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The exhaust shields are molded with the hull and very simplified.


It should look like this, as seen on Prime Portal on a regular Mk 5.


Notice the fine metal sheet and features.


First step was to remove most of it with the Dremel. It’s annoying, it creates a mess and lots of toxic smoke, better done outside in the wind. I managed to strip it without damage to the hull.

Too bad TONGDE did not take the time to properly do such important detailing. Most areas of the model are pretty good.


And then finetuned by hand with a nail file. Everything other that the large hinges have been removed. Detail on the skirts have also been removed at the same time.


The upper hull is prepared, ready for rebuilding and detailing.


Regards, Louis

Hi, continuing with the Sho't Meteor engine deck, late version.


I decided to scrape the side of the deck by about 4mm to recreate the edges of the last engine plate in recess. A 3mm plasticard strip will be added later to the outside edge to rebuild the wall.

The position of the rear engine bar is calculated and confirmed by AFV Club. Notice the incorrect position of the previous attempt by TONGDE.


The recess gap of the panels are rescribed with the tip of a dull blade.


Then normalized across the whole length for seamless recessed lines.


I vaguely remembered that i had kept the parts for the engine deck after the conversion of the Ludwig Mk 3 into a Sho't kal. I am just missing one of the 5 segments for the rear section. It is saving me a lot of time. To build these from scratch, it's fairly simple. Like i did for the missing segment on top, there is a 1mm thick back plate, with a 2mm thick strip on top (for a 3mm wide bar), with 0.75mm thick strips for the vertical fins, cut and sanded once dry.


Here are all the segments after much preparation and ready for installation. The lines were scribed with the back of a blade running along a metal ruler. The nuts are Meng SPS-005 in 1.4mm. If i had built these entirely from scratch, the scribing would have been eliminated by the use of plasticard strip built like the real thing.


Back plate is added, simply glued to the top of the previous engine grill under it. Thin strips are added to the sides for the segments be to at the right level, and strait.


The holes of the previous exhaust are closed with 3mm plate on vertical and 2mm on horizontal.


Notice that the angle of the hull on the middle section has not been respected by TONGDE. However, i gave it back some of its angle for the length of the exhaust. It would be a complex job to redo on the whole length, not worth it as it won't show too much past the exhaust.


Continuing on following post

Middle section is added.


The 5 independent rear sections are added.


Front sections of the different style seen in reference pictures are added.


The back top plate is detailed with the attachment points, handles and fuel cap seen in references. I lowered the Tank Infantry phone which was previously placed a bit too high.


Those Meng nuts... they are so small. It's through pictures that you can see corrections that need to be made.



Now for the engine ventilation louvers.


This is a Centurion Mk 8 with its specific hull extension. I would have liked to create louver sections that run along the whole width of the engine deck (it looks better) but the only two references i had for the late Sho't Meteor based on a Mk 5 both indicated that the louvers were of a reduced width compared to the panels under them. Ok, so be it.


Continuing of following post.

This graph has proven reliable so far compared to historical pictures, showing the spacing between the add-on ventilation louvers, centered over their individual engine deck plate, and extending to the end. The only bizarre thing about this graph is the presence of 11 main hinges instead of 10...obviously a simple mistake.


The Accurate Armour (AA) 1/35 louvers from their resin conversion kit, shorter than shown on the graph above as they are proposing a different configuration at the end of the engine deck.



This is the material purchased for the construction of the louvers.

Evergreen 4061 Clapboard in 1.5mm spacing, giving an almost equivalent number of blades in 1/16 as shown by the AA louvers in 1/35, independently of the length. Once weathered with dark pigments at the bottom, clapboard based louvers look realistic.

Evergreen 294 L angles for the sides of the louvers. These are flat 3.2mm corners, not tapered, thin and can be easily cut on the length to match any requirement.


Louvers are cut and applied against a 1.5mm back plate for thickness. I used the thickness of the AA louvers extrapolated to 1/16 for reference. I have no clue if this is accurate or not because i am already taking many different decisions than they took for their conversion kit. I made them longer because of my different arrangement at the rear of the engine deck and it made sence that they go all the way.


For the 4 sides of the louvers, the L angles are cut with a blade running along a brass strip of the required thickness. I needed the corner on the top of the louvers to be really slim.


The 1/16 scale ventilation louvers are ready, they were done i less than 1 hour of work. Not everything should be 3D printed...


