My new project has arrived earlier than expected.
Made a start this morning.
This is the instructions for the direction the track is:
Have AH made a mistake? These are the other way round:
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It depends whether you are looking at the track from the top or the bottom. Since I am not seeing center guides, I assume it is from the top, in which case the drawing is correct.
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What kind of camouflage pattern does the second Centurion show?
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Cats, that is looking at the tracks from the top so it is correct.
And nice start ⌠If the decals are the same as the box art and thereâs more than one version, you could use the Chinese eye for your Chally2 build ?
That would cheer up all the sad RTR tankies⌠And your friendly source 
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Iâm halfway through this kit; so far so good; the only problem, and itâs not really a problem, is that youâll have to manufacture your own mantlet cover, but this is relatively easy to do with Milliput - though I havenât got that far yet.
Be aware that if you do plan to finish this in the scheme suggested ie âDiehardâ from the RTR in the Berlin Brigade, at that time the tanks were finished in US Olive Drab (mantlet cover in black). Whilst Iâm no Cent expert it seems quite a good kit to me. I hope to finish mine as a Suez 1956 version - but Iâm well aware that my Leopard project must take priority.
Good luck with this one!
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Thanks John.
Any Idea how well they were maintained IRL?
I thinking just mud/dirt and a small variation in tones for interest like my T-34-85 build but without the rust.
What do you think?
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Iâm not that old lolâŚ
If its British itâs usually cleaned to within an inch of its life once back from exercise. I would imagine they would be kept pretty clean on a day to day basisâŚso a light weather of dried mud and dust etc wouldnât be amiss.
Paint touching up is standard so you would easily have various tones from time to time.
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Some progress made with the Centurion
It is the first tank model I have made in over 50 years where I am using the kit tracks and not Friuls.
The tracks just come loose and just snap together.
I hope I have got the track tension about right?
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If youâre going to use the side-skirts (bazooka plates) then I personally wouldnât worry about any sag; I donât even do a complete run on my models if theyâre obscured.
All looking good though!
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Cleaned to death and then âdieseledâ to make it nice and shiny for REME PRE!
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Looks pretty good to me. With wagons like that with top rollers (Cent & Chief) crews would usually keep on top of track maint and keep the tracks taught. And they stay taught until you need to drop a link and run out of adjustment.
Chally1 is the oddball as even when tightened properly once they get left overnight and the hydrogas units cool down, then in the morning the sag is unbelievable, even with top rollers. Itâs like everything has dropped and melted.
If you want to leave a lot of sag⌠You can use some artistic license and just say the crew were very lax and never bothered to tighten the tracks up 
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Lol⌠So true⌠Until the HSE said no moreâŚfar to slippery and dangerousâŚ
Thinking ahead is everything on the outside going to be green?
What about the tools for example?
The one at Bovington has no tools on it.
Tricky one ⌠I cant remember seeing any pics with the tools. I am sure there are plenty out there.
We did at times paint ours ( usually NATO green) - shovel handles and occasionally the pick haft, but we also left them in the wood finish. All the metal parts were left as is- just lightly oiled. I dont think you will be wrong either way.
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Given the timespan of the model - and of course depending on how you plan on finishing it - I would suggest that you depict the tools with wooden handles etc as wood; this was after all, a peacetime vehicle where the British Army had time and the manpower (National Service) to finish these vehicles to a high standard.
If youâre planning on finishing the kit as the instructions suggest remember that the overall paint scheme is a US Olive Drab (what I refer to as the brownish version); being RTR the mantlet cover which youâll have to make yourself was finished in black. I believe the antennae were finished in stripes - possibly Deep Bronze Green and white. There are a couple of colour pictures somewhere on the web showing these tanks in front of the Brandenburg Gate but I canât recall where I saw them.
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Thanks for all the help so far.
Almost ready for the paintshop.
I do not have the smarts to make a canvas mantlet cover so it will have to be without.
BootsDMS suggestion for the paint will have to be this:
I have left the spare tracks and the turret mounted MG off till its painted.
Antenna will have to be just the stubs or removable to be grandaughter eye safe.
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Cats, I hasten to add here that Iâm not dictating what you must do(!) - this is, after all, your model. My suggestions are meant to be just that - suggestions - even if they sometimes sound like orders.
Build looks pretty good to me.
Thank you.
The OD above is the only one I have that has a âbrownâ tinge to it.
The wheels were painted with just OD which to my eye looks a lot like NATO green.
So the choice as I see it ATM is use the OD faded over the rest of the model or the one that is on the wheels.
Which paint would you use for the rest?
Looking at the jar I would say itâs probably OK; these tanks (based in Berlin) were representational vehicles in a way and were kept well up to the smartness required of such posts. Certainly the couple of rare colour pictures I alluded to earlier were very smart and with a slight sheen applied to the paint (probably fuel oil used to buff them up).
The fact they they were smart and shiny didnât mean that they couldnât/wouldnât fight of course.
I donât see the wheels as being any sort of different colour as to the rest of the vehicle.
I must further add that I still, largely, only use enamels so am no expert on acrylic colours; and of course, colour perception is always subjective.