Well, I've just about finished an Aussie Cent in Vietnam in 1971-72 based on AFV Club's superb 1/35 kit, so I reckon it's about time I start another one (I have five on the shelf)!



With my first (AFV Club) Cent (pictured above) I was determined to depict "The Very Diabolical", which served in Vietnam in 1971-72, and hence had plenty of "in theatre" mods born out of operational experience in a climate and terrain the British Centurion was not designed to operate in.

My first Cent has scratch built guards, Firestorm hull and turret bins, longe range fuel tank, stowed IR light and mantlet cover and Mousehouse resin spare wheels.

I am very happy with the result, but I also regret that I neglected to build this fine kit "Out of the Box - OOTB), which is generally what I do before embarking on more elaborate builds.

As I said, the AFV Club is a fine kit of a significant tank and - even better - a uniquely Aussie subject! Australian modellor Ossie Osbourn was the tech advisor and he obviously did his job well, because the kit is a cracker! (that's Aussie for really, really good).

However, I do have a few very minor gripes, and a more accurate description of the tank would be "Royal Australian Armoured Corps Mk 5/1 (Vietnam version) 1968-69".

Just as no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, so do few vehicles remain in their "as issued" form when being operated in conditions they were never designed for.

The Aussie Cents arrived in Vietnam in the configuration they were exercised in Australia - complete with "bazooka plate" side skirts, which were removed after the tanks' first outing (Operation Pinaroo) because they compacted mud and vegetation around the tracks and suspension.

Apart from the removal of the plates and mounting of spare wheels on the glacis plate, the Aussie Cents were essentiially a standard British Mk 5 or 6.

However, operational experience soon saw a lot of "Australianisation" in theatre and the Vietnam Cents eventually evolved into a unique variant.

What the AFV Club kit depicts is essentially a standard British tank (save for the .50 calibre ranging gun, IR light, bustle basket and .30 cal ammo box rack on the turret).

As previously stated, the AFV Club offering is superb and a great Aussie Cent can be built out of the box, but for me two aspects NEED to be replaced - the rubber tyres (which fit very loosely, seem to resist any glue made by man and could be prone to deterirorate down the track ... pardon the pun) and the mantlet needs a canvas cover (I've only seen a picture of one Aussie Cent without one).

Apart from the replacement of the guards with 5/16 sheet steel and the reinforcement of the hull bins, the Cents also quickly lost their smoke dischargers - which were either removed by the crews or inevitably the jungle). You can see on my previous build they are absent, but I'm going to fit them to this project to give the tank a different "look" and may even mount the light.

Although this will be an OOTB build, I have replaced the kit mantlet and tyres with the excellent Firestorm items (both of which have been reviewed by me on this site). I regard the fitting of these bits as non negotiable and I will also use Firestorm's turret basket stowage, which is an expedient nicety, but all the rest of the bits will come from the box. On my first Cent I used the Legends Centurion wheel set and they did the job, but took some fitting ... the Firestorm tyres make use the of kit wheels, which are finer detailed.



The turret has been engineered so several Marks of Centurion can be manfactured, and the joins do need some work, I will also be removing the moulded cables before resurfacing the turret - possibly after adding casting numbers.



The many handles on the engine deck are supplied with the kit, but in my experience they are difficult to remove from the sprue and fragile once installed. I replaced them all with fine fuze wire:



The glacis plate armour plate is well represented. but some weld beads are needed ... I used Milliput:



I'll give it a rest for today, but tomorrow I'll probably sand down the turret and texture it with some Mr Surfacer.

There are plenty of fine markings with the kit, unfortunately only one set is appropriate for the tank in the configuration it comes in, which is Callsign Thre One Bravo (31B) of C Squadron, Ist Armoured Regiment in 1968. The Osprey Vanguard Book The Centurion Tank in Battle has a fine illustration of the Troop leader Lieutenant G McCormack's tanks which shows the callsign in large characters on the engine deck, which will also give the tank a different look to the later "Very Diabolical" ... watch this space ....

Looking forward to more. Always good to see another Cent fan out there.

I'm sure this is gonna be a great model!

Lars

Mick nice work!

The stowage set looks nice!

Btw what about your tubs?

Another day .... let's see how much more I can get built.

