1/35 Takom Chieftain MK11

[PanzerWomble]

Time for another Chieftain but not the long toothed Tamiya one from when they were new in service . I speed built one of those on here in 48 hours or so as giggle a few years ago.   RFI here if you're interested

No , despite claiming to be mostly an armour modeller I seem to spend a lot of time build quarter scale aircraft ....so whilst finishing the blasted cat thing ..I'm going to do a new Chieftain , one of Takoms MK11s . And very nice it looks too . Tooling been around a while 2015, and this has sat on my shelf for three years since buying it during '21 lockdown for an exorbitant price. Since Meng also brought one out, they should have dropped in price ...but haven't.

 

 

 

Stillbrew armour is unique to MK10's and 11's and the models thereoff .  So you can only make a 10 or 11 , which was UK only . 

Seeing Iranian Chieftains getting armour penetrated in the Iran/ Iraq war by T72ms scared the UK into coming up with a quick fix.

This was basically concrete and rubber overlayed over the existing turret front armour, hopefully able to stop kinetic penetrator rounds fired from T72 . They knew Chobham was on the way , but in 1980 it was still a few years off. 

 

 

 

 

[PanzerWomble]

Ok I'll admit it I am a Chieftain junkie ....

Some useful books 

 

George Forty's 1978 book is still pretty solid , looking at development and deployment up to the Totem Pole upgrades ( MK6) 

Haynes' book is a loose copy somewhat updated as it is written 15 year after the tank retired . Some nice pix and stories 

Dunstan's book is somewhere in the middle , it's a collection of Osprey works , which have their merits and failings. If you want one book for post war tanks for a modelling reference this is a good contender 

[PanzerWomble]

Takom give you 5 options all British . 3 tanks based in BATUS , sand and green , 1 (RSDG) in all Nato Green and a final one (1RTR) in more typical BOAR black green . I do know an ex RSGD Chieftain crewman having built "his " Mk 6 before . hmmm we'll see 

 

 

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[PanzerWomble]

Ok so before the glue , what makes a MK11 ? Anyone interested -  I have a written a full development map of the various marks , new builds and up grades to the UK's 600 odd Chieftain fleet over it's nearly 30 years service - ask and you can have a copy ?

So new Chieftain production ended around 1975 for the UK with the MK 5 ( Tamiya's offering) 

They then reworked numerous ealier marks going forward with ; better engines , better gun controls , optics, ammo storage and on and on . 

As earlier marks were re worked , they acquired a new mark number. 

Most confusing was the series of upgrades know as Totem Pole , that took many early marks up to current in theatre standard. Some were done at factory , some at ABRO and some in unit . 

 

So, a Mark 11 never left Leed's Barnbow factory as brand new. 

A Mark 3/3 (1970-1) got a new engine and became a Mark 5, then upgraded to a Mark 8 (1978) , then went through the engine upgrades in Dark Morn / Sundance programmes , and then Totem Pole 

Confused yet ? at least you weren't the REME detachment trying to keep up with the spares 

Finally in mid 80's they got covered in the StillBrew armour and became a MK 11. 

 

Phew ...........

Whilst HMG mucked about decided what to buy / do next, the Shah got overthrown and suddenly we could pick up a bunch of Challengers on the cheap ..so to speak ..so the proposed MK12 didn't really go far. 

06 FA 52, the one I'll probably do , made in Leeds , went into service 1st July 1970 , went through an eventful life as above, spent her time with 1RTR in the 1980's and was stood down from active service in Sept 1993 , being "cast" ie written off 2 years later . I think 1RTR was the first to convert to Chally One in Germany , but could have that wrong. 

Thanks to the Merlin Archive for that info - https://merlinarchive.uk/vehicle/06FA52

From my other files I can see it's ultimate fate was to be smelted down . 

So , history over , on with the glue ! 

 

 

 

[Bomber_County]

Thanks  for the history, I’ve never built any post war AFV’s perhaps so perhaps the venerable Centurion / Chieftain may be be required. I’ve recently discovered Mr Hewes and his passion for everything post war British AFV’s. Will be following this closely……..

[PanzerWomble]

1 hour ago, Bomber_County said:

Thanks  for the history, I’ve never built any post war AFV’s perhaps so perhaps the venerable Centurion / Chieftain may be be required. I’ve recently discovered Mr Hewes and his passion for everything post war British AFV’s. Will be following this closely……..

I wish I'd seen his 6 Chieftains at the Market Rasen show last month , truly a sight not seen for nearly 30 years . 

Takom's FV432 is v nice as well  

Link to that Vid

 

[GusMac]

Interested to see how this goes. The Tamiya Chieftain was the first kit I built when I got back into the hobby for some peace and quiet when the sprogs were little.