Thanks for the observation.

The reasons it is fitted like that are - that's how the instructions state how to fit it, I didn't know that there was another way, and its an OOB build.

I will note your observation and of course it may help others when builing an accurised verion..

That is a beautiful finish. I would just ask why not fix the jerry can handle to the proper three bar style. I know that it is a small detail, but among all the other beautiful work that you did, that does catch the eye.

Oh WOW, great build!, I also like how the photos are taken!.

Since I will build a Merkava I hope it turns out this good!

Cheers!

Cheers, I wish you the best with your build.

Beautiful work on that tank ! 

I only hope my kit turns out looking even half as good. 

Thank you all for your observations and comments. I appreciate them all.

Yes, absolutely superb job, thanks for letting us follow along!

Scuff, all I can say is this thing is epic!  You made yourself a work of art, hands down.

Brian

Thanks, I bet that was some beast!

Scruff, I must say WOW!  The only thing I can add, is I rememeber an article years ago about a guy over in Europe building a car using the engine out of a Centurion tank. He took it out on the German Autobaun and was clocked over 120 mph (Yeah thats right miles per hour) . I know that todays cars built over there can go much faster, but this was a guy who built his own Frankinstein. Very nice work!

So here is the finished 1:25 scale model of the Centurion mk.III British main battle tank. It has been built out of the box with no extras, apart from the camouflage netting around the barrel which I made myself.

The paints used were as follows:

Primer was Vallejo grey polyurethane acrylic. This was also used for all of the interior surfaces. It gives a lovely smooth and resilient surface for the following paints.

The main overall colour was Tamiya Dark Yellow Matt XF-60. This was mixed about 40% paint with 60% Tamiya X-20 thinner.

Panel line preshading was done with Tamiya XF-1 Matt Black and overhead light simulation presahding was done with Tamiya XF-64 Red Brown.

Some weathering effects and shadow areas were done with Tamiya XF-49 Khaki.

The matt finish was thinned Vallejo matt varnish.

Chipping was hand painted with MrMetalColor MC24 Dark Iron. Exhaust and metal tool parts were also airbrushed with this paint as were the tracks and tow cables.

Weathering and rusting was done with a combination of Rust and Sand pigments. Various Tamiya weathering master sets for were used for streaking, rusting and staining effects. Lighter colours from these sets were used for edge highlighting.

Once the track pieces were buffed where the wheels ran and also where the locating lugs rubbed between the wheels, the pieces received a dunking in first rust, then sand pigments, with a good brush scrubbing between the two.

The exhaust parts were treated in the same way.

Although this was an old kit that I picked up from ebay for £30ukp, it went together reasonably well. There were plenty of moulding lines that needed scraping off before painting and the instructions had a couple of anomalies. The old decals were very yellow, so the markings for my choice of variant were spayed using a template that I cut out with a laser cutter, from a CAD drawing that I made.

I learnt a lot from trying various weathering methods on this build and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

As usual, and observations or comments are welcome. Enjoy the images.

im having a hard time believing these images were not computer generated. Stunning Work!

Keep the updates coming! You are really doing a great job on giving the interior a used appearance.

I have now squeezed the engine unit in, fitted the radiators and exhaust. The drivers compartment has also been fitted, painted and weathered.

Such a beautiful piece of work to follow!

This is the reasonably detailed engine and sub-engine.

I decided to paint a base colour of Tamiya XF-21 Sky. For the fuel tank I used Stainless steel, a hint of leakage was applied using Tamiya Smoke and an application of burnt blue from thier Weathering Master powder. The hoses were Tamiya Rubber Black and were finished off with the hose clips in chrome silver.

A Dark Dirt wash was applied over a coat of gloss, and when dry, removed as required to give some definition to the details. Chipping was hand brushed with Dark Iron. The dusty and sandy areas were completed with Tamiya weathering master Sand and Light Sand.

This thing is mindblowingly awesome! Can't wait to see it finished.

it does, but not a FULL crew set.  It's still missing the gunner and loader, unless they're depicted as the ones fighting as infantry, lol

subfixer

Dang! The tracks and road wheels look like the real deal!

That hull is looking really good. 

Dang! The tracks and road wheels look like the real deal!

Watching this build makes me want to go out and get this kit. Of course thats if I ever get Trumpies 1/16th King Tiger done. None of the sub assemblies seem to want to fit with that kit. Like others have said I did the Tiger kit, but this seems miles ahead of that kit.

Hi Guys

Another quick update before I dash off to work.

The wheels were assembled and the rubber 'tyres' were flattened as they all had an annoying dip in the middle all of the way around. I was quite aggressive with a very rough sanding stick, which also gave a nice worn feel to the rubber faces. A few nicks were cut into the odd rubber tyre. They were all airbrushed with primer and then dark yellow before a grime wash was applied. This encouraged the bolts to stand out. A light sand dry brushing sorted out some subtle highlights.

The tyres were hand painted with Tamiya Rubber Black and when dry, given a good dose of sandy pigment to show some perceived use. A final application of some paint wear and chipping was painted on by hand with a fine brush and Dark Iron paint. SOme of the dark Iron was buffed to give some variation.

The track pieces were assembled a few evening ago whilst watching Stargate Atlantis on t' telly. They were airbrushed with Dark Iron and the high and touching faces buffed to leave shiny faces where they rubbed the wheels, sprockets and ground. Rust pigment was brushed with a stiff brush into the joints and then over brushed with a mixture of sand and green earth pigments. The whole lot was airbrushed with Alcohol to help keep the dust in place.

The track skirts were painted and weathered with the same techniques used on the turret. I shaded from light to dark to give some weight. The streaking was done with Tamiya weathering master. The original decals were very worn and faded, so I redesigned the characters on CAD software and cut out some masks with a laser cutter. I lifted the mask slightly from the surface when airbrushing the white characters, as I wanted a 'roughly sprayed at the front with a stencil' look.

FocusOne

it's a shame it didn;t include a full crew set (gunner and loader), or else you could pull off a cross-section in-combat model

It does include both the crew figures and some stand alone infantry. I did consider a cross sectional version, but decided that I wanted to build a complete one first.

it's a shame it didn;t include a full crew set (gunner and loader), or else you could pull off a cross-section in-combat model

It really is a nice kit!  and a good job at that too!

I really got to get to finishing mine, maybe take it apart and give it a black wash (still on the solid colour painting stage -__-).

I built the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger I a long while back. It was, as stated above, a dog. It had all kinds of slots and holes for motorization that had to be covered up and filled. This Centurion seems to be light years ahead of my build. 

Excellent work here.

Lee 

Geez, that sucker's HUGE!

I hope you have place in the display cabinet for something that size!

I have managed to get the hull painted and weathered this week. The wheels are mostly finished, I'm just working through them progressively so that I dont get too fed up with them :D

Most of the fully working suspension is screwed on to the hull, and held in place with the covers. The usual Vallejo grey primer was laid down, and pre-shading was airbrushed with a combination of flat black and dark brown. This was followed by layered Tamiya dark yellow. A coat of Gloss sealed it all in.

A grime wash dirtied it up followed by subtle highlighting on some of the edges with tamiya weathering master light sand. The lot was then airbrushed with a matt varnish.

I finished off with some chipping applied by hand using MrMetalColor Dark Iron.

The last image shows the hull next to that of a Tamiya 1/35th scale Panther, just to give you an idea of the size of this 1/25th Centurion.

Scuff

I'm a fan of MrMetalColor dark iron MC214. Sprayed without thinning gives very good coverage with high flow at lower pressures. It has taken a fair amount of abuse without lifting. 

Thanks again.