1/35 scale Centurion Mk.12

Scratchbuilder

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Waiting for a couple of bases to dry after adding the ground texture, had a look through the stash and came out with this.
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But I had forgotten that I had done some earlier work to change it into a Mk.12....
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I had started off with just the mantlet, then added the front top of the turret and realised that the turret now had to be re-shaped... So set to work with filer and two part putty before getting the basic shape with a knife and finally sanding to shape. Then a final coat of filler (Tamiya) and a sand down got me where I wanted to be.
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These are the products obtained for the conversion. The turret roof (SMM) was obtained just in case I totaly messed up the turret, so is now spare. The 'Pagoda' engine louvres are a resin part from Scorpion Miniature Models, Firestorm have provided the wheel 'rubber' tyres as I am too lazy at the moment to get out the casting resin and produce my own... And the tracks are the AFV Club workable Centurion tracks (180 per side)....
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Would not be a build without the etch, so it will be new bins, plus odds and sods, the Bazooka plates will possibly not be used as there are a lot of tie downs to add, but we shall see...
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Here is the reference material in paper format, plus of course the interweb will provide other information. (notice the tie downs....)
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First job today was to cut off the rear, ready for the new rear end of the engine bay....
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And here it is test fitted, again from SMM, it will not be glued in place untill I am ready to start fitting the engine louvres....
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The glacis plate has a new strengthened plate added over it, and I did not forget to remove the awfull injection pins from the underside....
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Try taking them off when fitting the tracks....
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The deck plate has a 3mm piece removed from the rear and the fuel filler caps removed and sanded away, also the 7 bolt holes are filled as they are not required...
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And that is where I am at end of play for today, as you can see there is a metal barrel in place - I do have a resin one, but at the moment I am not too happy with it as there are a couple of air holes with one at the muzzle end of the barrel, so I could end up making my own....
More later
Cheers
Mike
 

A_J_Rimmer

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Fabulous! I do like Centurions, such a cool looking Tank. Looking forward to following one of your builds from the start - it looks like this is going to be a rather fun conversion.
 

Ian M

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Interesting these Centurion tanks, I will have to have a go at one, one day. In the meanwhile I'll watch how its done.
 

Scratchbuilder

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Fabulous! I do like Centurions, such a cool looking Tank. Looking forward to following one of your builds from the start - it looks like this is going to be a rather fun conversion.
Not a bad conversion to start with, hardest part would be the turret, but if you take your time and dry fit and dry fit, then you should be ok.
 

Scratchbuilder

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Interesting these Centurion tanks, I will have to have a go at one, one day. In the meanwhile I'll watch how its done.
The AFV Club kits are not bad, if you remember to remove those annoying injection pins.... I have the Amusing Hobby AVRE, and if this is an example of their standard then there really is no comparison in quality.
 

Jakko

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That sentence has me confused: do you mean Amusing Hobby’s effort is better or worse than AFV Club?
 

Scratchbuilder

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This is the earlier Centurion I built....

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This was modelled on a vehicle based in Germany and the version was a MK.12, Artillery Observation Vehicle... Again based on the AFV Club Centurion. But in this case there was a lot of scratchbuilding to it.
Turret - re-profiled, stowage bin lid scratched.
Cmdrs cupola - split hatch and scratchbuilt.
Gun mantlet and barrel - scratchbuilt.
Engine deck and rear - scratchbuilt with the 'Pagoda' louvres made from plastic strip and aluminium sheet.
Bazooka plates - scratchbuilt...
Hull - stowage bin from etch set, light guards from etch...
Tracks - Fruil, wheel tyres from my own casting.

So let's hope I can get this one up to the same standard.
Mike.
 

Jakko

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I’ve not built an Amusing Hobby one, but I did look through the instructions once, and it looked familiar enough that I also had that thought just from the illustrations.
 

Scratchbuilder

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Update,
A bit more work done last night....
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The new rear was attached with c/a...
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And just the join to clean up with a bit of filler...
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Then it was onto the front and the drivers hatch plate, and the turret plate...
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Then it was time to start adding the 'Pagoda' engine covers... The centre attaching bar is stepped lower at the front as the engine covers are at a different height...
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They cannot be mixed up as they are clearly labelled 'F' for front and 'R' for rear, and the numbers are for Left to Right in assembly. But I started with #1 and #5 so that I could c/a the hinge bar into place correctly...
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And this is what you should have, the odd shades are just the resin colour.
I have decided to use the metal barrel and will be working on that today...
Cheers
Mike.
 
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