Continuing its run of unusual subjects, Trumpeter presents a "Spanish Army VRC-105 Centauro RCV" tank destroyer.
The kit features finely molded light gray parts. The complex lower hull is molded in one piece, ensuring proper alignment of all eight soft-vinyl wheels. Vinyl keepers hold the wheels to the suspension. Clear parts are provided for the headlights, periscopes, and sensor. Two small photoetched-metal frets provide parts for the hull steps as well as brush guards for the lights. A full-color painting and marking guide covers one Spanish vehicle, although alternate decals are provided for two other vehicles in the same unit. No interior detail or figures are included.
Assembly starts with the lower hull. Watch the part numbers for the drivetrain, as there are subtle differences between the parts. The rear towing pintle is incorrectly listed as Part C44; it should be C43. If you follow the subassemblies AA and BB in Step 2 and make four of each part, you will wind up with one brake caliper (A43) pointing the wrong way on each side. Add the calipers after the suspension is in place.
The soft vinyl tires look good, but they don't fit the wheels very tightly. I left the wheels off until painting was complete. Step 4 has parts G6 and G7 transposed.
Trumpeter would have you install all the details to the upper hull, then glue it to the lower hull. I find it easier to glue the hull parts together, then add the details. The fit of the rear panel assembly required some clamping and a bit of filler to get a good, tight fit. In the past, I always found Trumpeter's photoetched metal to be thick and hard to bend, but the parts in this kit were thin and malleable.
Unfortunately, the instructions give you very little information on bending the complex parts. I found some help in photo close-ups on the Internet (search Google images for
VRC-105 Centauro). Not even mentioned in the instructions, Part PE-A8 is the middle piece of PE-A1, and three parts PE-A7 go into each step formed by parts PE-A12 and 13. No injection-molded parts are provided as substitutes for the photoetched metal.
The only problem I ran into while assembling the turret was that the canvas mantlet cover, Part B45, was too narrow to fit properly. I was able to get a better fit by filing and grinding with a motor tool.
I left off the spaced-armor panels to make sure I could get paint into all areas. The instructions seemed to show the wind sensor (Part B34) going into the same hole as an antenna mount in Step 13, but I was better able to see its proper location in the top diagram in Step 14.
Trumpeter lists several paint manufacturers in its painting guide, but I was confused by the listing of Tamiya XF-20 (medium gray) for the main color of the vehicles. Photos of the vehicle show it as grayish green. I settled on Tamiya XF-77 JSDF olive drab for the base color, lightening the panels by spraying their centers with XF-73 JSDF dark green. The decals went down nicely with a touch of Micro Sol.
It took me about 22 hours to build my Centauro. The finished kit matched exactly the dimensions that I found listed on Wikipedia. If you can handle working with small photoetched-metal assemblies, the Centauro will make a great addition to any contemporary armor collection.
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