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AURORA 1/48 OTHER COUNTRIES ARMOUR(1942-1970)

Ref 300 (330)Centurion [1960]

Centurion mkIII with rotating turret, elevating gun, 3 figures

This is not the best kit in the series with a turret which appears oversize and a gun mantlet which is not well rendered. Figures are only average when compared with their Bandai counterparts.

Some bags were added in two components putty and the exhaust protections re-done in aluminium sheet. The markings appear to be for a Korea War vehicle ?

Ref 061 Israeli Centurion mk V [1976]
This kit is supposed to have a different gun and rear deck but we never saw it and the picture is obviously an earlier model made-up (so it is correct to label it mkIII!)

Ref 303(323,612, 070) Stalin tank [1956]

Soviet JS III . Rotating turret, elevating gun, opening hatch, movable flak machine-gun , one figure. (612 the Photascope version)

This catalogue picture shows how catastrophic this model is . Strangely it exhibits the same mistakes as the 1/76 Airfix offering (shape of the turret, curved front deck, rear pannel  As this is not the only Aurora kit to have « defect similarities » with Airfix kits it suggests official (or unofficial) links between the British and US firms.

On this model, the turret was entirely rebuilt outof two-component putty , the front glacis reworked and the mudshield reworked out of aluminium sheet.

The rear sprockets were also reworked and wire handles replaced suggested handles engraved on the plastic..

This result in an interesting model which looks as massive as the Königstiger and sports an even longer barrel. The only « obvious » conversion I can think of is the SCUD  TEL

Ref 315 ( 327) Churchill [1967] (boxart 1970)

Churchill mkIII  with rotating turret, elevating gun and figures.

The figures are only average but the tank itself is excellent and fits exactly on the Bellona plan. This illustration from the instruction sheet shows that Aurora did their homework in providing an option for one of the three tanks used for tests during the Battle of El-alamein.

The improvements were limited to the replacement of a few parts (notably the front mudguards) by aluminium sheet..

Aurora was very good at reproducing massive prehistoric-looking tanks (a pity they did'nt do WW1 armour!) and the Churchill is remarkably well done in this respect . All the numerous versions of the Churchill are possible on this base except the Crocodile which is based on the later mk VII (different pontoons).

Ref 316 (328) S-tank [1967]

Stridjvagen 103 A  from the test batch (no flottation gear) . Opening hatches. 4 Figures.

This kit is a fine reproduction of the early S-tank and a better offering than the Tamiya 1/48 model. Trumpeteer announces a model of this remarkable vehicle in 1/35 which will be the first injection kit in this scale. 

Because the model is a preserie version it is tempting to update it with a floating gear.

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