Bottom Line Up Front

AFV Club continues to rule the Centurion market with its latest offering. This is a very good kit overall. It comes with tasty value-added features like a turned aluminum barrel and photoetch parts. The detail is sharp and the fit is excellent. The kit is marred by some unnecessarily complicated moving parts that make two aftermarket part sets a must if the modeler wants to have a first-rate build.

History

The Centurion is one of those tanks that just will not fade away with time. It just missed major action in WW2 by a few weeks so it’s first real trial was in Korea. This kit faithfully represents the 20-pounder armed Mk. 3 which was fielded in that conflict. This was the version which was still in service (with some modifications to the gun barrel) with the British Army in 1956 during Operation Musketeer, the invasion of the Suez Canal Zone.

Meng sure does like to pop up now and then with the unique. This model is a case in point – a model of the single prototype flamethrower jeep developed for the British special services unit referred to as “Popski’s Private Army.” Why this particular concept didn’t take off isn’t really too hard to grasp. Imagine running around behind enemy lines in a completely unarmored vehicle with several gallons of extremely volatile fluids under pressure in tanks at your back. A single stray bullet could really ruin the crew’s entire day, I would think. The only effective way to survive a patrol in this contraption would be with the sincere hope that you have the element of surprise. Otherwise . . .

Meng has made a terrific little kit here of this one-off machine. The only non-styrene addition is the flexible tubing meant to attach the flamethrower gun to the fluid tank. Otherwise this is an extremely straight-forward and enjoyable single evening build.

Copied from the Masterpiece Models website, About Masterpiece Models, “Masterpiece Models manufactures and sells the highest quality resin assembly kits on the market today. Featuring kits for a variety of interests including WWII, Vietnam, Sci-fi, and aircraft bases. We have acquired the rights to a large selection of the Custom Dioramics line that are now available through us as resin assembly kits. Our kits are manufactured at our Vancouver, Washington, USA fabrication and casting shop.”

The Zoukei Mura Kit

Refer to Part 1 for the construction of this fine model kit.

There have been a number of positive reviews for the Zoukei Mura F-4 Phantom series of model kits, and I cannot add anything new, other than these are really great kits. I would encourage anyone interested in this airraft to purchase any Zoukei Mura Phantom. You will not be sorry.

Aftemarket Accessories Used

Several months ago I had the opportunity to review the following Hypersonic Models aftermarket accessory set that I had originally planned to use on a Zoukei Mura F-4S Phantom sometime in 2020. However with the opportunity to build and review the "J" version I decided now is the time to utilize the Hypersonic Models set. Since the Zoukei Mura Phantom have had their fair share of reviews I will focus my efforts on describing the modifications to the kit with the inclusion of the follwing accessory into the build.

The first of the modern type of submarines for the Swedish navy was the Sjöormen class, designed in the early 1960s by Kockums, Malmo, and built by that company (three units) and Karlskronavarvet (two units). The class comprised the Sjöormen, Sjolejonet, Sjohunden, Sjobjornen and Sjohasten. With an Albacore type hull for speed and a twin-deck arrangement the class was extensively used in the relatively shallow Baltic where its excellent maneuverability and silent-running capabilities greatly aided the Swedish navy's anti-submarine warfare operations.