Amateur Build. HAYA Centurion KIT

[zooma]

There are a lot of very skilled modellers on this forum that will probably have no interest in reading about this HAYA Centurion KIT being put together, but for some, this may be very helpful as there are no building instructions or spare parts listings supplied with the kit, and no part numbers either!

Add to this a selection of screws with no indication of where they should be used, or what parts they fit, and the kit can become a little daunting to 75 year old (this week!) amateur such as myself!........but if I can do it, then anyone can do it........so here's hoping it all ends up in one lump that works!

Please Note. During this build I may come back to update some of my notes as I remember something that I had forgotten to mention (such as the screw size!) at the time. Hopefully these updates will help to build a more useful reference than it would have been without them.

There are three online videos that do help and give a good idea about where all the bits fit - but I don't think that they cover everything or show where to start or even indicate the best "step by step" building sequence in the same way that say a 1/35 scale plastic kit would do, and that is exactly what I thought when I first opened the box

I decided that the brightly moulded "Kermit Green" chassis tub was not to my liking and so I set about covering it over with some Tamiya TS-5 Olive Drab paint from a "rattle can" to at least "dull it down" a little.....and I just happened to have 3 cans in my workshop (shed) from 2005-2006 time period(!) so I decided that this could be a Berlin based Cold War tank - and if the old paint didn't work very well it could be over-sprayed at a later date with a more often seen Bronze Green colour to give a broader choice of regiment and location etc.

UPDATE:- Our "first born" son was kind enough to give me some nice fresh cans of Tamiya TS-5 Olive Drab for my birthday, so I will continue to finish this tank in this colour that was unique to the "C" squadron 4RTR Centurion tanks that were based in Berlin during the Cold War between January 1961 - March 1963, and I will look forward to finding our more about them and throwing in the odd nugget of information about my choice of decor as this kit build comes together.

Although my choice of squadron and regiment seems to have been dictated by my initial choice of some old cans of paint that I decided to use up (!), it turned out to be a very fortunate colour choice as I am finding the Berlin based Centurion tanks very interesting and a worthy subject to model that I am very happy to pursue.

Getting back to the kit - what looked like the inner and outer suspension cases were dug out along with a couple of other parts that looked like they belonged to the same area of the hull tub and they were also given a first coat of Olive Drab paint.

[zooma]

Looking through the parts I noticed that the return rollers were pushed onto a metal axle that had a flat filed onto it. This flat area of the axle pushes into a similar shaped slot in the hull tub, and if these were not fitted first, it could be a bit tricky to fit the retaining screws into the front and rear axles, so the rollers were identified and cut off of their sprues and fitted, followed by the inner suspension case halves.

I noticed a pair of castings that would slot into the front of the hull tub (one on each side) that would be the mounting base for the front road wheels. These were a tight fit and needed a little "dressing" with a small file to get them to slide in - but they are still a very tight fit.

So far only one size (2.6 x 6) of self tapping screw (STS) had been used to hold the return roller axles and the inner suspension cases to the chassis tub, but two longer (2.6 x 12) STS were needed to hold the large front return wheel holding casting in place. The lower body mounting moulding also fits on top of these castings and is held by these same two screws.

[Ecam]

There are a lot of very skilled modellers on this forum that will probably have no interest in reading about this HAYA Centurion KIT being put together, but for some, this may be very helpful as there are no building instructions or spare parts listings supplied with the kit, and no part numbers either!

I think it is post like these that make this forum great. Thank you for taking the time to put it together.

[HERMAN BIX]

It’s posts like these that put me off a Haya Centurion !!

Well done Mr Zooma, hooking in like there’s no tomorrow

[ColemanCollector]

Yup, I'll be reading this. I like the kit concept so I'm curious to see how it all goes together, and I'm beginning to really like the looks of the Centurion. Win-win!

Mike.

[tankme]

Yes, you do have to have the return rollers mounted before the suspension or you won't be able to install some of them. Luckily there are some extras of some of the screws.

[ongbenghui]

Before you started the whole process. Will like some feedback the folks here.

Do you prime/paint then assemble or assemble then prime/paint ?

When I got my Haya Chieftain, I laterally disassemble most parts, prime/paint and try to put back.

I also find that after prime/painting, it thicken the material a little that might have some minor fit problem later.

Any thoughts?

PS: damm... looking at these build threads that it is so tempting to build another one.

[zooma]

Before you started the whole process. Will like some feedback the folks here.

Do you prime/paint then assemble or assemble then prime/paint ?

When I got my Haya Chieftain, I laterally disassemble most parts, prime/paint and try to put back.

I also find that after prime/painting, it thicken the material a little that might have some minor fit problem later.

