Centurion Mk.5 AVRE

The AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) based on the Churchill battle tanks had already proved their worth in the Second World War.
These were used as a mobile platform for a variety of engineer-specific purposes.
At the beginning of the 1950s, a replacement for the now outdated Churchill chassis was urgently needed. Since the Centurion Mk.5 was introduced into the British Army as a battle tank at this time, it made sense to develop a new engineer tank on this chassis.
In contrast to the battle tanks, a large-calibre cannon was mounted to be able to destroy obstacles, a clearing bucket to clear obstacles and a fascine carrier (fascines are large bundles of plastic pipes that were used to fill trenches - these bundles are stable enough to carry even heavy tanks). In addition, the vehicles were given a large storage basket on the turret to create more storage space for the engineer weapons.
The first Centurion AVREs were delivered to the Royal Engineers in 1963.
They were put into service with the three Armoured Engineer Squadrons of the 32nd Assault Engineer Regiment.
No export customer was found, so the British Army used the Centurion AVRE exclusively.
These were used in exercises in Great Britain, Germany and also at BATUS (British Army Training Unit Suffield) in Canada.
It was the only armoured tracked vehicle used in "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s and later in the First Gulf War in 1991.
By this time, however, there was already a shortage of spare parts and it was difficult to keep the vehicles running due to their age. Some were almost 40 years old at the time. The soldiers referred to this as the "Antiques Roadshow". Nevertheless, 12 Centurion AVREs were sent to the Gulf as part of "Operation Granby". These were also fitted with reactive armour to increase the protection of the crews. Three of these vehicles were lost in two training incidents. In both cases, vehicle fires broke out and the ammunition stored in the vehicle subsequently detonated.
The AVRE did not take part in direct combat operations. However, after the ceasefire, they were sent to the Multa Pass north of Kuwait. This was the main route to Iraq's northern border. This was completely blocked by the wreckage of tanks, trucks, artillery pieces, civilian vehicles, debris and all kinds of unexploded ordnance and had to be cleared. The clearing of this section was the last military use of these vehicles - 38 years after they entered service

Plastic model kit

• Movable single-link track (pre-cut and cleaned)
• Metal springs
• Photo-etched parts
• Metal rope
• Dozer blade
• Additional armour
• 165mm bunker buster cannon

Scale 1:35

Unbuilt / unpainted

Paint and glue not included