Or at least I think it kinda looks like one ............ I started to build an Israeli SH'ot Centurion, but there are just too many Centurion variations to chose from, and I'm not really sure which one I ended up building. I think I built a Mark 5 (by accident) more than any other type. My thought was/is to build a lower hull first, which is common for all variations. That way I could build whatever Centurion upper hull and turret that I wanted. Also, some had sand skirts and some didn't, so I did skirts that are built to be easily removed.

This is my hammer and hacksaw result. I was thinking of equipping it with a Tamiya battle unit, but the cost of doing that is a definite budget buster for me at this time ....... or at any time! I was thinking of stealing the MFU out of my Pershing, but that unit has developed some faults so that it out of the picture. I think I am going to build some kind of a chain or belt drive because there is no way a normal gear box can be installed. No room for it because the axles are too close to the inside walls. Maybe a worm drive is possible. Or maybe something like the exterior gear train on the real thing !!!

The track is what I had in my junk box. It is from the old Chicago International M1 Abrams. I think I'm going to replace it with track from an HL Panther, which looks more like the real Centurion track.

I guess I could always claim that the old Chicago Abrams rubber band track is a prototype tread design that was being tested and evaluated for effectiveness on desert sand, on the rocky Golan Heights, and for the amphibious Centurion that was to be used for crossing the Suez Canal. The amphibious Centurion is the one that had 30 empty 50 gallon drums duct taped to it.

I would like to hear from all of the Centurion experts out there. If there are some really horrible unforgivable blunders here ..... tell me. Let's have fun with this Hammer and Hacksaw effort at what I think was one of the best tanks ever built.

When I decided to do a Centurion, I did a Google search for the Centurion and came up with a number of reference sites, and all of them were really good. But there was a lack of close up detail photos that I wanted. I forgot about the Prime Portal website, and I remembered that reference site when I was kinda done with the lower hull. Prime Portal has incredible reference walk arounds for the Centurion series, especially the turret. The turret has as much detail work to do as the lower hull. It was a real challenge, but this model has turned out to be a labor of love ..... or at least a labor of really passionate like a lot.