Cent colours

[David Skeldon]

Hi,
Anybody know what colour the Cents where painted in the 1960s when in use by the British ?


David

[Stephen White]

David

The best answer I can give is to say look here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warpaint-Colour ... y_b_text_y

This four volume series by Dick Taylor covers the definitive record of British AFV markings. Vols 3 & 4 cover the period you're interested in.

The sixties saw a transition from the previous British Army Deep Bronze Green to, at least in BAOR, a camouflage of matt green and matt black. Your Royals tank, would span this period as I believe the Royals were in Cents between 1963-67. I've not been able to find any photos of Royals' tanks from this period but you might try the Regimental Museum or the Tank Museum Library. The sure fire way of getting an answer is to post a question on the Modern part of the Missing Lynx Discussion Groups here:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47209/

Dick Taylor is an old Regimental colleague and posts regularly on Missing Lynx.

Regards

Stephen

[David Skeldon]

Hi,
Thanks for that.I will get hold of a copy of that book.

David

[Kevin Hunter]

Hi David
Are you modelling a Royals Centurion too? If not I suspect Stephen may have slightly crossed wires as I have been discussing a 60's version, hopefully Royals, possibly BAOR.
Either way I concur with Stephen, the Warpaint series is the essential reference for our British Cents and volumes 3 & 4 are in my Amazon basket waiting for me to pay! I'd be happy to share info if you like.
Stephen, thanks for the extra info re Royals. I agree, pictures of Royals Cents on the net are like rocking horse pooh (sorry) and even chatting on Cavalry forums isn't producing much info. Regimental museum is next stop once Xmas out of the way.
Cheers
Kevin

[David Skeldon]

Hi Kevin.
I do not normaly build tanks to match a regiment as i am more interested in the tank itself.So mine will be probley just be painted green with no markings.As the bridge layer came into service in the mid sixtys then thats the colour i would like to know.


David

[Stephen White]

David

Sorry David and Kevin - I did get my Royals And my bridge layers confused.

I exchanged emails with Dick Taylor this afternoon and I'll quote from his answer:

DBG gave way to Green and Black around 1970, I've been unable to be more
precise so far. However, as Warpaint 3 details, there was a lot of
experimentation with Green and Black in the 50s and 60s, so as is often the
case, research is required into the Royals specifically. Funnily enough,
last week I was sent a photo of what I think was a Royals Chieftain Mk 2
from 1968 (just prior to their amalgamation) and that WAS in Green and
Black...

Regards

Stephen

[paul&robinmargle]

This is not so much about the colour as the finish.
Should we go for matt or satin? We feel sure that we have seen somewhere that they were a satin finish.

Paul & Robin

[Stephen White]

Paul and Robin

Deep bronze green was actually a high gloss finish. If you go for the later camouflage, it was matt but in practice, crews used to clean the vehicle with a mixture of petrol and oil, which gave the surface a satiin finish.

Regards

Stephen

[Dennis Jones]

My cousin used to drive Cents in his National Service and he told me about washing them in oil and petrol mix. What a waste of fuel but I guess it didn't matter in those days.

Dennis.

[colin fairweather]

ah i remember it well

we used to get detailed when our transport had an inspection comeing up to give the vehicles a rub with diesel made them nice and shiney and us well nice and smelly

regards

and happy new year

colin