Hey Brian, By all means get in touch if you are considering building a Canadian Centurion. There were multiple schemes used on the Canadian Cents in Germany during the 1960s.
The Sylly’s Lynx is a good intermediate build with potential for additional detailing. The interior is a nice addition that could be detailed very well with all kinds of kit and equipment.
Thnans Jason, that’s very kind.
I’ve got so much going on at the moment, not just the hobby, but at this distance I envisage and “early” Cent, say one from the mid-60s, and I was particularly taken by this scheme from another modeller’s efforts (I can’t recall where I got it from, it may even have been Armorama - which would be a tad embarassing):
Of course a scale drawing showing this would be useful, though I can always just copy it, as long as it’s accurate. Markings seem sparse but that may just be the angle the pics were taken from.
I think I’d then aim for a later mark - but not quite sure what one just yet (I’ll have to wade through Michael Shackleton’s 2 volumes to get my head around the various marks) but I’d like, ideally, to portray it with searchlight, insulated gun barrel, mesh stowage cage, and IR headlights, but also, if it fits, that particular colour scheme of a bluey green, olive drab and a faded black, if it was applied to Centurions.
I think the comms fit will require new antennae mounts, and also I believe a .50 HMG was fitted on the turret top.
Thats the (probably distant) aspiration, and will do well to augment my rather lonely Leopard 1A2!
As for the Lynx, I do have some good pics and a coloured drawing of that same camouflage scheme, so will definitely be applying that to the Sylly’s Model I have.
Thereafter, I envisage a Leopard C1, possibly an M113, and an M151 somewhere; easy to list, it’s always the execution that takes the time, and it’s not as though other kits representing NATO are not requiring my attention, let alone the vehicles of GSFG and the Warsaw Pact.
All ambitious stuff Jason, but thanks for the offer of tapping into your knowledge. I’ll try and make it relatively painless, but as I say, these could all be some way off; if anything gets tackled soon I suspect it’ll be the Lynx and it might make sense to model it with an M151 as well.
All good Cold War stuff!
If you’re after camouflaged Centurions, Dutch ones from 101 Tankbataljon in the 1960s will probably be right up your alley too:
The scheme is a base of RAL 6014 with lighter green (almost certainly RAL 6014 + yellow in 1:1 ratio) and dark green over it, plus white countershading under the hull front and turret bins. And you can add a fuel monotrailer, too 
Jakko, you’re really not helping reduce the size of the stash you know! The thing with Centurions I’ve belatedly discovered, is that the colour schemes are quite wide-ranging: Canadian variants as discussed, the Dutch versions, Brit ones in say, shiny bronze green, or an experimental scheme in 1966 compiled of gloss service brown, Brunswick green and sand, Brit ones in Libya in sand finish, and moving closer to Chieftain’s arrival, the Brit green and black scheme, and I’m sure there are many more.
AFV Club of course, provide all that’s basically necessary, including Hush Puppy tracks, and SMM have added to the list of essentials; so I’m sorely tempted, but I’ve just too much going on!
I’m assuming that this Dutch Cent is also from the unit you mention:
I must admit I could see myself having a go at this one(!)
Jakko, you’re really not helping reduce the size of the stash you know! The thing with Centurions I’ve belatedly discovered, is that the colour schemes are quite wide-ranging: Canadian variants as discussed, the Dutch versions, Brit ones in say, shiny bronze green, or an experimental scheme in 1966 compiled of gloss service brown, Brunswick green and sand, Brit ones in Libya in sand finish, and moving closer to Chieftain’s arrival, the Brit green and black scheme, and I’m sure there are many more.
AFV Club of course, provide all that’s basically necessary, and SMM have added to the list of essentials; so I’m sorely tempted, but I’ve just too much going on!
I’m assuming that this Dutch Cent is also from the unit you mention:
I’ve double-tapped as they say; if someone could remove the duplicate I’d be grateful
Where did you find that?!
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has colour photos of Centurions in the first 101 TkBat scheme, yet you just casually posted one … I’ve seen plenty of black-and-white photos, but never a colour one until now.
Anyway, the tank is clearly a Centurion Mk. 5 (NL), with Dutch upgrades like the IR headlights, but still armed with a 20-pounder gun (as three tanks in every platoon were, the other two having 105 mm guns).
This thread reminds me I need to get back to my Leopard 1NL and Italian 1A5.
Well, glad it’s of interest Jakko! I’m not sure when I discovered it; I must have been trawling thought the Net and voila I suppose. it was some time ago; I was trying to bring a bit of law and order to my reference material and devised endless folders eg “Projects - Sov/WP”, “Projects CA” and then “Projects NL”. So, when I found it, into the latter folder it went.
it’s got everything I like about Cold War modelling: an interesting colour scheme, differences from the normal (base kit that is, ie rubber tracks), and foliage, so it looks - to me - more purposeful as it goes about its day job, which I always like to try and replicate.
