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I bought this kit at the Armortek open day last October, it was only intended to be a standard , "out the box " build.
I like to paint as I go, painting individual parts makes sure all the corners and unseen areas gets some paint. It also helps to make the joints corrosion proof. Outside the hull joints have been sealed with milliputt and inside with JB weld. Hopefully it will be waterproof up to the top of the suspension level. I decided the world did not need another "green" tank, so this will be a far eastern one, in Desert Sand colour. I used locktite 480 to bond the tyres. For the return tyres a clamp was made to hold whilst the 480 set. A 65mm hole saw produced the exact size hole. Four 150mm jubilee cost the same as a pack of ty-wraps. I rolled some aluminium the same width as the tyre with a joggle where it overlaps. With the jubilee clip it gives a nice even pressure for the full area of the tyre. You have to be very careful not to over tighten the clip, just enough to keep the tyre in contact with the wheel. All the joints on the track guards, side bins and turret bins have been silver soldered to finish the joint and strengthen. New lids have been formed for the turret bins with returned edges. Just completed a turret basket. Having looked at some real ones and some photo's, I came to the conclusion there was some latitude in fixing methods, materials and style. I decided to copy the one at Bovington.
Small diameter brass tube needs to be constantly annealed as it work hardens very quickly. Squeezing the ends and bending can cause it to crack. I decided to use 5mm diameter Bundy tube, it's a copper nickel alloy used for brake pipe on vehicles. had to make a bender in order to get the correct radius.. I started with making the end frames and fitted them to the turret. Next the two centre part frames was made and fitted to the turret. This helped to develop the correct profile of the turret. I could then measure and cut the rails. I made some diagonal clips with 2.5mm radius grooves milled at right angles to hold the joints. All the joints were silver soldered using H5 flux. Using a MAP gas torch the joints soldered quickly and easily. Where you have to solder multiple joints close together, flux all the joints, so if you do remelt a joint it will flow instead of oxidizing.. More to follow

Hello John
Great to see another Cent underway. Nice pics, look forward to seeing more progress.
Regards
Kevin

John, great to see your Cent taking shape. Duxford has a desert painted Cent (although it's an early Mk III), in Suez markings. Lot's of photos on the net. Love the bending tool. All the best. Stephen

The first few joints was soldered with the end and centre frames bolted to the turret. The top rail was continuous at this stage in order to have a stand alone unit. Next it was unbolted from the turret and the rest of the rails cut, ends pinched and soldered in. The searchlight frames were slipped on the top rail but not soldered. Once the frame was complete the searchlight frames could be positioned, soldered and the top rail cut out. A good soaking in hot water and a scrub with washing up liquid to remove all flux traces. Like all fluxes H5 is corrosive. B & Q do a range of expanded and perforated metal sheets. I found a plain steel expanded sheet with diagonal holes 12mm x 6.5mm in a light weight. Having silver soldered the frame I could soft solder the steel sheet with ease. I started with the centre section and cut and soldered the sheet as I went. This way I was able to get the sheet edges right on the centre of the frame tube. Bakers fluid was used as a flux so more soaking and a scrubbing as this is very corrosive. I am quite pleased with the result. I have made new bin lids with turned edges, added some ribs on the cable drum and made a new bracket to accommodate three jerry cans, machined some edge detail on the radio box and the smoke launchers withe new brackets,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and this was going to be an out the box build, mmmmmm

First stab at laying out the electrics. After completing the bench test without any problems, we have settled for this layout, for the time being. The speed control module faces the motors and the aux module faces the space under the turret. This makes the wiring runs shorter and neater. The speakers are at the front (may move to the rear later), the space between the motors is for the smoke unit. Opted for standard GEL batteries for now, both batteries and the module stack can be removed via the turret hole..
The power module is on the supplied bracket facing the module stack. Have added a double pole 3 way centre off switch for charging. Both poles are paralleled giving a 40 amp plus capacity, switching only the positive line. The charging socket is a standard kettle lead/socket with the earth pin twisted so as to enable only the plug on the charger being inserted. Not a smoker myself, but could not help noticing the vast volumes of smoke produced by the E cigarettes. The smoke appears to be lighter than the stuff produced by heating oil. This would make it easer to blow and more realistic when the engine is being revved up. Has anyone else looked at this as a possibility

Hi John,

Regarding the e-cigarette option for smoker there is a guy in the Southern Armour Group who experimented with this, but not with a lot of success. The main problem I think was the lack of duration and force required but you would have to contact him to find out more if you intended to go ahead with it.

Dennis.

Thanks Dennis, I did wonder about the amount of suck or blow required. I would have thought this was do-able with some Venturi application. The duration requirement should not be long, big diesels usually smoke on start up and rev up from tick over. It would be interesting to hear from the other chap that tried it.

Regards John

Hi John,

I have sent you a PM.

Dennis.

The cent is now running, just a few bits and bobs to do. It was constructed on a stand as my hydraulic platform was too small for the centurion. Sat on a cradle so I was able to test run with the tracks on and adjust/tweek things in situ. This was useful as my only means of getting it off the stand was to drive it off, so it was good to know the controls worked as expected. Once on terra firma it was reunited with the turret and we could play.
Things to do; rebuild the gun elevation system to eliminate the wobble, I have started on my own version of barrel recoil system. Still yet to play with e-cigs as a smoke source.
Pleased with progress so far.

Nice work..looks great

Great to see another Cent mobile..

Cheers

Sean

Cent has now been christened, attended the classic car show with the Exeter Model Engineers
The weather was not perfect, but we did have some fun tearing through damp grass. It did draw quite a crowd and several conversations starting ,"where can I get one of these" and " I must have one!". Met several people who had driven the real thing during their service period. Very enjoyable day in spite of some heavy showers.

John
Awesome detail on the desert cent. Lovely work! Love it. Bob