After letting the putty harden for a few days, I sanded the turret to shape ,,, note how I didn't put the jerry can shaped insert with the signal wire reel mount in but instead filled the hole. I will slice the mount from the part on install it to the re-shaoed turret:



In reality, much of the seam is hidden by the turret bins and basket stowage, so you don't have to be too fastidious:



Mr Surfacer 500, which is semi gap filling, gives the turret a nice texture, and hides a multitude of sins:



I also gave the glacis plate a touch up:

Oh man, I just saw the "Tank Overhual" eposide on the Centurion.

It is quickly becoming my second favorite tank....Sherman is the 1st, of course.

top marks so far, I will be watching your progress..the texturing is great!

Ryan

As the build roars ahead with a puff of Rolls Royce Meteor manufactued carbon monoxide, I decided to do a bit of research in to 1968 Cents in Vietnam in the Australian War Memorial photo archive.

I wanted a completely different "look" to "The Very Diabolical" and needed some photo evidence.

Here's how the Cents looked when they landed ... note the side skirts and lights on the front glacis - there was no way either of these features were going to last:



General Westmoreland inpsects Aussie Tankers in 1968 ... the mounting ppints for the side skirts are still evident, and the smoke dischargers are in place on the turret:



Another 1968 Cent .... the lights are gone from the glacis plate and there are some star pickets laid across it:



This one's interesting ... the guards are standard sheet metal type, and they have received mild punishment. Two spare wheels are stowed on the glacis. Note the bin next to the driver's hatch, which I believe was for a foul weather windscreen:



Another shot of a tank with the windscreen bin and spare wheels on the glacis. The port side front guard is missing:



Interseting shot of a Tank Commander in 1968:



So there you have it ... I reckon I'll go with spare wheels on the glacis, a set of standard guards and the windscreen bin is included in the kit, so I'll fit that for something different. The Very Diabolical is looking like it has done some hard yards, so I'll model this latest Cent in intact condition to represent a newly arrived tank with the side skirts removed.

Mick nice work mate!.

the cast effect looks superb!

Back to the project ... it is all going ahead well, and I hope to have a base coat of green and markings on it tomorrow, so it is not only largely OOTB, but also becoming a bit of a speed build, which is a testament to how well engineered the kit is, and how us modellers can actually complete a project when we don't allow ourselevs to be too clever!

The basic "block of the tank is done ... the instructions are vague about the placement of the radiators, but I figured out the the wider ones went on the bottom:





All the assembled bits - the wheels with the Firestorm resin tyres, the turret re-shaped and some of the details such as the bins, cupola and machine gun ammo rack in place. There are actually two types of rear deck bump stops in the kits, but you have to be sure to fit the ones with the recess for the bore evacuator of the later gun. Also note the windscreen bin in place, which was a part included in the kit, obviously for another variant:



The turret .... the Cent's interior were silver, and I gave it a quick squirt inside:



The tank is looking like a very standard Brit vehicle at the moment with its standard guards in place and the turret bustle rack and long range fuel tank yet to be fitted:



Here's the bustle rack ... it attaches to the turret in a very flimsy fashion, and I am toying with the idea of pre-fitting the stowage and using it as a sturdy attachment method (the flat part at the rear of the stowage butts up againt the rear of the turret).



Anyway, tomorrow I'll hook in to the search light, turret basket and fuel cell, and we'll see if I can't give it a coat of olive drab lustreless by the end of the day!

Nice work Mick.
How did you apply the Mr Surfacer? Did you brush it on or brave it and spray it through your airbrush? I've got three AFV Cents and have been considering the Firestorm tyres, they certainly look to be a huge improvement to the rubber ones.

Yes, I like what AFV tried to do with the rubber tyres so they could detail on the inside of the rims, but I find they are oversized and seem to be able to resist any glue known to man.

As much as this is technically and OOTB build and the AFV is an otherwise excellent and well engineered kit, I will be replacing the tyres with the Firestorm items on any one that I build.

The lack of a mantlet cover is also a let down ... so far I have only used the Firestorm item and would like to try the AFV Club mantlet cover, but I am dubious about the flexy rubber material it is made out of.

