AFV Club Centurion 4 RTR Berlin 1961 build




As discussed in the What the postman brought thread yesterday I am doing it in US Olive Drab as per colour illustration and without side plates.
@BootsDMS I found this:
https://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_odpaint.php
and now I am even more baffled as to the OD to put on.
I found one site that suggested it was FS 34087 which is mentioned in the article above and I have this in stock:
RC026_200x
@Johnnych01 I have made a start on it.
I am following the build sequence in the instructions at least for the time being so it starts with the six suspension units.


You have to be careful when cutting some parts of the sprue, the circled area in the next picture is just a continuation of the sprue gate and would be very easy to remove by mistake

The next picture shows the six units assembled. The link arms on four of them have grossly undersize holes and if connected would mean the workable suspension is locked in one position.

So I cut the end off and glued the other ends and when/if you can see them from the side they will appear to be there.

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AFV have stopped giving vinyl tyres and now you get plastic ones with this release.


They want you to glue the tyres on the wheels straight away. I have left them off to make painting easier.
After cleaning them up with a sponge sander dipped in water I gave them a bath in one of my ultrasonic cleaners, a drop of washing up liquid in cold tap water,zapped for a few minutes, rinsed and left to air dry while I get on with something else.

The hull is very cleanly moulded.

I did not attach the four return rollers each side again to make painting the “rubber” easier.

I have left of the side skirt supports until the last minute to avoid knocking them off.

That’s it for today, my first pint of Guinness is due.

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Nice. Finally a kit with the boxed front fender extensions. I hated scratch building those…

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What is the small box?

Is there no room on your bench for a pint glass ?

Well, FS 34087 appears to be the “brownish” shade of OD I mentioned originally - I think(!) More than happy to be corrected by those with more knowledge than I (ie most I imagine) re OD. This would tie-in with what I see when I view these - filched from, I think, Missing Lynx - and I hope they don’t mind in the spirit of all things modelling:

Apologies in advance to those OD aficionados at the use of my term “brownish”; any guidance re the true nature of OD colours gratefully received by yours truly, in addition to Catsrcool I should think.

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I don’t think those photos do the color justice. I seem to remember it being the same as US OD used at the time, which would also be JGDF green.

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The thing is US tanks in Berlin at the time were in this colour - I appreciate the degradation/variation of colour film - which is some way off (too much so?) from the Cents shown above:

Berlin US 3

or at least to my poor old eyes.

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Leaving the tyres off won’t make painting easier, as the inner part of the “tyres” represents the steel rim and needs to be painted green/drab.

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Yes but Guinness is not the same if its out of tin.:slight_smile:

They are metal tracks from China/Evil-bay.

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Thank you for the pictures and your input.

One thing to be aware of is that the olive drab changed over the years.
WW II OD is not the same as OD in the sixties …

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Thanks, the article in the link above has been a help.

Small update today.
Made up the runs of track and burnished them.



I have glued the tyres on now that it has been pointed out to me about the rims.
Attached the larger parts of the upper decking.

Tomorrow priming and painting the lower hull and running gear.

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Look at these gaudy tanks.
What a show unit.

Looks like a nice kit.

I think the thing was that all units in Berlin were politically representational vehicles hence the effort spent on their appearance (and hopefully, maintenance); units in Berlin were literally flying the flag and had to be seen to be up to the mark. That the British Army therefore ensured that their vehicles were all “bulled-up” might be seen as a detrimental aspect but would explain why they looked the way they did. 'Still doesn’t answer why a US colour was chosen though(!)

I know-I was in a line unit at that time and we considered them a dog show outfit.

uuuuh the scene that i’m building for the 1961 berlin crisis