ALRIGHT, Santa comes through!

My work in progress, an early `70s RCD Centurion Mk 11 LR.

There are a few differences beside the new barrel, side skirts and decals with this kit and their first Centurion. What you don’t get with the kit is the metal .50 cal ranging machine gun barrel, the mesh for turret stowage basket and the two extra rubber rims for spare road wheels.

I built their first kit as an IDF vehicle so I had some bits left over. I didn’t use the manufacture’s supplied nylon mesh. I had some brass diamond mesh screen from an assorted bag of brass sheets that appears to be about right. The Firestorm resin canvas covered mantlet with searchlight mount was pretty close to a “drop-fit” and I would recommend it to anyone building this kit.

http://firestormmodels.com/

With this release they have re-done the Crew Commander’s hatch to include a strap on the interior side. The more numerous photo etch parts are much thicker also.

There were dimples on almost all the road wheel hubs and the Gunner’s sight cover (?), clear part D9, was a very poor fit onto the sight housing this time around. Other than that, pretty much the same as the first release, a first class model.

Michael in Abbotsford.


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Michael,

Thanks for posting the images of your Centurion build. It is taking shape nicely. Good work on the stowage bin mesh.

Let me know if you still need an images of the turret top spare road wheel placement. It looks like you are pretty close for the 100 gallon tank road whell placement...I can help you out with the placement of the bolts.

Will you be adding the .50 Cal mount?

Michael,

Just a quick note on the fire extinguishers mounted on the late version Centurions. The British style fire extinguishers were replaced by the more modern style bottle with nozzle and trigger...appears to be about mid 1960s.

Accurate Armour makes some very nice aftermarkets ones which I used on my 1967 circa Mk.11LR.

I have seen them both painted in red and in a flat dark olive green. On the later Centurions they can be seen mounted on the turret bins in the regular locations and on the front fenders in front of the pull handles for the internal fire extinguisher system. Some tanks had them and some didn't.

Jason

You are welcome and thank you. I’m really enjoying this build.

The turret stowage bin did turn out well, didn’t it? Barry Beldam’s Centurion book has a nice series of close up photos of the basket on a gate guard at Mobile Command HQ in Montreal. They were very helpful in pointing out that the kit basket differs in detail quite a bit from that particular vehicle. I wonder how much variation there were in stowage baskets? Ah, well, I fixed a few things and I can live with the results.

I would be interested in images of both the turret top and the 100 gallon tank spare road wheels bolt placements. Looking at the location of the 100 gallon gas tank one that I did, I think it should be nudged over to the left a little bit. There is a doohickey in the middle of the tank roof, near the rear edge that prevents the wheel from sitting flat. I won’t be able to mount another spare on top of the turret because I only had the one but I can put the bolts for it, in their proper place.

Still not mounting a .50 cal. There is something about the late RCD Centurions that depresses me to no end. In the early 70s it probably wasn’t that much better but hopefully they could still manage a Roll-Past without losing any callsigns to mechanical failures…. I guess I can’t shake the notion that at that point in time the Centurions were pretty well clapped out and everybody was just marking time until something better showed up.

That interesting about the fire extinguishers. Would you happen to have any pictures? I went through my references again but didn’t find anything that gave any information about how they were mounted. I was thinking about putting together an order for Accurate Armour and that’s one more thing to add to the list. I wonder if they would put together a custom package of six red and six green ones? They are pretty good about that kind of thing.

It’s amazing what can turn up when you take pictures of your models. Did you see the fairly large horizontal sink-mark on the turret wall bulge below the cupola? It runs from about 2 to 4 o’clock. I sure wish I had noticed that before I added the right stowage bin…. I checked the first Centurion kit and it has it too, just very, very, faintly. Mould deterioration that quickly? Hmm, looks like a job for Mr. Surfacer and some patience.

Talk to you later.

