Centurion RAAC build

Ingo F
Nice, nice, nice. I am in. 🙂

Scott Dutton
Me too, Vietnam?

Ingo F
Rene, please a few words about the kit. Never build an kit from AFV Club but planning to get a few kits from them.

Scott Dutton
Generally quite good, not huge parts count, pretty good detail, easy assembly, not quite Tamiya but rate very highly. If looking for this kit,the first ones came with resin figure. I'm just finishing an Aussie MRV, 113 with Scorpion turret from them and have built a couple of their M548 all nice in my opinion

Ingo F
Thank you Scott. I am planning to get the IDF Centurion from them, M1128 and maybe the M60 kits if Takom not going to release other versions besides the M60A1.

Peter Hardy
I can remember RAAC Centurions thundering past my house on their way back to Enoggera Barracks as a kid. My older brother would yell out "Army Tanks" and I would come running to wave at the fearsome beasts!

Rene Scheiblich
Welcome aboard mates 🙂
Scott, yep it's planned as a Vietnam Centurion.

This is my first kit from AFV Club Ingo, so my experience is limited. This one builds up nicely for the most part and detail is quite good! Only a few points so far:
The lower hull was squished and I had to put in bars to fit the engine deck.
The ejector marks on the driver hatches, these were really awkward to remove...
Fit of the turret shell halves wasn't stellar.

Other than that, smooth sailing and nice fit. All roadwheels, idler wheels and drive sprockets polycapped as well 👍 I'm with Scott here, highly rated and I wouldn't mind another AFV Club kit 🙂

Did you check out Kerry's build of this kit already James?

Peter Hardy
Kerry sank a 1:1 in mud! Ask him about it!

Rene Scheiblich
He sank one? Oh my...😄

I'm already poking holes into him with questions about these tanks 🙂

Rene Scheiblich
Finally got the basecoat done and added the decals. I used Deep bronze green from MRP, sprayed well as usual and I even got some shading done with a combination of preshading and blackbasing. Very hard to see though due to the sheen.
The decals just disintegrated, the carrier film was in a thousand pieces. The registration number looks a bit crooked because of that.
Onwards to oildots and washes.

Neuling
Looking forward ...........

Rene Scheiblich
Finally, that's right. 🙂 Took me longer than I wanted^^
I'm quite eager to proceed now. Also, I finally got myself some quality W&N brushes for detailwork. 😄

Welcome, Neuling!

Scott Dutton
Having just finished mine I'd recommend replacing the wiretow ropes, the suggested size is too long and despite heating it's way too stiff. Try something else, Karaya or similar
Now for the ton of storage?

Rene Scheiblich
Thanks for the advice Scott!
But I noticed that as well and already crafted new ropes from copper wire. 🙂 And I hope I got the length nailed with dryfitting.
Ton of stowage... Well I got only a few crates and 2 jerrycans I want to fit.
Commenced painting a few details this morning and tried to find suitable colours for the oil dots. 👍

Scott Dutton
Common to see a storage rack across back deck with jerries of water for the radiator. Prc25 radio on top of turret also quite common.

Rene Scheiblich
I need more cans then 😄
And loads of stuff in the basket as well...

But I noticed, that I screwed up the basecoat. At the basic level. DBG seems to be totally wrong, RAAC had them painted in lustreless OD. Damn.

Scott Dutton
Afraid so, it was about 68 we switched to that colour, early 113 in Vietnam were US OD but later our green. Not sure on Cents, they my have been delivered in a different green and repainted, I'll ask a colleague. Turret storage I used a resin pack from Firestorm, just slotted in, mantlet cover as well, Mouse house does an enamel Aussie green and all our jerry cans as well. That's what I used. Humbrol 86 is my early go to colour for our green.

Scott Dutton
Checked for you. They were delivered to Australia in DBG, but wereresprayed lustreless OD for SVN. You do however see some spare parts fitted in original DBG. Some options for you

Rene Scheiblich
Thanks a lot, sir!
I'll try to pull the DBG up to resemble the lustreless OD, possibly with Tamiya OD+xf57 and some others to get the tone halfway right, leaving a few usual spares DBG. But first I'll check my favourite dealers for the mouse house paint. 👍
And I read that many units removed the smoke dischargers. Might do that as well.

Rene Scheiblich
Getting the mouse house stuff to germany is quite expensive. I resort to the next best option in my paint drawer according to the AussieModeler forum, Gunze FS34102 with a hint of white added.

Scott Dutton
Anything else can help with just yell.

Rene Scheiblich
Tried a few mixes and got a semi-okish looking tone. It resembles the heavily faded paint on some of the references I found online, or at least how it looks on my non-calibrated monitor. A bit of a darkish OD wash should help tone it down a bit, especially in the lower areas.

Bummer I had to sand away the decals, this means another fight with torn carrier film. Oh boy...

Scott Dutton
Shade looks good to me eye, at a base as I write when it matches some of the hardware here well

Peter Hardy
I'll leave the expert comment to Scott as I have no knowledge other than what I can remember thundering past my house 55 years ago it looks about right. Actually Scott, the camo on our gear, that's soft edged isn't it? But no camo for Viet Nam era?

Peter Hardy
Sorry Rene, going Great there young fella! These Cents were Goliaths to this little wee lad!

Rene Scheiblich
I'm not Scott, but most of the modern vehicles looked like they have softedged camo. But the Cents were overall green, from what I've seen.

