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First things first; I love centaurs! I consider it one of the better models FW/GW have produced,
not to mention the possibilities such a vehicle gives a Guard player.

Sadly, FW items are expensive. One of the army lists I'm considering fields four of these nifty toys.
Now, at £32 for 51 points, I really can't justify getting them at this point. (Not to mention that
Norwegian customs regulations would add +25% to the price ) So now, I'm looking for substitues.

Firstly, I came across this at wikipedia; A Renault 'tankette!'


So I had a look at Tamiya models, and came across these two alternatives:


http://hobbymix.no/MIX/produkt.asp?s=7&kat=8&k=21&m=6&pid=2545&p=Tamiya%2035284%201/35%20FRENCH%20ARMORED%20CARRIER


http://hobbymix.no/MIX/produkt.asp?kat=8&k=21&m=6&pid=2496&p=Tamiya%2032516%201/48%20UNIVERSAL%20CARRIER%20M

In my opinion, both these could work as centaur replacements, given enough 40k'in. The first one is
1:35 scale, while the second one is 1:48. I've read a few threads here stating that 1:48 might be the
best choice, so I guess I'll just have to see once I get to the store tomorrow.

What do you think of these models? Will they work? What scale would fit best?

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

From what I've read, the 1:48 scale seems to work better for 40K, although these models suffer to a greater or lesser degree from the same problem that many non-GW models do - they look distinctly non-Imperial. The Renault looks cool, but has such a different style from most Imperial models that I could see it as a renegade vehicle, but would have a hard time picturing it as a Guard vehicle. The second one, though, looks more Guard and with enough bitz and gubbins could look like it would fit in.

The third one, is the Universal carrier (or BREN carrier) and is pretty much the inspiration for the Centaur.

Carries about the same amount of people, and was one of the first battlefield ambulances as well.

I'd use the Uni Carriers myself. Then again, I do have access to a friend's full-sized and actual BREN carrier (in his yard. Sadly, no BREN gun).

Agreed. I'd go with the Bren gun carrier too.

Inspired by a guy going by the nick of Bungaroo on Warseer, I converted myself a rather classy Centaur. It's a Tamiya 1/48 Krupp Protze truck, a very ubiquitous design used by the Germans for a variety of tasks ranging from radio trucks to ambulances and movers for light AA guns.



More pics on my photobucket

The only real change I made was replacing the crewman with a spare IG torso (the lower half is from the original driver, beefed up with GS and given new feet). The mini is mounted on a base for durability, the front undercarriage is not gaming-proof, and indeed, the plastic parts on mine shattered and have been replaced with brass rod. If you want to build one, I suggest gluing some extra support there.

Moved to modelling

To make sure your size is in line with what you want. Take the dimension from wikipedia or other intranets, and then multiply by the 48 or 36 factor. I did that with my King tiger conversions and it worked perfectly.

In this instance I likethe Bren carrier slightly more (although I like both). Its open topped like the Centaur and has a similar general shape. Put some imperial iconography on and you're good to go.

Here's the Centaur I made for my army recently. It's a 1:35 Tamiya Bren Universal Carrier - I bought a 1:48 first and it was far too small.



It's mostly stock except for the following:

-Obviously, things like the eagle on the front, stubber and search light are just stuck on accessories. Nothing too complex.

- The driver of the original model is kneeling down. Scale wise, it more or less works out if you have a guardsman standing up to pilot it. I used the arms normally used to hold the pintle weapons + the hand normally used to hold binoculars from the heavy weapons squad to hold the steering wheel.

- The back of the Bren is enclosed. To make it more like a Centaur, I removed the rear wall of the Bren.

- Additionally, I removed the engine, which normally fits down the middle of the back. This leaves room for models to fit in with their bases, and so far no one has caught on that the model has no means of propulsion :p

- The rear support beam bit is a cut down track guard from the accessory sprue. But that was really fiddly.

- Rivet it to hell and back.

Nice - it looks more IG than I expected it to, but the additional bits make it look solid.

Agamemnon2 wrote:I converted myself a rather classy Centaur. It's a Tamiya 1/48 Krupp Protze truck

But... it doesn't look anything like a Centaur. It looks like a, well, a Krupp Protze truck. A Krupp Protze truck with a pirate driver... Which rules, incidentally.



Ghidorah

It fulfills the same battlefield role, which is good enough for me. If I wanted something that looked like a FW product, I'd buy one.

Is 1/48 the scale you want when buying non-GW vehicles then?

Is 1/48 the scale you want when buying non-GW vehicles then?

Really hard to say. Basically, 1/35 is too large, 1/48 is too small. I'd go for 1/35 for smaller vehicles and 1/48 for larger ones personally.

GCMandrake wrote:Really hard to say. Basically, 1/35 is too large, 1/48 is too small. I'd go for 1/35 for smaller vehicles and 1/48 for larger ones personally.

I think what you said here fits the bill. I got a hold of one of the 1:35 UC kits earlier today, and had just enough time to put the basic parts of it together. No camera to speak of at the moment, but I'll try to summarize as well as I can.

