Tongde Centurion Mk 5

[jarndice]

Banggood are selling the Tongde Vickers Centurion Mk 5 1/16 for 237Euros Plus 66Euros postage.

[zooma]

That sounds OK - but I have already placed my order with Forebear Tanks for my Tonge Centurion so I will wait for it to arrive in a few weeks time, but for anyone that does not want to wait for the next UK shipment to arrive, it does give them another option.

[tomhugill]

Banggood are selling the Tongde Vickers Centurion Mk 5 1/16 for 237Euros Plus 66Euros postage.

You can get it much cheaper off AliExpress, especially if you wait for an event.

Also the TD is a mk3

[jarndice]

Just reporting what was in the Banggood advert.

[zooma]

Banggood are selling the Tongde Vickers Centurion Mk 5 1/16 for 237Euros Plus 66Euros postage.

You can get it much cheaper off AliExpress, especially if you wait for an event.

Also the TD is a mk3

AliExpress are currently offering the Tonge Centurion for £108.79 (with coupons) + £43.12 postage (phew), tax £30.11 .

Total £180.69. - (checked again today 25th Sept 2024 and updated ).

Bob.

[zooma]

My Tongue Centurion arrived from Forgebear just as I was preparing to leave home for a few days, but I did have time to open the very well packaged parcel (two very firm outer boxes with the Tongue box inside of that).

The heavy weight of the package came as a bit of a surprise! Top marks for excellent packaging Forgebear!

I only had time for a brief look, but I did think that the transmitter felt flimsy and the alloy control stalks would not push into the gimbles (unlike Heng Long transmitters that fit much better and push in fully without any undue force).

The gimbals were opened out slightly to take the “stalks” (that did not fit in very far) and a small dab of superglue was used to (hopefully) keep them in place.

I did notice that the transmitter on/off switch was also very loose and the switch moulding had not been tidied after it had been broken off of its moulding spruce, so not much attention to detail has been seen so far.

The tank body on my example is painted in very pale shade of Olive Drab (almost sand) so I may overpaint it with Tamiya Olive Drab when I get back - but perhaps it will look better when I have had some time to take a proper look at it later.

The running gear and tracks are all natural metal and will need priming and painting.

Stood next to the HAYA Centurion, I noticed that the wheels on the Tongde were of a smaller diameter and so it sat a little lower, but the body length and width looked very similar.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I recall the control stalks being a bit small on mine, too. I am uncertain about the correct Olive Drab for the Centurion: did the UK use the same as the U.S. post-war Olive Drab? That would be Tamiya's "Olive Drab 2."

[jarndice]

With the exception of the British Berlin Brigade in the 60s/70s which were painted in Olive drab to coincide with the French army and American army armour in that city at that time they also carried the white American Star identifier on the side.
All British Army Armoured and soft skin vehicles in Northern Europe were painted in "Deep Bronze Green" The odd one out was Northern (Northag) Army Group soft skin vehicles of that date which were painted in "Anti Infra Red" pale almost pink brown.
I drove the C in C Northags Land Rover(X3705) and can vouch for the colour, It was the only 4 star landie in Germany at the time, Black leather seats and unusually for a land rover a heater that really worked
I have never seen another Military formation using the same paint scheme.

[zooma]

I have a blank sheet as far as colour choice goes - the pale colour it has come in will make a nice undercoat !

Online promotional pictures of the Tongde Centurion show it in a much darker colour - more like Deep Bronze Green - but with Berlin Brigade markings !

[zooma]

I notice that the HAYA Centurion tow ropes are now out of stock.

Fortunately I took some good advice from jarndice and bought mine earlier so when the time comes to fit some tow ropes they will be a nice upgrade.