Adrian Barrell

Does not a) end up costing b) anyway?

Several Centaurs survive including the Pegasus Bridge example which is a D Day participant.

(Pedant mode on) That's the visor plate. The glacis plate is the sloping plate below it. (Pedant mode off) Back to the question, I always assumed it is more of a preentation plate of some sort but that's just a guess. What's your thoughts as to what it says?

Brilliant! Thanks for putting those up.

Welcome John but a word of caution. If your vehicle of choice is pre 1960, it is exempt from plating and testing if it is used unladen. A post 1960 vehicle will require testing and an appropriate licence to drive it.

I had to check the manuals before I posted.......

Not strange at all, the trunnions are closer to the breech on Alecto.

Ironically, the new Spitfire blades are made by Hoffman in Germany!

I think it was just a cheaper, simpler and better system. Common sense prevailed eventually! The Dozers did have steel tyres for the idlers, the rubber not lasting very long in the rubble.

No, the port was the same for all. The 95mm tube was the same diameter at the breech end as the 6pr/75mm and they shared the same cradle. It was larger at the exposed portion than the other guns but it was removed in the same way. For those who don't know, the 95mm was a bit of a lash up using a 25 pr breech assembly mated to a shortened 3.7" AA tube. It worked well though!

Most Spitfires had wooden propeller blades. The deHavilland adjustable pitch had metal blades and these were first used in 1940 but the early Watts fixed pitch and all the later Rotol types were wooden.

Centaurs could be converted to the later style of adjuster, certainly all the Dozers were, probably as part of the Dozer conversion. They still retained the little access cover though.

That's it really! Of course the different hatch made some internal changes necessary but from the outside the hatch, the lack of a front right stowage bin and the turret bins are the easy identifiers. The side escape hatch came in fairly early for the co-driver but it took a little longer to introduce it for the driver. This meant that there were a lot of tanks in Normandy where the driver was often trapped inside. The crews were well aware of this prior to the invasion and were not amused.

Cor, tell about it! Sometimes I think I must be mad....:nut:

Steve, that turret is the modified original pattern. Previously considered by some as the second pattern, the original type having a bevel in the top right hand corner (as you look at the front). The last pattern having a bevel in the bottom right hand corner and usually seen on 75mm armed tanks. My observations of turrets showed the second type merely to be the first with the bevel cut out, some neater than others! This was to allow for the later mantlet which had two telescope positions, though only the upper one seems to ever be used. The 95mm turret has a different front plate and mantlet, the hole in the front being wider to suit. The 95mm tube is larger in diameter at that point than the 6 pr/75mm. The BESA in all Cromwells is fixed in line with the main gun and elevates with it but the 95mm installation has it a little further away from the main gun than the 6pr/75mm.

What he said! I don't see how we can 'get out there and wave the banner for the MV movement' whilst at the same time refusing to discuss some of the potential problems facing us. If someone is knowingly breaking the law and admit to it, then they will probably and deservedly be taken to task for it. I don't consider their presence here to tarnish us equally.

True but it's quite easy to convince yourself that you are within the law by some interpretation of the regs!

Slippery slope Jack......

Well, it's an F type hull and there were no F type Centaurs....... You can't really see in the photos (Richard, you need to be taller!) but it has a large turret ring......

It has recently been mentioned on here.......

Fraid so! Made quite a bit for it in the end. More 'in the style of' rather than replica but the budget precluded the latter....

I recognise those turret bins.......

Churchill was only intended to do 15 mph or so, 350 bhp was ample for that.

No probs eddy, always glad to help! Are you intending to fit a dummy gun or are you hopeful of finding a real one? If the former, a 75 or a 95 would be just as easy. If the latter.....

Centaur used shaft driven fans as opposed to the belt driven fans in Cromwell. The fans themselves and the rads are the same but the drives are totally different and not interchangeable. You basically have to change all the roof plates. Yes, there was one per HQ troop in each squadron. So always few in number but they survived into post-war use as Comet did not replace them.