Isn't the Dragon one a Mk2?
I built the Amusing Hobby Mk1...ok I guess but some of the sink holes where huge, specially on the suspension units.

The tracks could be a tedious task, but Amusing Hobby has released a set of aftermarket plastic ones that are better and easier to assemble than the kit provided ones.

Just avoid their "Super Conqueror with spaced armour". This kit is based on a single vehicle fitted with experimental spaced armour as a ballistic testbed. IIRC it was to test projectiles rather than armour, but I could be wrong about that. One wonders if something was lost in translation, but I suppose it fits in with the FV215 as a "what if".

They must have replaced the original track links on the sprue as my kit came with a bag of seperated track links

Hi Darren,

Pawel Krupowicz (Vodnik), who is well known and respected here on Armorama (and elsewhere) for his trenchant analyses of kits, had a few devastating things to say about the Amusing Hobby Conqueror here:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/amusing-hobby-conqueror-accuracy-t136848.html

I haven‘t decided whether I‘m going to sell both my Black Label and AM Conqueror kits or, like Brian, correct the things that can be corrected and enjoy them for their imposing “beastiness“.

Jerry

I surely wish Pawel Krupowicz (Vodnik) had elaborated more on his answer on the Amusing Hobby kit innaccuracies regarding shape and size issues. Especially on the shape and size of the turret.

And how can one screw up the size of the Conqueror side skirts?

Hi Brian,

Thanks a lot for mentioning those references, I‘ll try to track those two books down.

Jerry

Thank you everyone. The Amusing Hobby kit is then.

The plastic is not exactly brittle or even soft, but a little fragile perhaps.

The suspension units seem to locate better (than Dragon's Mk 2) and should ensure that all road wheels are level.

Be aware that the gun barrel is without a fume extractor

Note that you are required to make your own mantlet cover; AH recommend using Tamiya masking tape although I would prefer Milliput I think.

I haven't studied the individual track links too closely but I note a jig is provided to aid assembly. Of course, given the configuration of the vehicle you don't have to bother about a top run.

Brian your assumption is possibly correct. There is a MkI hull with what seems a MkII turret at the Jacques Littlefield Collection. It is either this case, or the MkIs got the fume extractor and the bustle rack added later.

http://svsm.org/gallery/conqueror-family



EDIT: Just found this video on Youtube in the Littlefield Collection that was sold in 2015.

"The Conqueror offered here, VRN 07 BA 075, was built in 1952 as a FV221 Caernarvon. At the time it was built, it mounted the turret of a Centurion MkIII. It was used as a trials vehicle by the 14/20th Hussars in Tripoli, Libya. It was rebuilt to Conqueror Mk II standards in 1958/59. The exterior and interior paint is in very good to excellent condition. All exterior lights are present. The wheels and tracks are in very good condition. The engine does not currently run due to a fuel pump issue and has a water leak. The gunner's controls appear to be complete. A radio is mounted in the turret, but it is not known if it operational. The driver's controls and instruments appear to be complete. All of the driver's periscopes are present with good glass.
The Conqueror entered service in 1955. It was feared that the otherwise excellent Centurion tank with its 20-pr (83.4-mm) gun would be unable to reliably engage the SovietIS-3 Stalin heavy tank and its derivatives such as T-10. As such Conqueror was developed to deal specifically with the Soviet heavies while letting the Centurions do the bulk of the fighting. The main gun is an American design, the M58 as found in the American M103 tank. It was accurate and powerful, though the large, heavy, two-piece ammunition was unwieldy. Unlike the U.S. tank, however, the British made do with just one loader.
Something of a technological tour-de-force, Conquer was equipped with what we would today know as a ‘hunter-killer’ system. The commander, in his cupola at the rear of the huge turret could acquire and range a target independently to the gunner. Once the gunner finished servicing the target he was currently engaging, the gun would then be slewed to wherever the commander’s target was. With the new target now in the gunner’s sight and already ranged, the commander was free to repeat the process for the next target.
The tank was not, of course, without its flaws. Though the gun and armor were superb, the Meteor engine, developed from the Merlin from the WWII fighter planes, was overstretched and the generally Centurion-based transmission components simply couldn’t cope. The massive fuel consumption figures also limited operational mobility, though for its weight the tank was surprisingly nimble. Complexity and cost also added to the tank’s woes, and only 185 were built before production stopped in 1958.
The fitting of the excellent L7 105-mm gun to Centurion began to give it capability almost approaching Conqueror, and the arrival of the Chieftain with its 120-mm L11 sealed the heavy tanks fate. Conqueror was withdrawn in 1966.
Enjoy!! Shot 5/15/15"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaCIAvBZ2ug