An interesting snippet about the gun mix within a platoon so thanks for that.
It turns out there are others, but I certainly never came across them the various times I was looking for them pretty hard online. Typical
By the mid-1970s, all tanks had been upgunned so platoons simply had five 105 mm tanks. But by then, 101 TkBat used a different camouflage scheme of a kind of dirty khaki/field drab colour in large bands over army green.
In 2009, I wrote a series of three articles about the Centurion, including a fairly long section about its use in Dutch service, for the Dutch Armour Association’s club magazine, De Tank — see issues 198, 199 and 201. Number 199 has a pretty extensive (if I say so myself) overview of the changes made to Dutch Centurions over time. It’s all in Dutch, of course, but if you feed the PDF into a translator app I’m sure you can get a lot of useful information out of it. And else, just ask Oh, and I own a copy of the 1964 Handboek Tankpeloton (“Handbook Tank Platoon”) which covers both tactical use of the Centurion and its operation/maintenance, as well as having separate sections for the 20-pounder and 105 mm tanks where necessary.
Well, thanks for all that; a lot to digest. I note back in 2021 Jasper Breur displayed 2 variants of the Centurion in Dutch service; I’ve filched 2 of his pics here:
I hope he doesn’t mind; I’m certainly not taking his efforts out of context, and find them very impressive. A lot of work though for someone like me!
On the organisational front Jakko, you might appreciate this pic of a Dutch Cent Squadron (Company); if nothing else it brings those military organisation symbols/charts to life:
I’m sure you’ve seen it anyway.
There is actually a version of that photo with annotations to show which subunit is which The photo shows a full squadron, like you say, with the platoons arranged behind each other (five tanks and a Munga each).
Aha, here we go, from Onze Koninklijke Landmacht 2: Koninklijke Marechaussee en Cavalerie by J. Albarda[1] (“Our Royal Army 2: Royal Marechaussee and Cavalry”), undated but from sometime in the 1960s.
C is the squadron HQ.
A1 are replacement crew members.
A is the administrative and supply group.
O is the maintenance group.
P are the three platoons, each with:
Notice that all the tanks in the photo are camouflaged, so this is a squadron from 101 Tank Battalion, as it’s the only one that was allowed to do this — chiefly because they had already painted their tanks before permission was officially denied. The army decided it didn’t want everybody to come up with their own patterns, so camouflage painting was prohibited entirely except for 101 TkBat.
Alkmaar: De Alk, year unknown; Alkenreeks No. 170 ↩︎
All good stuff!
So 3 x companies would equal roughly 50-odd tanks - not quite knowing what battalion HQ would have, which is roughly the same as a Brit armoured regiment. All fairly digestible, at least to me. But photos such as these are worth their weight in gold when it comes to understanding the order of battle of whatever unit.
As an aside, a pity the ACE Model MUNGA is practically unbuildable (I really will have to have a look at it again) I suspect most modellers are unaware that the Dutch had them in quantity. Always useful as what I call a secondary vehicile to augment something larger on a base perhaps.
I have to say, good for 101 Tank battalion - initiative in spades! If only we had more colour pics…
Some day I’d be tempted to get a Munga kit and model the complex suspension stuff in CAD for 3D printing! That way simplified parts could make it buildable. (I thought about it for the Iltis, but I’m still twitching from the first one so I’m not sure I’m ready to look at another one…)
Squadrons Like in the UK, Dutch cavalry units have squadrons (eskadron(s)) instead of companies (compagnie(ën)).
Like in the UK, a Dutch regiment is made up of battalions: 101 TkBat was one of three tank battalions in Regiment Huzaren Prins Alexander (RHPA), the others being 41 and 57, though that last one was mobilisation-only. However, the battalions were assigned to brigades (either armoured or armoured infantry) that formed part of divisions.
I can’t quite find out how the battalion HQ (staf, staf en verzorgingseskadron, “staff, staff and support squadron”) was organised, but I did find that in 1983, there was talk about increasing the number of tanks per battalion from 52 to 61. Since three squadrons of 17 tanks is 51, that must mean there was only one tank in the battalion HQ.
There are some, it turns out, but not many.
Another superb and very inspiring job there, Brian!
And now all this talk of camouflaged Centurions … I can’t wait!
The thing is, as always with this hobby, is other distractions get in the way; the Leopard 2 prototype may gazump the Centurion; that said, I’ve to complete my Dutch MBT-70 project as well - all component parts in place, just needs time and effort (lots), and the M60 also needs finishing off. All my own fault of course, however, I must admit the Leo 2 has me slavering (or it would if my saliva glands weren’t destroyed).
Then there’s the ongoing distraction of the MBT-series - an AFV which I’ve always found interesting, and lends itself well to a bit of What-Iffery (see Dutch project above) but with some half-dozen in the stash - including 2 x US versions, it’s all a distraction too far!
Superb finish on the Leo!
Thanks Russel - I got there in the end!
Sometimes that’s the hardest part…
