PScott Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Looking good! Are you restoring her back to Vietnam spec and if so will you fit a 20 pdr? I have the 20pdr "B" barrel as well as the 105mm......i havnt decided yet on whether i will retain the Vietnam configuration or i put back to the 5/1 spec. I have all NEW original track guards and brackets / track bins , so the 5/1 config is problably the way i will go , but i will still keep the Vietnam spec guards and boxes in storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 "Hi Tim, the RPG didn't penetrate , but caused a lot of spalling on the outer hull just behind the driver hatch and covers......if the driver hadn't of been closed down , he would of been in serious trouble." Are you also going to delve into the crew compartments etc or hold off at the moment and concentrate on the externals? Regards Tim Once the external hull and fittings are done , the interior will be next. The interior is in excellent complete condition. I am trying to concentrate on the outer hull getting painted before we head into winter, so this is the priority at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakey985 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Centurion 169091 is one of only two Australian Centurions currently in existence that retains the full range in theatre modifications undertaken in South Vietnam. Originally, 169091 was a Centurion Mk 5 ordered by the Australian Army in 1954, part of a larger order for 51 Centurions. It was manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factory, Leeds, under the United Kingdom contract 6/FV/12738 and received the British Equipment Registration Marking 99BA95. On receipt it was placed in storage. Late in the first quarter of 1960, 169091 entered service with 1st Armoured Regiment and was still at the regiment in 1962. During the vehicle wireless replacement program in the early 1960s it was configured as a control tank, with two C42 and one B47 radios, indicating that it served with either regimental headquarters or one of the squadron headquarters. At some point between 1964 and 1969 it went through the tank rebuild program at 4 Base Workshops, Bandianna and was uparmoured to Centurion Mk 5/1 status. It also received the 100 gallon long range fuel tank, .50 cal ranging machine gun and was prepared to receive the infra red kit. During November 1969 the vehicle was dispatched to South Vietnam where it was taken onto the account of 1st Forward Delivery Troop in December. It remained there for 10 months during which time it had the infra red kit installed, along with other in theatre modifications including the removal of the smoke dischargers and new Vietnam specific mudguards made from ½ inch plate. In October 1970, 169091 replaced 169089 in Squadron Headquarters (SHQ) Troop, A Squadron, being allocated the call sign OD (Zero-Delta). It remained with A Squadron for only a short time, transferring to C Squadron on 17 December 1970, retaining call sign OD. While nominally an SHQ Troop vehicle, 169091 operated for most of its tour as part of a tank troop. ,In January 1971, C Squadron formed a fifth tank by combining SHQ tanks and the Special Equipment Troop tank 'dozer. Centurion 169091 became the troop leader's vehicle with the call sign 5. Early in August 1971, 5 Troop became the sole remaining operational tank troop in South Vietnam. The troop itself was withdrawn some two weeks later. All the squadron vehicles went through a very thorough wash program when they came in from the field. On 9 September 1971, two days after the last 5 Troop vehicles had finished being washed, C Squadron participated in a farewell parade at Nui Dat. The last tanks were then transported to Vung Tau where they went through another cleaning process before being shipped back to Australia. On return to Australia it did not enter the tank rebuild programme, but was placed in storage still retaining its Vietnam modifications. It was lucky not to end up as a hard target on Puckapunyal tank range and was sold to Mr Tim Vibert of Empire Trading as part of a tender for 110 Centurions in the mid 1980s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Paul, you are such a lucky blighter to own such a piece or armoured MV history with such provenance. I am spellbound reading your posts. R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Been a busy weekend. The original smoke discharger,s were remove as per the Vietnam spec. I located a set of dischagers and spent saturday fabricating new brackets for the dischargers, then removed the old tabs from the turret and welded on the new brackets and mounts. Today, Sunday, removed the rear 100gal tank ( a heavy beast) and spent most of the day needle gunning the rear hull and tank. Some pics of the new discharger mounts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Rear hull and 100gal tank.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Fantastic stuff. What happened to Tim's other 109 Centurions? On the subject of Centurions i have had an E-mail from an Israeili engineering company trying to purchase Centurion parts. Is it a scam? Has anybody else had one of these? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Finished a few more bits on 091......i remade the brackets that support the rear hull air deflector . Also the tow cable storage straps that normaly support the cable on each end of the fuel tank had been cut off and removed, so i fabricated new brackets and welded them in the correct position on the rear tank. I also repaired the many damaged/stripped holes on the mantlet cover mounting strip.........many were stripped or had a dogy nut roughly welded to the strap. I used a magnetic rotor bouch and counter bored a hole , i then welded in an high tensile insert using the original 3/8 BSF thread........the results are very good, you cant tell even when looking close that a repair has been made. A couple of pics.