Centurion Tank Colours

[jopres57]

I thought some people may be interested in a Centurion tank colour scheme that I have never seen before, especially not on a built model. On telly I saw a documentary that included clips of British tanks in Kuwait in the early 60's. Colour film seemed to be used rather than colorised black and white. The tanks were painted in an overall light stone with disruptive patches of black ( or possibly dark green ) and a colour that appeared to be a light brick red. This latter shade could possibly be red lead with white or light stone added. Its a new scheme to me, it would be a good variation for the Airfix kit if we could have it released again.

[Kenneth ONeill]

A new scheme to me too, and one that makes some sort of sense for Persian Gulf theatres. Having said which, wouldn't you rather see an accurate Centurian rather than a "looks vaguely like a Centurian VIII" toy?

[jopres57]

A new scheme to me too, and one that makes some sort of sense for Persian Gulf theatres. Having said which, wouldn't you rather see an accurate Centurian rather than a "looks vaguely like a Centurian VIII" toy?

 

 

I would like to see a new tool kit Kenneth but as I've mentioned before the post war British Army is not a popular modelling area for mainstream kit manufacturers. I don't know why. Centurions in 1/72 scale are available from other smaller firms but I try and stay with Airfix if I can.

[jopres57]

I had a Centurion in my stash so I thought I might as well finish it in this unusual scheme. I decided the dark cammo colour was probably black because light stone and black was a standard scheme in the seventies. It appears that light stone and green is used in warmer climes these days but I have no idea when the change from black to green took place, I would guess sometime in the nineties.

The idea came from the ‘Look at Life’ short film ‘Char and Wad’, a feature about the work of the NAAFI. The tanks shown had faded paintwork, probably due to a combination of desert conditions and poor quality paint. I decided to finish my example looking ‘as new’ because I suppose it would have been at one stage.

[jopres57]

Anyone interested in post war British Army camouflage schemes may like this old photo that was actually on the front cover of the Airfix magazine from October 1970. I can’t believe that I’ve glanced at this many times but never really studied it before. The FV432 personnel carrier is painted in an unusual three or four colour scheme that looks like it includes the red brown mentioned on the Centurion earlier.

The magazine blurb goes: “Vehicles in first line service are now frequently camouflaged in the style shown here, with green, grey, dark earth and olive drab as the basic colours.”

The wagon belongs the School of Infantry at Warminster and is obviously an experimental scheme because it never became standard as far as I know. It was probably being trialed  alongside the usual green and black scheme that was introduced at about the same time.

It would be interesting to find out what, if any, vehicles were painted in the same pattern. It always makes the hobby more interesting for me when there are multiple schemes to choose from.