1. First off, these models are interestingly harder to put together than GW ones. some of the plastics were a bit hard to work with, but all in all the kits are grand.
2. Sizewise:
Length - app. 0,5cm shorter than a chimera
Width - fits in between the tracks of said chimera
Height - about the same as a chimera without a turret

Now I've never seen an actual comparison between the FW Centaur and other GW Imperial vehicles, but from what I've read, the size of the 1:35 UC isn't that far off.
I'd wager it could easily carry more than the 2+5 men a centaur should, at least when you compare it to the capacity of a chimera. My next step now will be to pimp
that ride, 40k style. That's probably the only major drawback I can think of with this model. All in all, I'd say it was a good find. Thank you GCMandrake, for pointing out the 1:35 to me

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

[quote=Agandhjin
al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

The name's a long story, Ghidorah. But originally, it was this guy;



But joking aside, I've hit a snag. I've assembled my 1:35 Universal Carrier, and after a bit of time to think, I'm
not as happy with it as I originally was. I haven't tried painting it yet, sadly because there's something lacking...
Not really sure what that is, but it doesn't feel right. So now, I'm pondering taking a bite of the incredibly sour
apple, and ordering FW centaurs. Which brings me to my next question.

I have yet to see and good pictures of FW centaur models besides those on the FW page. Has anybody tried the
kit? How are they to assemble? How does their size compare to other vehicles? If anybody have pictures of them,
I'd really love to see them!

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid (who actually types up his signature in every post he makes)

Alliance scum...

FOR THE HORDE!




Ghidorah

Actually I have seen centaurs next to chimeras and the centaurs are smaller. I would have went with the 1/48, but you do need to be able to fit a five man squad in there, not sure if that is possible with the 1/48th scale.

The Bren Gun Carrier is quite a small vehicle in real life.

If you want to size a non-GW kit for possible use in 40K, here's how to do it. (I hope this is not patronising.)

Look up the vehicle on the Internets and find its basic dimensions.

Divide by the scale and compare with known GW model sizes.

For example, a real Bren Gun Carrier is 12 feet long, so in 1/48 it will be 12/48 = 0.25 feet = 3 inches. In 1/35 it will be 4.11 inches.

1/35 is much larger but can make vehicles small in real life seem like chunky Imperial vehicles. Like The good old Bren Gun Carrier.

Kilkrazy wrote:The Bren Gun Carrier is quite a small vehicle in real life.

If you want to size a non-GW kit for possible use in 40K, here's how to do it. (I hope this is not patronising.)

Look up the vehicle on the Internets and find its basic dimensions.

Divide by the scale and compare with known GW model sizes.

For example, a real Bren Gun Carrier is 12 feet long, so in 1/48 it will be 12/48 = 0.25 feet = 3 inches. In 1/35 it will be 4.11 inches.

1/35 is much larger but can make vehicles small in real life seem like chunky Imperial vehicles. Like The good old Bren Gun Carrier.

I'm a bit embarrased to say that I hadn't thought of that comparison. Oh well, live and learn. Thanks for the heads-up!

The 1/35 BGC is about as large as a chimera, and that doesn't really work for me. I'll skip by the store and have a look at the 1/48, but I do
have a feeling that it'll be a bit too small.

Still looking for comparison pictures of the FW Centaur and other GW vehicles people. Any help appriciated!

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

Well now, I thought I'd revive this thread instead of making a whole new thread about it.

After a bit of back and forth as to what model I really wanted, I decided to take a bite out of the proverbial sour apple (if that expression exists in english) and order the FW Centaurs. Why? Because I love how they look, as simple as that. And because I'd never really ordered anything from FW before. And mostly because the Grotz I'm working on are a long-term project, I can afford to buy the models I want, and not have to resort to substitutes.

I couldn't really be more happy with my decision! Having received and assembled my first Centaur, I have to say the kit is brilliant.

Packaging; I'm a bit disappointed about having it arrive in a regular cardboard box with a minimal amount of bubble wrap, but I'm told that that's normal. Everything arrived safely, so I'm happy with it.

Mould lines and flash: It seems the smaller the pieces, the worse the outcome. I ordered some Renegades for a friend of mine along with the centaur, and the difference in quality was astounding! While their weapon arms looked like my left-over green stuff workings on a bad sunday morning, the part of the centaur had but minute amounts of both flash and lines. There were some on the heavy stubber-sprue, that nothing major. All in all, the parts look great after a bit of soaking and a quick wash with an old toothbrush.

Assembly: Quick, easy and painless. Nothing to comment on here.

I took a few pictures of the Centaur in comparison to a 1:35 Tamiya Bren Carrier (Thanks GC Mandrake!) and a Chimera chassis. Since my google-fu failed to find any pictures like these when I went looking for them, hopefully someone will have use of these.

First one: Assembled centaur and 5x Grotzmen Grenadiers



Second: Grotzman, Centaur and Tamiya 1:35 Bren Carrier; birds eye view



Third: Grotzman, Centaur and Tamiya 1:35 Bren Carrier; side view



Fourth: Chimera and centaur; birds eye view



Fifth: Chimera and centaur; side view



Sixth: WIP Centaur with Hardened veteran grotz and Grotzmen Grenadiers



As you can see in the pictures above, the Centaur is rougly the same size as a Tamiya 1:35 Bren Carrier, which in my opinion makes it the best substitute kit
out there, should you be so inclined. And the centaur itself, with it's small size and copious amount of detail, is not only a great model, but gives an IG player a great way of getting a fast-moving Troop choice for those last minute objective claims.

Hopefully, this comparison will be of some use for someone out there. For more pictures and such of my grotzmen, have a look at the link in my signature.
Thanks for reading

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid