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Posted
6 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

So im about 45 percent through assembling it at the moment. Let me know if anyone wants to see photos, and Ill try to work something out.

Of course we want to see pictures.

Posted

On the topic of Centurion, I have a MK III I got for the old gunnery instructor on the site, he was in the 5th Royal Inneskillen DG's in Korea.  I have been looking for a reliable source of 1/35th decals for the regiment so I can finish it, he passed a while back.

Posted
11 hours ago, Mike1158 said:

On the topic of Centurion, I have a MK III I got for the old gunnery instructor on the site, he was in the 5th Royal Inneskillen DG's in Korea.  I have been looking for a reliable source of 1/35th decals for the regiment so I can finish it, he passed a while back.

There are a few after market sets out there for Korean war vehicles. And indeed Israeli ones.

https://www.super-hobby.fr/products/British-Centurions-in-the-Korean-War..html

Posted

Ive search online, they do seem available at numerous places online.

I kind of regret there isnt anything in 1-16 for Centurion. Im not entirely sure I would have run with the kit decals If I had alternative options for the 1950's. OTOH, it is Battle of the Imjin so its not like im being shortchanged or anything.

Posted

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V3QkXoL.jpeg

 

So this is mine. I would show you the gearbox I had to assemble, but Tamiya in their infinite wisdom put he battery and electronics box right over the top, so I cant show it (Nor oil it for that matter) But you have an idea of what mine looked like from this post online.

5446bed2_2a27_406d_999c_22b07f290472_cfb

 

The turret ring was also not fun, since the instructions didnt make it clear you had to have the hull place reversed before screwing it together. As it was I managed to put most of the ball bearings in. Ive got 2 left over so presumably it fell out, but it turns ok. I probably ought to unscrew it and ensure they are in, but in my mind its together, works, and I just know if I unscrew it, the damn things are all going to fall out and I will lose more than 2. So we shall see.

What do I like. Its solid, very solid. The metal hull I think will stop track slipage, which is a real problem with my plastic hulled Heng Long tanks. The Haya Chieftain got so bad, I had to pour resin in the bottom of the hull to make it sturdier, and it still has problems even now. Electronics have got a LOT smaller from 20 years ago. Although I dont like the battery plate, it looks a neat solution to replacing the battery, complete with magnets so the engine deck pops out when you need it, but not falling all over the shop. Marked contrast to some of the Heng Longs, where you actually have to unscrew part of the hull to get the battery out.

What dont I like about the Tamiya Centurion, I dont like the tracks. They are not as solid as the Tracks I had with the Tiger some 20 odd years ago. Others have complained that if you get hung up on anything, they will break the edge away, which in fairness was a real Centurion problem on the Golan. I dont like we have a plastic idler. Considering how much I spent, I think I proably warranted a metal idler, just as they included in the Tiger and Sherman kits I built. Brass bushes for the wheels are ok, but at least I can include after market ball bearing which seem a slight improvement. By and large it seems a major step up from the Tongye and Haya centurions out there. Worth twice the price? Not really sure about that. Maybe with metal tracks and an Idler Id agree. Also, no smoke unit, not lights to the headlights. The latter can be rectified by plugging in the wiring loom for the Sheridan, but the smoke unit would almost certainly require a new electronic control unit. Cheapest option would be from Heng Long, whcih are at least multifunction.

Anyway, next stop turret, so wish me luck. Thankfully it doesnt look quite as bad as the gearbox or turret ring, but sometimes its the simplest things that turn out the hardest.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

So after doing all this, I wanted to try it out and see if it ran ok. It didnt.  I found that no matter what I did, whatever controller I plugged in to the vehicle, it always had the right track in reverse. Then I remembered that when re wiring the Heng Long Challenger 2, I had an near identical problem, because one motor was plugged in with the polarity reverse.

Nonsense I thought. Tamiya doesnt make mistakes like that.

Well, after looking at the above photographs, and through videos, it turns out that yes, on the right hand motor, Tamiya did indeed wire up the motor polarity wrong. I mean they had a 50 percent chance of getting it right, and didnt. God knows how they managed it, but it wasnt just wrong, when you looked at the wire colouring, it was obviously wrong.

Anyway that left me with a problem. ive got the gearbox installed. Im loath to take out the entire gearbox and the train of gears, just to fix this one problem. So I figured if I just cut the wires at the end connector, and resolder that onto the opposite tracks, then that would work. And plugging it in, it did just that.

https://imgur.com/a/bptbrHe

 

Trying out the now driveable hull, there was no track slippage. I installed some bearings which appeared to be the right size, and I get track slippage. Im hoping that the problem will go away when I get the tires on the wheels and tension it up properly, but if not, probably back to solid brass bushings, which is a bit of a disappointment if so.

Im currently at the point where the tires are on, and ive painted the low hull and clearcoated it. Im leaving off airbrushing the top, till I get a larger compressor which enables a painting style that I want to try out.

Edited by Stuart Galbraith
Posted

A good kit is typically one that has no issues, comes together nicely, progresses with no slow down points.

But sometimes a good kit is one that has issues, needs cementing then bracing warped parts for drying, filing off access plastic, recognizing an error in the instructions, because completed it beckons the heart and soul into it (^^)

Posted (edited)

To be fair, this is far from the worst kit Ive built. The worst probably was a Hooben T55, which had wrong length spacers, which meant the drive shafts sat too high in the hull (fractionally, but it complicated completion). I had to remove the gearbox so many times, the spacers for the axles in the gearbox came loose. Broke really, and I had to modify it with two washers to stop them falling out. Surprisingly it turned out to be one of the most reliable in operation, with the track hardly ever coming off, and it even looked like a T55. Credit to Hooben, they do make some inexpensive kits. There is a model of a WW1 tank Ive got my eyes on, although to be fair, im not sure im willing to go through all that madness again!

 

Edited by Stuart Galbraith
Posted

This is so next-level I don't know where to begin. This looks super amazing. If you sold me a used rc tank, you could rip me off easily. 

I am shocked Tamiya flubbed thst, unless I overestimate them. 

Take videos!

Posted

Thanks Stargrunt, thats very kind of you.

I dont know about video, if I took any Id have to put it on youtube. I might make some when I finish though. My dog likes tanks, so that might be amusing, Centurion Vs Jack Russell.

Well, its a curious thing. Their RC cars seem to be still going strong. But a while ago they had a huge range of RC tanks available, Leopard 1, Sherman, Panther, I think even a JS2. There seemingly was also a Panzer IV, which I regret missing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352217302452?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-153316-527457-8&mkcid=2&itemid=352217302452&targetid=4584757337008491&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=431353847&mkgroupid=1298523655396099&rlsatarget=pla-4584757337008491&abcId=9301942&merchantid=87779&msclkid=1fd24518903a1b17abc222b796d2cef0

They were all withdrawn, supposedly when old man tamiya died (the Tank nut) and we have the ones left that seem to be strong sellers. This is a comparatively new model, 2021. It may be they said 'You will build this to budget, or else' and it shows. Its not as detailed as other 1-16 scale tanks on the market, and compared to what I was building some 20 years ago, back then the gearboxes were all preassembled.  We also not only had metal drivers, as this does, but metal idlers, which this does not. Which is going to complicate things if I ever put metal tracks on it. 

My point is, with that kind of background, perhaps kit construction had money skimped on it as well.

Dont get me wrong, its a great model. But you can see where they made the economies (the tracks are way too soft compared to the solid bastards on the Tiger 1, which still work fine 20 years on). OTOH, the electronics look gppd, and integrated fairly easily with my flysky 10, if lacking in some options like the Heng long electronics (No smoke plug in!)  The hull and the suspension are like bricks, solidly engineered. But at the edges, yes, you can see they trimmed the value to get it over the line. To some extent, many of the same problems showed up in the M551 they did (which Is why i didnt buy it).

Suffice to say I like it, but I cant really recommend it at the price. The Haya or Tongje Centurions are probably better value. Lets just say I prefered to give the money to Japan than China. I dont regret that,  but I do wish they had spent more money designing it. A tank without lights, or provision for a smoke unit in the 21st century is somewhat lacking. I think so anyway.

Well ive finished assembly, other than the two ropes which will go on last. ive nearly done preshading it. Ive got myself a new compressor which can work at higher pressures and which I hope might prove ideal managing to paint it in a shading fashion, to give the paint an impression of being worn. Photos when I get them. Ill bung a couple of videos up I found online when I get back, give some impression of what im trying to do.

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