So close but yet so far ... I didn't meet my self-imposed aspiration of getting a coat of paint and markings in the 1968 Cent today, but after only four days work it is sitting on its wheels , the fuel tank is installed and all the major bugs are sorted:





The suspension stations are in place on the hull, but the wheels will not be installed until after painting:



One challenging aspect of the kit is the intricate turret bustle basket ... I really don't see how AFV could have done it any other way, but it goes in to place by butting four very small points to the back of the turret. I suppose that's the trouble when you have a turret that is also intended for other marks and variants, but I would have liked some positive loacation/mounting points for the basket, likewise, the two upper side mounts just sit on the mounting blocks on the liftng points, which makes location vague and strength non existent.

Although this is basically an OOTB build, I chose not to use the kit's supplied mesh, which is sort of a cloth netting. Not only does this netting not look right, it also gives no strength to the frail basket frame.

I took a look at a couple of basket mesh options from my stash of aftermarket Cent updates - one from Firestorm and the other from Voyager. The Voyager mesh was two piece whereas on the real basket it was one and, again, two pieces would compromise the strength of the finished basket.

The Firestorm mesh could work, but there were some imperfections in the etching, and I wanted to keep the update intact for another project and a review on this site.



In the end I followed the path I did on my first Cent project - I cut a single piece from aluminium architectural mesh, which is not only great to work with, but is readily formed in to a sturdy shell to support the frame - just like the real basket.



I also wanted to try out Firestorm's one piece resin basket stowage on this one. After a bit of thought, I glued the stowage to the rear of the turret - leaving it hanging in space before attaching the basket, which could be glued to the stowage. I then installed the mesh with two pack epoxy and the result was sturdy enough to be trimmed down and tidied up with a file. I'll do a few things different next time, but this technique is showing some promise!





The uprights on the search light stowage are also problematic ... I've replaced them with brass strip, and some more tweeks are needed.

I also installed the smoke projectors today ... again, they mount on four very small and vague points, but they've gone on soild enough. I replaced the moulded conduit with fuze wire, which is very easy to form.



Anyway, as much as the project slowed down, I perfect some techniques for future projects. As much as this is my second AFV Club Cent, I did so much scratch building and added so many after market parts to the first, it's like a first time build.

A while back I bought the Voyager Cent update out of interest, and to date I have found most of the parts useless ... the resin mantlet cover doesn't have the searchlight mount and much of the other stuff would only complicate my life wrestling with brass and superglue to produce components that look way tooo flimsy and underscale in thickness, So far I've seen no reason to alter, let alone replace, about 90 percent of the kit parts.

From here on it should be all pretty routine - just the hatches, tools and towing shackles.

I'm enjoying the build - this is a great kit of a subject very close to me heart ...

Mik great work .

What make is the stowage?


hows your tubs coming along?

I stipple the Mr Surfacer on with a brush and use autho thinners for thinning/cleaning.

I consider the Firestorm tyres a standard part of any AFV Cent I am building ... they do the job nicely and most fit so snugly that glue is unecessary.

The stowage is a one piece item from Firestorm which I will soon review on this site - a great way to fill your Aussie Cent basket!

The Rwanda M113A1s are ready for a coat of paint ... watch this space.

The turret's all but done (there needs to be a simple splash guard along the edge of the turret between the loader's hatches and I'm still pondering how to tweek the side where the searchlight is stowed in the basket, but it won't be too fiddly). There were a few pin marks on the inside of the hatches, but otherwise they look very good. I cut the plate on the back of the basket out of pasticard and set it in place with two part epoxy (the excess which squeezed through the mesh won't be visible due to the stowage).



I was dubious about how sturdy the smoke projectors would be, but they've settled well in to place (there are very subtle differences between the top mounts for the port and starboard fittings due to variations in the slope of the turret wall, and if you get them the wrong way around, then everything goes awry .... trust me - I know!). Note that I have hollowed out part I38 (not mentioned in the instructions for the Aussie Cent) and fitted it around the power outlet for the light (I have seen some real Aussie Cents set up like this).