Thanks Peter 🙂
But the mentioned stowage will have to be omitted. The stuff is hard to get here, and I don't like to pay 14€ for some 3D printed jerrycans 😄
The mouse house items are not available here 🙁

Scott Dutton
I always do soft edge cam. Vietnam no cam, that started in 80s. Mouse house, I'm about to do an order if you want something, given how small postage would be almost nothing so if want something let me know. About to do an 1113AS4 for a colleague so can include with that order if desire. Paint may not fly given enamel however.

Rene Scheiblich
I might take you up on that offer, pm inbound 🙂

And by the way... Don't mention tanks being Goliaths to wee lads 😄
I couldn't be bothered to descend in the deep, dark bowels of a Leopard 2A4 when my dad invited me to. I was so little, I barely remember it. But enough to regret not having done it^^

Peter Hardy
If I was that bloody silly as a kid I wouldn't be telling anyone!

Rene Scheiblich
😄
Instead I crawled into anything possible at the ILA 😛

Peter Hardy
ILA???

Rene Scheiblich
International Aerospace expo here in Berlin 🙂

Rene Scheiblich
The goodies arrived safely thanks to Scott, time to carry on 😄 👍

Peter Hardy
Scott and Rene have shared more than a resource, their passion for the authenticity of the model has resulted in a collaborative effort. Thanks Scott, for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm. We have all learned where we can go for expertise on Aussie armour. Rene? The pressure is on!

Jay Dubya
Not sure if this video provides any answers gents, but it is a pretty sad place for two iron Goliaths to end up. Caribbean Gardens is better known in Melbourne as a weekend flea market and 'rollerama' venue.
Youtube Video

Rene Scheiblich
Ha thanks for pointing it out, Peter 😛
I fiddled about with a few stowage loadouts yesterday after I came back from the car meeting. I think I will have to make some tarps though. And the raised detail (bump stops for hatches?) on the rear fuel tank prevents fitting a Jackie box on there, as seen on a few photos on the interwebs. At least not without surgery.

Thanks for the link, Jay. I'll take a look when I'm on the PC again. 👍

Rene Scheiblich
After painting a few details (the cable to the searchlight needs some satin varnish, my satin black has dried up on me...) mixed up a reddish ochre oil wash to use as a filter. In the photo it's only applied to the hull, compared to the untreated turret it gives a nice dirty look as base for the red brown Vietnam dust and dirt to come.

The contact faces of the small return rollers, idler wheels and drove sprockets have been painted with Gunze super chrome and will be treated with graphite in the end. This will hopefully give them the nice dark and shiny look of bare steel.

@Jay agreed, it's not really a good place for these steel beasts to end up in. But nice birdview footage nonetheless 🙂 too bad these two are stripped of almost anything 🙁

Rene Scheiblich
A few pics added. Making slow progress, somehow I'm not often in the mood to paint recently. 😄

Scott Dutton
Looking great, your green is looking much better, love the extra detail you have added, the turret bin clasps and the frame for the canvas mantle but without the canvas. Nice touch

Peter Hardy
Rene, the work with the oils has been a winner! Looking very authentic now!

Rene Scheiblich
Thanks mates. 🙂

I did some more work on the cent in the meantime, since there has been a lot more hobby time recently...

Did a dark brown pinwash and tried my hand at chipping the Nightshift way. First layer on the hull is down, I tried to keep it restrained. Tried. In some places it went overboard, I hope it will look okay with the dark grey filling in the large spots, and some will be hidden by stowage.
I tried first with a cheap size 0 kolinsky brush... The winsor and Newton series 7 size 000 made a huge difference.
The following dusting with the characteristic red brown Vietnam earth will tone it down a lot. I hope.😉

To do: tracks, tow cables and exhausts.

Kerry COX
Fond memories of being able to stroll around the work pits at Kapyong Barracks in Puckapunyal where these dust ladened goliaths came after a hard day on the range. !!!
You have captured that feel and sense of 'down in the dirt' beautifully. 👍
All the photos I took while I was filling in time at 'Area Command' at Puckapunyal, waiting for my course at the School of Military Engineering at Casula to arrive have sadly been destroyed by my mum as she faded into oldtymers disease, depicting all the Centurions of the 1St Armoured and 4/19 Prince of Wales Light Horse Regt Scarasin and Saladin armoured cars.
Otherwise, I would have had a great collection of reference material not many would have had access too, published here for all to enjoy. 🙁
But you have done the boys of the 1St armoured a great service by depicting this beast as it was before the Leopards arrived. 👍
Well done. 🙂 🙂 🙂
The road wheel chipping. ??? Perfect. !! 👍 👍 👍

Rui S
Looking very good.
I like your scratch work and paintjob 👍

Rene Scheiblich
Thanks mates! Glad you like it so far.
I might have got a little bit carried away with the chipping though and hope the dust and dried mud will tone it down. The engine deck will be a bit cluttered, so no worries there.
While working I noticed that I mounted a chipped roadwheel as spare. So I painted the contact surface dark grey as a base for slightly rusty steel.
Don't worry Kerry, no rust will be on the moving parts in the end 🙂

I'm quite happy with the base coat of green and the effect of the oils and filter too Kerry! Adds a bunch of work to the paint job but it pays off.

I think I'll skip the Leopard and go right up to the Abrams. Stashed an appropriate kit from Dragon already 😛 Scott set me up with very appetizing reference pictures of these beasts and the australian three tone camo looks really good 😎

Jasper Breur
Good looking Centurion Rene!

Scott Dutton
Amazing level of detail painting, beautiful chipping, outstanding

Rene Scheiblich
Thanks mates! Trying out this technique for the first time. Not entirely satisfied in places, but the overall look is fine. Maybe not the most realistic approach, but it looks great😄