Amateur Build. HAYA Centurion KIT

[zooma]

While waiting for the two metal return roller axles to be delivered, I have started sifting through the moulded sprue's to see what shapes I recognise that can be fitted to the hull.

The first things that I have found are what looks like two body posts (in model car talk). These are the posts that the battery retaining strap fit onto, so I have cut them off of the sprue and super-glued them into the sockets that hold them inside the hull.

No clips to hold the battery retaining moulding onto these straps are included in the kit, but I have some spare "body clips" that I use to hold the bodies onto my r/c cars, so I have used a pair of them - and they fit perfectly.

[tankme]

I personally have velcro mounted on my batteries so I just added velcro in the battery tray and ditched the whole battery strap/clips. I buy the 2" velcro on the big roll and it lasts me a long time.

[zooma]

zooma, if your's is an "Amateur Build" my skill level is Bozo Build. Gee I wish you were nearby to help me when I tackle a Puma or even the Asisatam Kubelwagen--but the puddle is too big to jump. I'm watching all along with R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Sorry about the late reply Prof. I have not been home too often recently and when I do get a few minutes to spare I tend to dive into this box of bits and try to find another piece that I recognise that I can fit next.......and then write up how it went on here!

I am sure that your skills comparison is not true Prof, but I am pleased that you find this basic build log of some interest. Hopefully others that take the time to have a look at it now and again may eventually see it as a helpful reference to anyone who buys one of these HAYA Centurion kits in the future.

It may even help anyone who owns an RTR HAYA Centurion when they need to repair or service it in the future as all the parts and the way they fit will eventually be shown here. (it will certainly help me !).

The aim is to make the sort of reference that I would have personally found helpful if something like it was available when I first opened my kit box and saw all those parts with no paperwork of any kind to help guide me ......or even suggest a way to go with it that worked.

Another reason for doing this (of course) is to gain helpful advice and information from more experienced r/c tank builders who contribute to it along the way to expand the knowledge and usefulness of the build log for others (and myself) to benefit from.

Bob.

[Meter rat]

I find the whole write up fascinating, and have been reading it with interest. Your skills and ability to work out a problem are way above my level of incompetence. A Centurion is on my list eventually, as my father drove them, and was a driving instructor on them.

[zooma]

I find the whole write up fascinating, and have been reading it with interest. Your skills and ability to work out a problem are way above my level of incompetence. A Centurion is on my list eventually, as my father drove them, and was a driving instructor on them.

It sounds like you need to have a HAYA Centurion KIT in your life Meter rat.

It is an "interesting" kit to build (so far) and I am sure that there is nothing that I have found to be "a bit of a problem" that cannot be fixed by anyone else with basic hand tools and a little time and patience.

The only thing that I have found a little irritating is that the videos show everything just "falling nicely into place" with everything being a nice fit and nothing needing any real adjustment at all!

It would have been better to show the "fettling" that is needed to make some of the parts fit together. This would have been far more helpful and realistic if these "adjustments" were included and showing how the parts were made to fit.

Maybe I was just unlucky to have a box with some parts that didn't all fit quite as well as they should...or maybe (for sake of the videos), any parts that were less than perfect were rejected and replaced.......or pre-fettled to fit before filming?

I believe that my kit is not going to be so different to every other kit of the same type out there - and so some of them will need to have some of the parts to be "adjusted" to make them fit as well as they should. .....just like my kit has done ...

In comparison, Tamiya kits do just fall into place, but this one is more like "proper olde fashioned modelling" where a bit more effort is needed....and the end result will give a much better sense of satisfaction and be so much the better for it too......I hope.....

[zooma]

I have just about used up all of my original 3 tins of old stock TS-5 Tamiya Olive Drab "rattle cans" on the lower chassis parts and it has done a decent job of hiding most signs of the bright Kermit Green coloured plastic!

I actually sprayed the wheels while they were still mounted on the chassis. This allowed me to turn the wheels as I painted them, but the area between the front and rear halves of the joined wheels are not covered as well as they would have been if I had pre-spayed them before screwing the two halves together. Does it matter?...I do intend weathering the tank and I can get a brush in-between the inner and outer drive wheels if I feel the need....