And then installed on the engine deck. Extremely limited references and the lack of any surviving example of a Sho't Meteor of this specific version makes detailing difficult. As mentioned on the first post, the Sho't Meteor tanks shown in Israeli museum and memorial sites are not real Sho't Meteor, they are Dutch Centurions in IDF colors.


I oriented the louvers facing the front... I makes sense for ventilation but its not 100% sure.


The upper hull as it stands today, looking very much different than how it was just a couple of days ago.


Next step, the glacis.

Regards, Louis

Hi,

This post is for the glacis.


The TONGDE Centurion glacis is a sad thing to see. I have stripped out everything but the joint with the lower hull is not strait, and is full of unexplained holes that have no apparent purposes. These six holes on the tip of the front lower plate are not even used to install something. I was thinking about the tow hook brackets but the TONGDE instructions indicates to install them in the middle and sides of the glacis... the two holes on the sides. The model is bizarre, some areas are great, some other do not make any sense. It's as if the model was designed by different people who do not talk to each other, and some designers are better than others.

I looked at some armour graphs of the Centurion. For a standard Mk 5, the front lower hull and glacis should be 76.2mm thick, which should be almost 5mm in 1/16. Then for a Mk 15/1 version, there is an add-on armour plate of 50.8mm in thickness for the glacis, roughly translating into another 3mm.



We can see that the front bottom should be raised by a couple of mm at the joint with the glacis, and the TONGDE model is not showing it, which complicates things for the presentation of the add-on armor. Maybe the TONGDE glacis already has the thickness of the extra armour included in it, but without presenting any detailsof it. Not sure what went wrong here.



This is the AFV Club 1/35 add-on armor plate for the Centurion Mk 5/1 version. In 1/16, it should be about 3mm thick, which is significant and highly visible on the glacis.


The real tank shows a large weld line between the add-on armor and the lower hull but not a significant increase in height of the overall glacis over the bottom plate.


I did a small compromise because i did not want a 3mm add-on armor on top of the glacis without a realistic integration with the bottom armor, i added a plate of about 1.5mm to raise the bottom section a bit, which helps in hiding the ugly gaps in the armor too.



The Mk 5/1 add-on armor plate for the glacis is prepared in 3mm plasticard plate. Not all IDF Sho't tanks had it, it depends on the base Centurion that was used for the conversion.


The add-on armor plate is installed on the glacis, a 1.5mm strip is representing the weld line between the upper and bottom plate, which is glued to the glacis.


Representing a Mk 5/1 avoids filling all the holes on the glacis and lower hull...

The Idler adjuster.

View of the real thing. We can see the large bolt heads, the large 6 attachment bolts in the middle, 2 oil points, the large bolt and nut on the right. There are also 4 attachment bolts at the bottom.
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The TONGDE idler adjuster part is made of plastic. I would have liked to see it in metal but this is what we have. It's quite ugly but it can be easily improved, like the tip here of the main bolt and nut, shown as some blob. It can be replaced by a real metal bolt and nut.


View underneath the adjusters, they seem weak for use as idler adjusters for metal suspension and tracks. I was able to pop out both of them from their sockets with a simple twist of a blade. They were holding by a couple of drops of glue.


Cleaning up all the details, including the terrible 9 round bolt heads on the front, and the 4 on the top... But details can wait, my first concern is to install them solidly.


The idler adjusters are glued back on the hull, soaking in Epoxy glue underneath, but making sure to remove any overflow on the sides, and not getting near the hole for the Idlers shaft.

It's already better, at least it might break but it won't fall off...

But i want to reinforce it with some metal plate somewhere to prevent the plastic of the front armor plate to bend at the corners with the adjusters, or distord. I have analysed a few options. Based on the material i have available, i determined that my best option is to slide a transversal metal beam end to end at the base of the armored plates behind the adjusters, proposed location in red. Its simple and it will not show.


I had this metal beam on inventory, a metal U beam. It's probably coming from some unused hardware for a furniture drawer purchased years ago. I keep everything that i think could be of use.


After the tight fiting holes are made on the wall section just behind the plastic plate for the adjuster, i installed the beam, gave it a 2mm spacer to fill the gap with the rear of the frontal armor, then i soaked the whole thing in epoxy. Then added two long 4mm thick plasticard plates on both side walls as additional reinforcement, again with epoxy. The idler adjusters might still break but they won't bring the whole front of the tank with them...

