 50 cal . Cammo net on the turret seems to have been a thing .

Guitar strings for aerials .

And kinda done . Glad to have finally finished this off, and happy with how it turned out  - A well used Canadian MK11 Centurion in Germany 1976/7 .

Link to all the RFI pictures