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Outer hull is almost ready for undercoating.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChasSomT. Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Brilliant pictures! You are obviously doing a thorough job of the old girl, well done. All that sunshine makes me very envious, too.:-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Hull in primer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 you're doing a belting job on the old cent mate, keep up the good work eddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ford 369 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 looking really good ,you will be tearing up the highways soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Just an update... If all goes well tomorrow weather wise, i will get the second coat on the hull. Next will be to remove the old road wheels, and re finish the suspension stations, then refit the brand new road wheels ( 24 in total) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 Just a few updates... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim gray Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Superb work but it looks realy odd with no turret bins................never seen one topless before!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landyandy Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 its looking very good,keep the pics coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Nice job ... very nice job. :-) I see that it has not been modified to take the two sets of track links on the top of the hill plate to the left of the driver's hatch, which I find interesting. Do you have a 20-pdr barrel for it (rather than the 105mm L7 barrel it is currently fitted with)? Any chance of some interior shots of the fighting and drivers compartments? Have you made progress with the interior? Mike C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted May 9, 2011 Author Share Posted May 9, 2011 Mike , 091 has the original drivers storage box on the hull plate, the attached pic is 091 in Vietnam, you can see the box in place.. I have the original "B" barrel . I will get some interior shots on the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Thanks, Paul, I will look forward to them. That would be the 'Drivers Hood and Windscreen Bin': do you have one, and the mounting 'stubs'? Actually, after posting my comment yesterday, I noticed on an earleir set of images (less the paint...) that the top plate shows where the two bolts for the track link brackets were welded, just to the rear of the water tank cap mounting point, so it was fitted to the tank at some time. The image of 169091 in SVN is interesting: the Unigun bracket is evident on the front of the turret long bin (right side): unusual item to see fitted in Vietnam. Glad you have a Type B barrel: will look so much better with the 'right' barrel. Regards Mike C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Have just fitted the mantlet cover retaining strips, then mask them up so the bolt heads could be painted in situ. Winter has hit with a vengeance , so painting will slow down till the warmer weather returns.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PScott Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 I finally got my bits over from the UK....the brand new ( NOS) mufflers arrived and i also got NOS main Exhaust pipes/Engine pipes/Flex couplings and flange seals/Fish tails. The mufflers were both left hand side, so i had to cut off all the fittings for the heat sheilds and the mounting plates and turn the muffler over , then weld all the fittings and mounts in the correct location. The inlet flange also had to be removed and turned 45 degrees , then re welded. I am going to get the mufflers and all the pipes HPC ( heat proof ceramic) coated flat black........just painting them with high temp exhaust paint will not last. Since they are the last NOS mufflers that are known, i thought i may as well go the whole hog and coat them so they will last a long time. I also got the IR light stripped, re-finised and painted...installed it this weekend also.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) Its looking good, keep posting the updates, very intresting. Al Edited June 16, 2011 by Big Al Rewright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 An absolutely amazing restoration ! very envious!That is a truly professional job your doing mate! My thoughts. ....Echoing other folk I amazed how different she looks with no track skirts or turret lockers ..anyone else think she resembles a M26-ish Pershing /Patton?..also the lessons learnt by that late stage of WW2 are more obvious without her 'bits' covering her up.......especially the front profile ...to me it's very reminiscent of a Panther ??........ ...Makes me think what a shame we didn't get them over to Europe 6 months or so earlier than we did...........I'll bet our boys would have loved taking on the Panthers and Tigers with a Centurion..... ....I'm guessing they must have done a lot of range testing against captured German armour in the immediate years after the war...does anyone have an info on such tests and how the best German armour faired when up against a Centurion?........I know a range test isn't a true test of a 'battle' ...especially given that the Cent was so very much superior in manouvrability/mobility and also (I presume?) firecontrol too...but.... I bet a few of the old tankers that survived combat against the best of the German armour would have been thinking .."oh man! if only we'd had these in Normandy!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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