One shortcoming in the AFV Club instructions is the fitting of the periscope on the front face of the turret ... the clear part D4 needs first to be glued to part B28 (also used for the driver's hatches) ... there is also a spare clear periscope which can be mounted inside, but there's not much point in doing so. If the periscope is not first mounted on part B28 and installed as per the instuctions, it will flop around in the hole and sit too low:



I had planned to do some painting today, but in lieu of a booth I paint outside, and today it is pouring in Sydney. Apart from that, there are only some routine bits to install to finish the build part ... I can get bogged down in detailing, but on this project I have only made enhancements that I think are absolutely necessary, which has been a fun change! In keeping with the "OOTB" sentiment, I will be marking this tank up as Three One Bravo (169066) from the suppled decal sheet (which will need another ARN for the rear of the fuel cell and red/yellow Vehicle Unit Signs for the front and rear), which repesents a tank in Vietnam in 1968 and the only correct option for a vehicle as depicted in the base kit.

All those extra's come out very nice on this model.

But..... as far as I can see, this is no more OOTB.

Lars

Thanks, but this is OOTB compared to my other projects ... sometimes there's not much of the supplied kit left by the time I've finished.

I replaced the kit tyres because I think they're inadequate and fitted the mantlet cover because AFV didn't supply one and all Aussie Cents in Vietnam had them, but the rest of the little enhancements such as the grab handles, the turret basket plate and conduits for the smoke dischargers are pretty basic upgrades using junk box materials.

As much as I could have made a mantlet cover using tissue and white glue, the Firestorm bit was a "no brainer".

Sure the turret has been sanded to shape and surfaced, but it remains the kit turret - again, just basic modelling.Likewise I added some weld beads to the glacis armour.

The basket stowage is a one piece "drop in" which does not modify the kit in any way.

You will notice a complete lack of any filling on the rest of the kit, because the fit is so damn good!

Nah, while there are some add ons and basic enhancements, I still reckon this project is (almost) OOTB, and I just wanted to share some accessible improvements which would make a great kit even better ... Hell, I haven't even beaten up the guards and twisted the smoke dischargers (but damn, I have wanted to!).

With my Very Diabolical build (see first pic this topic) I ended up with more resin and white pasticard than there was original kit green! However, a very good Aussie factory Cent can be built using the kit parts.

Mike,

Belated compliments on The Very Diabolical. It came out looking very nice indeed. I like how the vehicle is awash in a sea of grass and undergrowth, it really does convey the feel of the RAAC in Vietnam. The crews who served often talked about the vehicles coming back from operations almost covered in leaf litter, vines and branches that fell on the tank as it moved through the jungle, a suggestion to round out the project perhaps? You are however free to ignore my suggestions as it would hide all you good work!

You next project an early days Vietnam Centurion. What about a vehicle at Fire Support Base Balmoral May 1968 - C Squadron, 1 Armoured Regiment reported to be the first significant deployment of the Centurion in the conflict.

Don’t forget about you carriers. Am interested to see your M125A1.

W

Thanks Mick, I will hold you to that about the carriers i look foward to seeing them!

The Cents coming on nicely

Thanks mate ... the VD looks like it has created a wake and has a bow wave in the grass. I kept all the vegetation off it because I wanted to depict it in open grassland, when not much would be dropping on it.

I plan for my 1968 Cent to use the kit markings 31B ... this tank did serve at Coral, but was in a battered state by the time it got there. I just wanted to model the kit OOTB with a few enhancements.

Because the M113 kits are so flawed, they take a bit of work, but particularly with teh Firestorm updates, these Cents just fly together. I have another hull on teh go for the purpose of reviewing the Mousehouse fabricated guards (which I mastered) .... now The Very DIABOLICAL is out of the way, I've always wanted to model Pussy Eater - just for the shock value!

Do you have any photos of it Mick?

Really Great Cent Mick
Cheers
Seb

Note the similiarities to the numbers of The Very Diabolcial ... Pussy Eater was in the same Squadron but a different Troop:

Got everything ready today for a spray-a-thon ... two sets of Cent wheels, M113 running gear, a speed build basically out of the box Cent 5/1 ... and I couldn't get the gun to work.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll do some tweeking and see if I can't get the paint to flow.

The Cent's all done. I replaced the cable stays with bent brass strip because the plastic kit bits break. I was going to mount the light on the mantlet for a different look, but blemisehed the glass. I had a resin Firestorm light complete with cover, but keeping with the sentiment of using the kit parts, I added a cover to the plastic bits, and I like the result!



Once I sort out the paint gun, the whole lot should be green sometime soon ..