HAYA Centurion Mk3. First Impressions.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"The 'luxury' of dealing with HAYA (in my opinion) is being able to speak directly with the manufacturer who is often able and willing to supply small parts, help and advice that would not be so easy to obtain from Tamiya (as an example)." I'll second that. I have bought from Andrew Haya for quite some time, and I have always found him quick to communicate and helpful.

[zooma]

My HAYA Centurion has now been converted from Tamiya plugs to XT60 plugs - not exactly an upgrade, but a simple job to align it with all my other r/c tanks and batteries to make life easier.

The HAYA Chieftain came with an XT60 plug on the included battery, and an adaptor from Tamiya to XT60 inside the tank (!) so it would seem that there is no standard plug choice for HAYA yet........but I really hope that when a decision is made to standardise on one type it will be the XT60.

After years of building Tamiya buggies and using Tamiya plugs I was pleased to find an alternative plug being used in r/c electric helicopters - but these were Deans plugs and so I used them for several years too - but I never really thought that they were the easiest plugs to solderer or the most reliable to use.

My fast electric power boats use XT90 plugs and the smaller ones use XT60. These XT plugs have proven (for me) to be the easiest to solder and the most reliable types to use so I have decided to stay with them on all my models - including XT30 on my small 1/16 scale crawlers.........and XT60 on my 1/12 LMP racing cars etc.

[zooma]

Another difference that I have just noticed (even though it is blindingly obvious) is that just about everything that has a lid on the HAYA Chieftain opens, but on the Centurion no storage box lids open that I have found yet.

On the Chieftain it is not easy to get to the on/off switch when the turret is reversed in transport mode, but re-locating the switch to hide inside one of the opening lockers gives a good choice of alternative positions to mount it in.

The Centurion on/off switch is comparatively easy to access and so not having any opening lockers hardly matters from that point of view.

I guess owners that may like to be able to pose with some of the storage box lids open on their HAYA Centurion will need to cut the tops off and make a suitable hinge for themselves.

My guess would be that very few (if any) HAYA Centurion owners will want to do this (?) and by not having to make tooling for every storage box to open may be one of the reasons why HAYA can offer such good value for this model (when compared against the Chieftain) .......and offer a rotating cupola as well!

[zooma]

I have just had delivered the optional 105mm barrel and the 'B" type fume extractor to go with it.

These parts are not expensive and to cover all of the options that I have in mind (at this moment in time!) I have just ordered the "A" type winged type fume extractor to fit on the 20 pounder barrel that came on the tank.

The optional search light may also come in handy in the future, so I have added one of these to my new order with the "A" type fume extractor - whilst they are still available!

Being a small manufacturer, some things will inevitably sell-out (like the plastic road wheels with rubber tyres that I wanted to fit to my Chieftain!) and so I thought it would be best to buy anything I may want when I see them for sale as (in my experience) as they may not be available later.....

[jarndice]

Amen to that and with that in mind if you can get or already have a Tongde Centurion I would suggest you get the twin metal tow rope set from Haya because the Tongde offering is a skien of black string which no matter what you do it will never pass muster like the Haya set and if you can find a Haya Travelling Barrel lock then grab it with both hands because it is easy to convert to a working example unlike the Tongde variant.

[tankme]

I'm actually glad Andrew went with the closed boxes on the Centurion. The hinges on the Chieftain are oversized in order to make that functionality viable so I would rather the boxes not open, but it is what it is. I'm sure it's cheaper to not have them open also.

[zooma]

Due to various other commitments I have not been able to do anything with the Cent since changing the plug to XT60 and testing it, but last night I had an hour or so to spare and thought I would get "stuck-in" to taking a good look at the sprue mouldings

The handbook shows a clear picture of each sprue and every part on each sprue has a reference number, but I was quite surprised to find that many of the parts have no reference as to where they should be fixed.

Although it is possible to work-out where the parts should fit by looking at the drawings (and using your own knowledge of the Centurion tank), this is not as well covered as any of the Heng Long tanks that I have bought from new.

Small things like trying to fit the exhaust covers is not possible with the four long location studs without shortening them as each pair of long studs are moulded at 90 degrees to each other (!), but overall places have been found for all of the parts that I was able to fit last night and hopefully I can find a little more time today to fit all of the parts that were not glued into place last night when I run out of time.

The plastic that the tanks is moulded in is a very bright green and so anywhere that the moulding has been cut off from the sprue shows an almost luminous green area that stand out like a sore thumb. I have also noticed that the paint is not as secure on the moulding as it is on the the HAYA Chieftain, so any minor bump in handling reveals more areas of "lumo green" plastic that will need to be covered.

Maybe the type of paint has changed or perhaps there was more mould release on the plastic that was not fully removed prior to painting, but I am a little concerned that I may have some future problems if the pre-painted tank and sprue parts finish is not as secure as it could be. I will find out shortly when I try to find the best matching TAMIYA green paint to cover the "lumo-green" areas.

Has anyone already found the best Tamiya green colour match for the HAYA Centurion colour as supplied?

[jarndice]

I painted mine in Tamiya TS-5 Olive Drab to reflect the colour of the Berlin Brigade Tanks,
The French, British and American Tanks in Berlin all had the same olive drab finish.
The Berlin Brigade Centurions did have a turret mounted searchlight.
I served in Berlin on 2 detachments in the 60s so finishing my Centurions in Berlin Brigade markings and colours seemed natural to me.

[zooma]

Thanks for that jaundice

I just held a jar of Tamiya TS-5 Olive Drab against my HAYA Centurion and it was not the best match so I will try to find a better matching Tamiya green paint form the stock of old jars that I have.

Tamiya do not offer an actual "Bronze Green" colour in their range - but I believe Revelle do....?

My searchlight has just arrived from HAYA this morning, so I will try to find some good pictures to show how and where it is mounted.

Bob.

[jarndice]

Humbrol sell a Deep Bronze Green which is the universal colour of North European based Britiah Army vehicles.