Any thoughts?

PS: damm... looking at these build threads that it is so tempting to build another one.

I noticed that the paint on my original HAYA Centurion RTR was a little "loose" and not too well adhered to the plastic in places, but I was not tempted to take it apart and refinish the paintwork as you have done, but it did cause me to take some interest in how well the paint that I will use actually adheres to the plastic parts in particular, so I will be checking this as I go along.

I don't actually know exactly what type of plastic these tanks are moulded from, but it may not be the same as that is used to mould the 1/35 scale plastic kits that I have previously glued together and painted - so what I have learnt from them may not necessarily apply here?

The paint that I have used to date comes from one of three old unused TAMIYA TS-5 spay cans that I found under my bench circa 2005-2006 and it was applied directly onto the plastic with no primer.

I am not sure if these paints are exactly the same as those that are available today as they may have been made before Tamiya "recalled" all of their paints from the UK model shops and later replaced them (quite some time later) with an "improved" (less toxic?) blend, but I have checked the paint finish so far (even rubbing some off with fine sandpaper to remove a small paint run) ) and it appears to be very well adhered.

Previous experience with some types of primer sold for use on plastic kits has not been too impressive or convinced me that they actually worked (other than to provide a better base colour for some top coat colours to follow) but the "rattle can" paint seems to have a better "bite" on the plastic and so far has worked well.

The three cans of Tamiya paint that I have will not be enough to cover this model, so I will be using some of the currently available cans of TS-5 when these run out (I have been kindly given some as a birthday present!) and I will be taking careful note to see if the new paint performs as well as this old paint has done.

I will prime the metal parts prior to painting them (with a suitable self-etching alloy primer) apart from in areas where it would actually be beneficial for the paint to rub off of the metal to help with authentic weathering ! This may not be such a good idea - but I want to try it.

If you do buy yourself a HAYA Centurion KIT you will probably get it built much faster than I will build mine - so may end up reading your building notes to help me finish this one

Bob.

[tankme]

I like to fully build a vehicle before I break it down for paint, but that is a personal preference. I don't like painting to begin with so I don't like painting twice if something needs to be reworked or glued. Gluing to paint or having to remove paint to glue sucks IMO.

[jarndice]

Before you started the whole process. Will like some feedback the folks here.

Do you prime/paint then assemble or assemble then prime/paint ?

When I got my Haya Chieftain, I laterally disassemble most parts, prime/paint and try to put back.

I also find that after prime/painting, it thicken the material a little that might have some minor fit problem later.

Any thoughts?

PS: damm... looking at these build threads that it is so tempting to build another one.

I noticed that the paint on my original HAYA Centurion RTR was a little "loose" and not too well adhered to the plastic in places, but I was not tempted to take it apart and refinish the paintwork as you have done, but it did cause me to take some interest in how well the paint that I will use actually adheres to the plastic parts in particular, so I will be checking this as I go along.

I don't actually know exactly what type of plastic these tanks are moulded from, but it may not be the same as that used to mould the 1/35 scale plastic kits that I have previously glued together and painted - so what I have learnt from them my not necessarily apply here?

The paint that I have used to date comes from one of three old unused TAMIYA TS-5 spay cans that I found under my bench circa 2005-2006 and it was applied directly onto the plastic with no primer.

I am not sure if these paints are exactly the same as those that are available today as they may have been made before Tamiya "recalled" all of their paints from the UK model shops and later replaced them (quite some time later) with an "improved" (less toxic?) blend, but I have checked the paint finish so far (even rubbing some off with fine sandpaper to remove a small paint run) ) and it appears to be very well adhered.

Previous experience with some types of primer sold for use on plastic kits has not been too impressive or convinced me that they actually worked (other than to provide a better base colour for some top coat colours to follow) but the "rattle can" paint seems to have a better "bite" on the plastic and so far has worked well.

The three cans of Tamiya paint that I have will not be enough to cover this model, so I will be using some of the currently available cans of TS-5 when these run out and I will be taking carefully note to see if it performs as well as this old paint has done.

I will prime the metal parts prior to painting them (with a suitable alloy primer) apart from in areas where it would actually be beneficial for the paint to rub off of the metal to help with authentic weathering ! This may not be such a good idea - but I want to try it.

If you do buy yourself a HAYA Centurion KIT you will probably get it built much faster than I will build mine - so may end up reading your building notes to help me finish this one

Bob.

The very first thing I do when preparing to paint is to wipe every part with Acrylic Thinners (Isopropyl Alcohol) Then Paint metal Parts with Metal Primer Then undercoat before a Top Coat then flatten and reapply top coat,
Sure its a long winded faff but if you want a decent finish it is what you have to do.