Hobby Master Archive

The Centurion entered British service in 1949 and when production ended in 1962 there had been over 4,000 vehicles of all variants produced. Approximately half of the production where exported. The Centurion was a great advancement in British tank design with them using some of the best features from other tanks around the world. The Centurion was the first main battle tank in the world to use both elevation and azimuth gun stabilization in the main gun. All Centurions had welded steel hulls and cast turrets with welded steel plates for the roof. There were about 25 different variants of the Centurion with each improving on the one before. The Mk. 5 used the same 20 pounder main gun as the Mk. 3, there was no Mk. 4 produced, but most had a “Type B” barrel with a fume extractor half way down the barrel. This got rid of fume low back into the turret and also eliminated the need for the counter weight used on the “Type A” barrel. The Mk. 5 replaced the coaxial Besa with an M1919A4 . 30 cal Browning MG and a second .30 cal MG mounted on the Commander’s cupola. The switch to the .30 cal MG was to meet NATO’s standardization policy. The turret rear escape hatch was eliminated. A fifth return roller was added on both sides to help prevent throwing a track. By the late 1950’s most of the problems with the Centurion were eliminated except for its slow speed and the use of gasoline as the fuel. In 1967 the Centurion was starting to be replaced by the Chieftain.

The 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars was first formed in 1693. The unit fought in 3 centuries of wars including WWI and WWII at some of the worst conflicts in these wars. When the Korean War started the 8th began exhaustive training on the Centurion MK III tanks. On October 11, 1950 they sailed from Southampton and arrived in Pusan on November 14, 1950. During the Korean War the 8th was involved in many conflicts but the one that won them fame was when they covered the withdrawal of the 29th Brigade from what would become known as the Battle of the Imjin River.

Specification Centurion MK. III MBT Type - Main Battle Tank (MBT)

Crew - 4 / Commander, Gunner, Loader, Driver In service - mainly from 1945 to 1990’s with some still in service Dimensions Length - 7.60 m (25 ft) Width - 3.39 m (11 ft 1 in) Height - 3.01 m (9 ft 10.5 in)

Weight - 51 long tons (52 metric tonnes Suspension - Horstmann Armour - 152 mm (6 in)

Armament Primary - 105 mm L7 rifled gun Secondary - co-axial .30 cal Browning machine gun Performance Engine - Rolls-Royce Meteor / 650 hp (485 kW) Power/Weight - 13 hp/tonne Range - 450 km (280 miles) Speed - 34 km/h (21 mph)

Hobby Master 1/72 Ground Power Series HG3508 Centurion Mk.III A Squadron, 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 29th Infantry Brigade, Korea 1951

Authentic Detailing Pre-Painted by professionals Accurate paint colors Markings Tampo (pad) applied Fully Assembled Die-Cast Model True to Scale (1:72) Turret turns and main gun elevates Metal turret and main gun Realistic tracks