Preview: Amusing Hobby's Stridsvagn 104 - The Swedish Centurion
Swedish Army Stridsvagn-104
From Amusing Hobby
1/35th scale
Kit No #35A043
New Tooled Kit
Product Link on the Amusing Hobby Website
The Subject: Stridsvagn 104 - The Swedish Centurion
In the early 1950s, the Swedish Army approached the British Government about obtaining the then new Centurion tank for their own armed forces. The British declined any exports, so Swedish medium tank developments were led by the vehicle bureau of KAFT with the EMIL programme which were dropped. In 1953 the British Government agreed to allow the Centurion for purchases and negotiations were back on tracks. After purchasing two Marks (Strv 81 and 101), the former modernized as the Strv.102, the last were maintained in service in the 1990s as the Strv.104.
The tanks in service with the Swedish army at the start of the Strv 2000 project, the Strv 103 and the Strv-104
The Swedes upgraded the earlier Centurion through the Strv-101 and then the 102 which were hardly distinguishable The final variant came with the modernization of a batch of 80 Strv.102's with a brand new, more powerful diesel engine (see later) and upgraded laser rangefinder. But the biggest improvement came from the armor, over which was fit a series of ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) blocks in the designation Strv.104.
The STRV. 104 were issued to the P 6 (Kristianstad) and P 10 (Strängnäs) regiments. Later, these tanks ended up in P 18, which is quartered on Gotland island. This was the last unit to receive Centurion tanks.
One unit trained on these as recently as 2000 but it was demobilized as the Swedish Leopard 2 (Strv 122) became the standard replacement.
This kit from amusing Hobby.
Following on from their earlier Centurion V and Israeli Versions, The Swedish STRV 104 seems like a simple choice! Also this one will be guaranteed great camouflage schemes. Expect many of the same features that were present on our recent Centurion Mk.V review in this kit. We liked it and built that one up in our review...
