Lancfan's Centurion AVRE ** DNF**

[splash]

This is one kit Airfix should re-tool.

[general rocket]

This is one kit Airfix should re-tool.

One of many?

[TomW]

This is one kit Airfix should re-tool.

One of many?

Agreed, though I have fond(ish) memories of melting one of these into a gluey mess as a small child

Regards

Tom

[lancfan]

The hull is now taking shape, when Airfix tooled this kit they left the lower cooling duct open without the grill, this has been made up from plastic card and Evergreen strip.


Turning the hull over shows the top decking (minus the engine decking grill which has been cut away) a new grill panel has been scratched up and fitted to fill the enlarged gap.



The bogies, return rollers and lengthened track guards were then fitted.



The halves of the turret were next glued together and left to dry.


This out of sequence shot shows the hull, lengthened track guards and side armour and the turret in the first stage of modification.


David.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Very good, I always like to watch your attention to detail.

[splash]

How did you extend the track covers, have you cut up parts from two kits ?

If so, would that be a good option for adding the extra 2mm just cut and shut two kits?

Like John said this is great fun to watch.

Regards Splash

[lancfan]

I used two sets of track covers for this model simply because I have consigned one kit to the spares box to replace the parts melted by the tracks and provide a source of spares for future builds, normally I would have inserted a 2mm wide strip into them as I did for the rest of the hull parts- these kits are quite rare now and it would be very wasteful (and expensive) to destroy two kits to make each model.

David.

[lancfan]

With the hull complete it is time to add details and modifications for the AVRE variant I am building. A tank was added to the top of the rear vent and the cooling vent was extended and the rear of the hull detailed.


The underside was then painted in Revell 65 Bronze green and the edges were airbrushed in Humbrol 237 Desert Tan to represent this area of the tank after being repainted for the Gulf. The wheels were then painted and fitted.


The side bins and the exhausts were then fitted, plastic card was added to the silencers to depict the heat shields.



David.

[Clashcityrocker]

Looking good so far.

Nigel

[splash]

That's impressive scratch building.

Regards Splash

[lancfan]

Next, the front armour and dozer blade mountings were made up and fitted and slight changes to the side panniers were made. the turret is also beginning to take shape.



David.

[JohnRatzenberger]

As always, well done!

[splash]

[Martin R]

Nearly there, David.

Regards

Martin

[lancfan]

The problem of making the side armour with its exposed dome-headed rivets caused me to scratch my head for a little while but this method seems to work quite well, it will also come in handy for the World War 1 scratch builds I plan to make at some point. I simply pushed a pointed tool bit into the rear face of the panels just far enough to form the impression of the rivet heads on the front surface.


This is how the model looks now, the MIMIC belt has been cut from plastic card and fixed in position and the reactive side armour has been glued in place on the Bazooka plates. The petard mortar has also been made using parts of the kit gun, this has been glued on to the turret and the mantlet cover has been made from model filler.


David.