If the plastic adjusters still eventually break, then a more drastic option of replacing them with Tamiya or other brands of 1/16 Centurion idler adjusters is an option, but it would require the idler shaft and wheels or other custom parts to integrate with the TONGDE hull. Could be costly.


Then the details on the front are added. At one point, I wanted to use real metal bolts but felt drilling holes would weaken the part, not make it stronger.


This is it for the idler adjusters.

Got and installed the metal suspension and roadwheels.

Sadly, the TONGDE metal upgrade wheels are of the same size as the plastic wheels, meaning they are terribly undersized, which dramatically impacts the height of the vehicle. The stops on the hull at the bottom of the suspension are preventing the suspension from raising the vehicle further. This is where i can get a few mm to compensate.


On the left are the suspension spring for the plastic suspension, on the right for the metal suspension. I was shocked to see that the metal suspension come with weaker springs than the plastic suspension... It looks similar but i felt that the spring on the left were stronger. I therefore removed all the springs from the old plastic suspension and gave them to the metal suspension, with a added stretch of 5mm to give the suspension a bit more torque to raise the vehicle by a few mm if possible.



I decided to let the suspension run freely and i removed all the stops from the chassis.


Thankfully, the new suspension comes with their own plastic shock absorber arms for the frontal and rear units, so i did not have to salvage them from the old suspension. They are just for display and play no part in the suspension but they do move and interact with the suspension. Use of screws for attachment is better too. Not sure why TONGDE provides the same plastic rollers, painted silver, as if it would look better on a Centurion...



View of the old plastic suspension. The little shock absorber arms were installed by melting the tip of a plastic pin. See how the arm design can lock the suspension if raised to the maximum.


This can be solved by flipping them on the other side to present a flat surface. However, with the suspension stops removed from the hull, a new problem appeared where the shock adsorber arms can now lock the suspension when the arm position themselves on the inside.

On this picture, guys can notice that i did a trial of having both springs installed intertwined on the suspension. It did not work well as it made the suspension clumsy. That trial was ended rapidly.


The above locking problem was solved by having two little hidden plasticard pieces glued to the suspension body as shown, behind the oil reservoir, preventing the shock absorsber arms from going into lock position, no more.


With the suspension installed, moving to the metal idler wheel and its plastic adjuster.



The metal idler, with its metal gear for the adjuster. Wish TONGDE had provided a metal Idler adjuster too.


Continuing on following post.

Idlers are installed, but not yet positioned.



When empty, the chassis is horizontally flat. With the removal of the stops on the suspension and the stretched out springs, looks like the vehicle gained 3mm in height, now sitting at 95mm from the top of the fenders to the ground, when the tracks are under the wheels.




But when i added the gearbox, i had to stretch the rear springs by another 5mm to give the rear suspension more torque to support the gearbox and keep the tank flat.



I also determined that this gap on each suspension units was causing issues. The suspension arms are moving in lateral direction between the metal and plastic pivot.



To make each suspension unit run correctly, i had to add 1 or 2 washers to each suspension arm, as shown below to push the arms towards the metal pivot. Now the suspension is more tight and runs a lot better.



It also aligns the wheels, which were sometime rubbing against the suspension body. There is not a large free space between the two.



View of the idler adjuster from the sides.



Continuing on following post

Looking at the sprocket gearbox. I started to remove the ugly round bolt heads and noticed the sprocket roller is missing.


It should have a roller, in two versions.


Reusing leftover rollers from an old Panzer IV build, close enough for something quite hidden.


Meng SPS-004 bold and nuts were added.


Sprocket gearbox installed, i am waiting for the track test to install the cover on that sprocket roller.


Metal gearbox will be permanently installed next, replacing the plastic ones, same as on the M-60.


Probably because i raised the tank a bit, i needed to add a link to the tracks. Funny how the spare tracks don't have one of their hole drilled out... I was going nuts trying to insert the track pin... All 4 spare links are like this. Weird things happen at TONGDE factory..

However, other than the raised pins on the inside, those Centurion metal tracks are simply fantastic, and so cheap. I have an extra pair with sprocket and idler on hand for the Ludwig Sho't Kal, planning on replacing the Elefant tracks. But that will be another story for another time.



Metal Tracks are on.


continuing on following post.

Rear mud guards added. Other than the fact that they had installed a red LED in the reflectors, I like the design of the TONGDE rear mud guard. It can be easily screwed in place or removed with one screw, not molded with the upper hull or chassis.


The model as it stands today.


Regards, Louis