Centurion Mk.1 by Baker - Airfix - scale 1/76 - PLASTIC - an Airfix Centurion conversion

[Baker]

Thanks for all the help. Much appreciated.

I do most of my research at work when the boss isn't looking, and printing is also for free 👍.
I put this on my "to do" list at work 😇, So we can build weasels next winter.

Meanwhile, the conversion looks to be ready.

As a test, all white parts are painted with a thin layer of green.

Looks successful, if I say so myself 

[Egilman]

5 hours ago, Backer said:

Stupid me sold the series of magazines ( Vehicule Militaire International) which contained the building descriptions. And did not make copies

Which volume?

[Canute]

Patrick, nice work on the turret.

[Baker]

10 hours ago, Egilman said:

Which volume?

Absolutely no idea.
It was a stack of magazines I hadn't looked at in 10 years.

[Baker]

14 hours ago, Backer said:

I do most of my research at work when the boss isn't looking, and printing is also for free 👍.
I put this on my "to do" list at work 😇, So we can build weasels next winter.

Good news my friends.

A quiet day at work, and already found useful information.

We may be start builing the weasel family earlier than planned.

 

http://www.lzmodels.com/135-American-M29C-Weasel.html

https://lzmodels.wbs.cz/35503/m29c_instructions.pdf

 

http://www.lzmodels.com/135-American-M29-weasel.html

https://lzmodels.wbs.cz/35501/m29_instructions.pdf

[popeye the sailor]

the tank is coming along nicely.......the turret looks awesome!   as they say......pop goes the weasels   

[Baker]

The wheels tracks and side skirts.

 

Extending the kit's side skirts was not a good idea. So new are made.

All parts are prepainted.
Because the model has side skirts there will be little visible of the wheels, suspension, tracks etc.
The return rollers are certainly hard to see. So I don't pay much attention to them.

All "axes" have different lengths. Will be adjusted later after drying

 

The sprocket  need to be adjusted

So that all wheels are in line. 

 

A few drops of CA glue.

This significantly shortens the drying time. With these old stiff tracks you would otherwise have to wait days for all the glue between axles and wheels to harden.

Ready for track mounting and clean up the axes.

The tracks are of course too short because the hull has been extended ... ( No worries )

And, i invested in some mobile artillery. And some sheet and round strip

 

Thanks for following

 

[Old Collingwood]

Excellent work Patrick  not easy at that scale.

 

OC.

[Egilman]

5 hours ago, Backer said:

And, i invested in some mobile artillery.

Paladin,

Have gun, will travel.....

 

Any questions? {chuckle}

[Baker]

5 hours ago, Egilman said:

Any questions? {chuckle}

Yes and no.
I don't know yet when I'll start on them. They can be left "on the shelf" for years to come
Thanks for the offer

[popeye the sailor]

look'in good.........nice choice of kits!  

[Baker]

Installing the tracks and side skirts.

 

Cutting the axes that are too long (And didn't cut my fingers this time )

The tracks are too short (longer chassis) They are now  joined with staples (Cheating)

Removing some track teeth

So that they slide on the idler wheel ( again cheating)

Tracks in place

Cheating (3th time) with a tooth pick)

 

The side skirts 

Turret and antennas glued

Ready for painting

Thanks for following

[Canute]

Nicely done. Patrick.

[Old Collingwood]

Really nice work.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Well done, Patrick.   That's not cheating... it's finding a creative solution.

[Jack12477]

6 hours ago, Backer said:

And didn't cut my fingers this time 

Patrick, to protect my thumb while wood carving, I wear this leather thumb protector 

Great job on the tank. Impressive model . 

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, Backer said:

Cutting the axes that are too long (And didn't cut my fingers this time

I know one thing for sure, it isn't really mine until it has received a little blood...., and trust me, everyone I've built, is mine.... (they all have a little piece of me in them) {chuckle}

[Baker]

8 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

Patrick, to protect my thumb while wood carving, I wear this leather thumb protector 

Great job on the tank. Impressive model . 

Great idea.

I put the admiral  to work with her sewing machine 😉

[Canute]

I'll second Jack's recommendation. Like EG said, a lot of my work has some of my DNA on it, also. We don't need blood-stained wood in our models.

[Baker]

Thanks for the nice comments.

 

And, from now on no blood and DNA traces on my models.

Test (A piece of a glove)

And cut a little nicer (Thank you for the good advice 👍)

 

 

[Baker]

Base color and decals.

 

As you can see, the air intake was first painted black. This later gives a (false) idea of depth.

Base color (olive drab)

The search for decals
Match boxes full of decals. I need a T (tank) number that starts with a 3. And a name and something else

After a dry brushing with light grey, the decals are applied, letters and numbers come from different sources.

(base plate is work in progress)

Not a 100% match but fairly credible.

 

To be continued.

[lmagna]

5 hours ago, Canute said:

We don't need blood-stained wood in our models.

Isn't that why the inner bulwarks are painted red?

 

Great work on your tank Patrick. Are you going to do anything to the tracks or leave them silver? (Gray?)

[Jack12477]

Good use for an old glove, Patrick.

 

Tank looks fabulous.  Great job on it. 

 

I like your idea of storing decals in old match boxes, unfortunately I don't have a need for matches, but I think I can find a suitable small substitute for my extra decals. 

[mtaylor]

Tank looks great, Patrick.  A lot of detail for something so tiny.

 

23 hours ago, Egilman said:

I know one thing for sure, it isn't really mine until it has received a little blood...., and trust me, everyone I've built, is mine.... (they all have a little piece of me in them) {chuckle}

 

I thought one of the axioms of wooden ship models is "there will be blood"...????  Then again, I've DNA on full size cars, models of all sorts, even in the kitchen.  At this point, I might be a quart low.

[Baker]

12 hours ago, lmagna said:

Are you going to do anything to the tracks or leave them silver? (Gray?)

Metal with some rust.

[popeye the sailor]

the tank looks superb!   the rule is.......if you can't see it,  then it's not cheating     quite a stash of decals you have there!  

[Baker]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

quite a stash of decals you have there!  

Leftovers from all those kits i have build. Neatly sorted of course .

 

Finishing the Cenurion.

Painting al the metal parts an the other colors.

Most metal parts and some parts of hull and turret receive a wash with thinned brown "rust"

Some dry brushing with sand

Glued on the base plate with a wash of thinned black and tagged.

Left the basic kit with some extra detail (build years ago) And this is not a Mk.8 as Airfix writes, but a Mk.5.

And right the converted Mk.1

Thanks for following, comments and likes.

I hope you all enjoyed this journey in converting a plastic tankmodel.

[Old Collingwood]

Wonderful Patrick   another splendid addition to your collection.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

superb looking model Patrick........     sweet weathering job!  keep going..... gotta see more...........what's next!

[lmagna]

Excellent conversion well executed Patrick It is interesting as to how much difference there is in the two versions.