Amateur Build. HAYA Centurion KIT

[zooma]

You are probably right but I just wondered if the hole was for the Turret MG mount, Just a thought

The mounting block for the turret mounted machine gun is shown on the cupola ring (currently in Kermit Green) just behind the olive drab painted "brick" that I have no part to fit onto it.

....just checking this on my Tongde Centurion, there is some sort of "vision block" that also has a wiper blade moulded into it in this area, so it could be the gunners periscope?

[zooma]

zooma: I keep all those nice little gears, springs, etc., that you show in the photo. I keep thinking that someday I will find them useful. Hence, my modeling area is also a junkyard.

Ha - I know exactly what you mean.

A fellow modeller would suggest that "you never know" when all those parts that we stash away "will come in handy" - but others (such as wives!) would suggest that we are just "hoarding" lots of useless junk that "only makes the place look untidy"

Bob.

[zooma]

The build is coming ever closer to completion now, so I am looking to see what parts need to be assembled before the electronics are fitted.

The internal speaker holder tray is screwed into the base of the chassis using x4 of the most used 2.6 x 6 STS. The already stiff chassis is further reinforced by this frame and the included 4amp 5 Watt Speaker case snap fits into it. Very tidy.

Space at the other end of this moulded tray is where the Clark board will fit (for those that decide to add one). The Clark board can be ordered from HAYA with the authentic Rolls Royce engine sound already loaded, and that is what I have chosen to use in this tank.

The four "large tow hooks" do not come with any form of fastening included (my RTR Centurion didn't either!) so I ordered some stainless steel round head screws M2.5 x 10mm. These fit and screw-in perfectly and can be adjusted to let the hook mouldings swing freely by not tightening them too much.

I have been waiting for these screws to arrive to fit the same parts onto my RTR Centurion (!), so I will be screwing them in place tonight as I had temporarily used 2.5mm cap head screws to hold them (that's all I had that would fit).The round head screws look a lot neater and were worth waiting for.

On refection I would have ordered mild steel round head screws if I had given it a little more thought as they could be made to rust quite easily and look better than my attempts at painting "rust" onto them will probably be!

[zooma]

I decided to fit the armoured turret mantlet at this stage as it can be painted at the same time as the small detail parts that I have added.

This should be held onto the turret by two 2.0 x 8mm machine screws with countersink heads so that it will be free to pivot up and down with the barrel.

Unfortunately the small pack of two dark coloured screws in my kit that I guess were intended to provide these screws only had one of these machine screws inside and one similar sized and coloured self tapping screw!

I am off to sift through my old model engineers stock of 2.0mm machine screws to see if I have any that are 8mm long (or longer that can be cut to length) to hold the mantlet in place so that I can get on and spray it.

Unfortunately my stock of small engineering screws had no c/s 2mm screws - but Andrew at HAYA has posted them to me (!) so I can replace the cap heads that I have used (couldn't wait to get some paint to cover that Kermit Green!) as soon as they arrive.

[zooma]

It rained today and the wind was strong too.

Although I enjoyed wasting hours of my time leaf clearing (not!) I finally gave up....and came indoors...and rediscovered my razor saw!

Most of the pictures that I have seen of the Mk5 Centurions in Germany have no skirts on them..........and I had only just re-found my trusty little saw.........so off they came!

[zooma]

I quite like her without the skirts

[Ad Lav]

I like the Tamiya ones for the ability to put a few on/off. I can see the plus points for being moulded on - strength.

[ongbenghui]

Wow!! looks really nice without the skirts. Tempting....

[jarndice]

Hi, When you removed the armoured track side plate did you remove the support struts? I don't see them in your pictures,
I only mention it because apart from the Israeli Cents the tanks without the armoured side plates retained those struts.
It makes sense that they would be kept on because the removed plates would be held in the stores ready for refitting when appropriate.

[zooma]

Hi, When you removed the armoured track side plate did you remove the support struts? I don't see them in your pictures,
I only mention it because apart from the Israeli Cents the tanks without the armoured side plates retained those struts.
It makes sense that they would be kept on because the removed plates would be held in the stores ready for refitting when appropriate.

Hi jarndice,

One of the things that contributed to chopping the armoured side plates (skirts) off of my model was finding another snapped-off side strut laying on my desk beside the tank when I came in from "enjoying" leaf clearing in the garden.

The skirts on my Kit Centurion felt like they were a very tight fit on the side struts and I did consider if this may have been the cause for them to keep snapping. My RTR HAYA Centurion has never broken a side strut - and that tank has been run and had its body taken on and off numerous times to change the battery etc.

The side struts on my Kit Centurion have never been glued in - they are a really nice tight "push fit" so I was able to pull them out of their sockets reasonably easily - apart from the one that had snapped of at its root, and that needs to be extracted using the small self-tapping screw technique previously mentioned.

I have replaced the broken side struts, so I have the option to run the tank with a full set fitted, and the struts are such a nice tight fit that they don't need to be glued in giving the option to run with them or without them.

Your observation regarding the British tanks makes sense. I doubt they would bother removing the side struts when they intended hanging the "skirts" back on again but I honestly didn't think enough about this when I had the razor saw in my hand - I just pulled them out of their sockets because they looked vulnerable.

I will take a better look at some of the pictures I have of British Centurions running without their "skirts" fitted..

Bob.