Spaying with the wheels fitted also shielded some small areas from the paint spray (parts of the suspension springs etc) - but again - they are in an area that will probably never be seen that will be weathered in any case, and can be reached with small brush if needs be.

I am guessing that the above comment about spray coverage would apply to anyone that prefers to spray their tanks after assembly and is easily dealt with afterwards?

Any small areas that were not covered by the spray can paint will be touched-up later by hand or air brush, but for now it is "good enough" and I am looking forward to fitting the tyres to the drive wheels and rollers as soon as the paint is hard enough to stay on.

Hopefully the two missing return roller axles will arrive shortly so I can fit them to complete the running gear and the lower chassis build assembly.

I am look forward to fitting the tracks and connecting each motor in turn to a battery just to make sure that everything is lined-up OK and that the tracks will stay on and run true.

[Ecam]

The only thing that I have found a little irritating is that the videos show everything just "falling nicely into place" with everything being a nice fit and nothing needing any real adjustment at all!

It would have been better to show the "fettling" that is needed to make some of the parts fit together. This would have been far more helpful and realistic if these "adjustments" were included and showing how the parts were made to fit.

.......or pre-fettled to fit before filming?

I'd bet money that was the case and some creative editing!

You are doing a terrific job on the build and this thread!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

"It may even help [Herr Dr. Professor] who owns an RTR HAYA Centurion when [he needs] to repair or service it in the future as all the parts and the way they fit will eventually be shown here."

[zooma]

The metal suspension arms were primed and then painted.

1EB5F674-FC5D-48A8-BE98-EBDD8BD98D88.jpeg (830.04 KiB) Viewed 675 times

the Areas not fully covered with paint....

.....maybe another dash of the rattle can in a few small areas ......but it is going to be weathered....so maybe not?

[zooma]

With the paint dry on the wheels and rollers I was able to fit the tyres.

The roller tyres are a very simple straight fit - just gently push them on and check that they are equal on each side and give each roller a spin to see if they spin without any wobble - if any do wobble, just manipulate the tyre until it is "square" and central and spin it again to double check.

The main road wheel tyres are just as easy to fit BUT they do have two different heights of tyre wall to look out for. The higher wall goes to the outside of the outer wheels and the inside of the inner wheels, so in each case the higher tyre wall is on the outside of the rim (the inner wheels face inwards - but the higher tyre wall is fitted to the outside edge of the rim so it is facing inwards towards the middle of the tank).

Spinning each wheel as the tyre is fitted soon identifies any tyre that is not sat squarely on the rim and can be easily corrected with a bit of gentle manipulation.

Unfortunately I had one large tyre MISSING! I was working on my desk from the sealed plastic bag so there is no chance of dropping one and not seeing it - but in any case I only took one tyre out of the bag at a time, so it is definitely MISSING. This is a shame as progress on the lower hull is now stopped as I wait for a new tyre and the two missing rear roller axles to arrive.

I also have a broken Bazooka Plate Support. I am not at all sure what happened, but one of these strong looking supports has "sheared-off" at its root. I have given all the others a god solid "tweak" to make sure they are OK and every one is "as solid as a rock" so this is a real mystery as the tank has not seen any action yet! Maybe this particular moulding had a slight flaw (?) but either way I need to ask for a replacement part.

This Bazooka Plate Support (like every other moulded part in this kit!) is moulded in a bright KERMIT GREEN colour - but where it has sheared off the plastic is WHITE. The chassis has not fallen off of my desk or been dropped or bumped (yet!) so maybe it was stressed when being pulled out of the mould? .....who knows, but I don't want to glue it back together as I don't think it will be strong enough, so I have asked Andrew at HAYA to send me a replacement part together with the missing tyre and one pair of the missing steel return roller axles.

Work has now stopped on this build until the missing parts (x2 steel axles and x1 tyre) and requested replacement part (Bazooka Plate Support) arrives, as I have no more work to do on the lower chassis and I don't want to start working on the next stage of this kit build until this main area is competed and tested, but I may take a look at weathering the metal tracks a little so they are ready to fit as soon as the lower chassis tub build can be completed.