INTERMEDIATE BUILD
It just goes to show that the release of one kit can lead to another, as Nick Shuttleworth discovered with Amusing Hobby’s recently released 1/35 Centurion Mk.V and Mk.5 AVRE
The Centurion is Britain’s most successful tank design, being produced in larger numbers, with more variants and having greater longevity than any other.
Entering service just after the end of World War Two, the Centurion followed years of unsuccessful and compromised British tank designs that were unreliable, poorly armed or armoured - and often also lacked the ability to be up-gunned or upgraded. The type served in almost every major conflict after World War Two, from Korea and Suez to Vietnam with the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, the Arab-Israeli conflicts with the Israeli Defence Force, the Falklands in the BARV (Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle guise) and the First Gulf War as specialist ARVs (Armoured Recovery Vehicle) and AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers). With a service career spanning more than four decades, it gained the affectionate nickname of the ‘The Antiques Road Show’. Centurion AVREs were also the only heavy armour to be deployed to Northern Ireland during the Troubles throughout Operation Motorman in July 1972.
