It doesn’t have the Stillbrew additional turret armor, so it’s a Mk.9 or lower.
Hi!
Princess Anne earned the title “Princess Royal” from mid of June 1987 according to www.
The Berlin unit is “British Berlin Armoured Squadron” which was based in Smuts Bks in Spandau. Berlin camouflage was invented in 1983 and Mk9 Chieftain without Stillbrew was phased out in Berlin in end of 1988. On the stowage bin is written “HRH the Princess Royal” (Thank you, Johnny!). The same was written on Chieftain 06FA93 during the Allied Forces day parade in June of 1988, however the letters were a bit larger. That time, it was B Sqn 14/20 Kings Hussars later replaced by C Sqn 14/20H. This info in mind, I would guess it was late 1987 or early 1988, probably in the time of the Queens Birthday Parade which was held in May of every year.
Andreas
You beat me to it Andreas 
… It was July 1987… And the High on the stowage bin name is actually HRH on the name …
In full it would be Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, The Princess Royal.
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Thank you, Andreas. I have long since stopped trying to correct people on that.
Lucio -
The diorama is very nicely done. I was in Berlin from '84-'89 so I got to see and photograph these beasts firsthand. Unfortunately there are references out there that would have you paint the engine deck green. Your own reference photo shows that it was not - it was brown. Yet with the weathering it’s hardly noticeable, and doesn’t take away from a nice build.
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Great build, especially of a repurposed Kit. Who would have thought that those colors would have made a splendid camouflage but it really works in an urban setting.
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So it would be a Mk9 Chieftain? Does anyone do a kit of that? I always thought it would make a great diorama.
Ken
You can also do a Mk 10, which Takom makes. I built it several years ago. Nicer kit, with proper “dished” wheels as well. I believe the instructions gave you the wrong paint scheme as mentioned above.
regarding the Mk9, you can take the Takom Mk5/5 as a base. The kit also gives you the muzzle reference sensor as well as the small light source in front of the cmdr´s cupola. No further outside changes as far as I know.
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Hi Johnny,
you are absolutely right. People from B Sqn 14/20 KH confirmed July 1987.
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For a Mk 9 you will also need to leave the .50 ranging gun off and just fit the blanking plate
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Are there still chieftain hulks on Stapel Andreas ?
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thats correct…forget about that detail! Thank you for clarification!
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No idea! I had not been to Stapel for decades since that is restricted area for civilians. To be honest, I did not even know that there were Chieftain hulks in former times. I was on Stapel only two or three times, one was during Ex Samson pride (and one time just after to recover an old Chally1 track link which I saw during Ex Samson pride…As I said, restricted area supervised by range control. And, you will be fined when they get you there.
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I thought there was one there once …may be (probably am lol) wron on the place … Didn’t know it was restricted there… It was always open when we used it … Good old Stapel…
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It wasn’t a huge area, not even an exercise area really. Only really used for driver training… many a time I got embarrassed by a Leo 1 overtaking me lol… The Barracks across the road was Rommel Kaserne … Think it’s still called that…
I’m surprised the Life Guards guy Ian Payne didn’t know about it…it was the only local place you could do driver training cross country…
When we went to Sennelager we switched to the Goldgrun area just past Paderborn…
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Its Duncan Smith that didn’t know, Ian pointed it out.
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Lol…will admit I wasn’t quite sure what quote was from who … But Mr Smith should of known anyway…Hobart was just up the road from us …
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I just got confirmed (from the driver) that this vehicle is from B Sqn 14/20 Kings Hussars, pictures taken in July of 1987, vehicle registration No. 06FA93. The same vehicle had this lettering also on Allied Forces Day in June of 1988 when I photographed it.
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Can you post the photos you took of it?
Ken
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