Hello Michael,

The photos of your build look great. I have several photos of the Centurion at the Canadian War Museum, including the fire extingusher. I am not sure if the way it is mounted (only 1 is mounted) was common or something the museum staff did. You are welcome to use them.
I have the Tamiya 1/25 Centurion and plan on converting it up. I have several of the Mouse House Hobbies resin conversion kits to get the job done. Just have to find the time.

I have most of them posted at Photobucket - under Troop10

Ross - also in Abbotsford.

Michael,

I'll send you a couple of images of my Centurion Mk.11LR showing the placement of the spare road wheels and mounting bolts. The one on the turret still used two bolts even though the turret armour changed thickness...just used a longer bolt on the lower portion.

As far as the Accurate Armour fire extinguishers they are moulded in grey resin so you can paint them either red or green.

Ross, thanks for sharing your photos. They show some nice details on the Centurion and the Cougar in very bad shape. The fire extinguisher mount on the CWM Centurion looks pretty standard for a late Centurion Mk.11LR.

I have seen up to six fire extinguishers mounted on a Centurion. On the back and front ends of the turret side stowage bins= 4....and the two positioned on the front fenders in front of the hull fire extinguisher pull handles...they are mounted running across the fenders.

Hey Ross, small world. Thanks for the heads-up on your pictures. They are very helpful.
The 1/25 scale Centurion huh. Is that one a Mark 3 like the 1/35 scale one? Should be an interesting build.

Thanks Jason, I got the pictures. Which, of course, leads to more questions.
I was going to place the antennas on the left front and left rear positions but I see that you have them located at the left front and right rear locations.
I re-checked the picture I’m basing my model on and if I zoom in I can make out the fuzzy outline on the newer pattern fire extinguishers located on the front of the turret stowage bins. Do you happen to know if those were purchased directly from the British or did we have those specially built in Quebec at three times the cost….
According to Accurate Armour, they have different decals for their red and green fire extinguishers. Come to think about it, I’ll just get the red set and just leave the decals off of the green ones.

Does anyone know if we were using black plastic water jerries during the early 70s or were they still using the older metal ones?

Thanks again, Michael

Awhile ago, I came across a scanned image online of a photo from a 1967 issue of 'Der Kanadier' which showed a Cdn soldier from 4 Pro Pl in Europe using one. The caption read, "...the new light weight plastic containers...".

Cdn Forces Europe seemed to get the newest kit first (Rightly so - holding back the Warsaw Pact hordes one pint at a time and all! LOL), so I'd assume that it's a safe bet that the tanks in CFE had them also around that same time.

Michael,

The late Centurions had the U.S. style AMUs and antennas and they were mounted as I have them on my Centurion. When the early Centurions used the 19 and C42 sets they used the British style antenna mounts on the left and right fronts of the turret.

I am pretty sure too that the black plastic water cans would be OK for a 1970+ Centurion.

I don't have any details about the fire extinguishers as far as production. They could have even been made and puchased in Germany...this would have been easier for fixing and refilling them.

Hey JP. Thanks for the info. Do you remember were online you saw the picture? I found the “Der Kanadier” website but I haven’t found any photos from the 60s yet.
By the way, are you going to send up a flare or something when you re-open in February or should we just start sending in orders on the first?


Jason. I was aware that both the Number 19 and C42 sets used the front antennas mounts but I’m laboring under the impression that I’ve seen American mounts in a couple of different location at the left-rear of the turret.
Could be that I’m getting mixed up with IDF Centurions or something. I’ll take another bash through my references again tonight. Would you say that all Canadian Cents with American antennas would mount them as you have yours?

Thanks, Michael.

At photobucket.com under "ldshrecceboy" you will find walkaround photos of my units running Centurion with interior photos.

Cheers
Anthony

Hi Anthony

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve been following your posting of pictures of the Afghan C2 workup with great interest.

Your Centurion pictures are very helpful too. You should rename it “Centurion Walk Around And Crawl Through”. Great pictures.

Be lucky and have Recce Eyes!

Mike, Nigel from B Squadron (The Dukes!). Looks great, make sure to put some pics up when done. Any plans to do one of our old Lynx? Already started mine(lol).