Which version of the Chieftain?

If you were talking M60 tanks I would say the M60 A1 is the version we most think of. Which version of the Chieftan is considered the classic Chieftan?

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I would say Mk5?

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I would go with the Mk9’s I was on. At the time, that was the real cold war with high tension and readiness on all sides - and that had all the latest cutting edge gun kit etc … people knock it ( who have never lived on it) but at that time, it would be the only tank I’d want to go war in …
Mk10’s & 11’s were the final fling really but it was showing its age then …

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I would also go for the Mk5

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Another, related question pops to mind: is the old Tamiya Chieftain really what it says on the box or something “else”? I have one in the stash and was thinking of using the Takom hull I have as part of the Chieftain Marksman kit to make something a little better than the Tamiya kit.
The Marksman turret is earmarked for another project, kind of sort of started.

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I saw where someone implied Tamiya’s was not just one version.

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Ask Nicholas Moran… :grin:

This is what Accurate Armour writes in the description of their Mk 5/5 - Mk 9 upgrade/conversion/correction (pick your choice) set C025, currently not available.
“This particular 1/35th scale conversion by Jon Bottomley has the strange title of Mk-5/5 to Mk-9, all of which looked externally the same. The reason for this conversion is that the Tamiya “Mk-5” is not really a Mk-5 at all, and ‘out the box’ never existed.”

In this Britmodeler discussion
Malcolm Shaw wrote this:
"OOB the kit builds a mid to late Mk2.
The side skirts need sorting and a few smaller details adding to improve on what’s in the box.
Any thing above Mk3 needs a lot of extra work on the hull and turret, you can go 1 of 2 ways, scratch build it or after market.
Accurate Armour do some excellent conversions but are a tad expensive.
Castoff do conversions that are cheaper but he has been hard to deal with lately.
It’s really down to what you want and your budget.
PS the Tamiya 1/25 offering was of a prototype and needs MAJOR work to turn it into a production version.
Malc.
"

Newland Models have/will have/had this conversion to upgrade Tamiyas kit to Mk 3

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Hmmm, sounds like I should use the whole Takom hull and see how far off the Tamiya turret is. Good thing I have next to nothing invested in this.
Thanks for the info, very helpful.

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If you have built the Takom Chieftain, what are your thoughts on the build?

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I would say the Mk5 in BAOR “Berlin” camo.

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Seems a bit odd that picture, a120mm gun with MRS but the old style NBC pack on the rear of the turret no bins either🤔 take a wild guess at what Mk that is😀

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