Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: Strv 104, Pt 1

The foot holes are a real step up for the crew😅

8:50 “I’m Sure it’s in the manual, but I don’t speak Swedish... and I haven’t seen the manual” 😂

Alternative description: Lanky Irishman enthusiastically mounts a lassie with green trim to check her exhaust port.

"This hatch is now not for drinking, it's diesel" So you say.....

10:38 one could say ... "that was .... exhausting" ...

With all the trouble the British had with tank design during WWII, they certainly overachieved with Centurion as compensation.

Swedish engineering in a nutshell: We find something good, we improve it and readjust it for the nordic climate, and we use it until it's obsolete. Then we repeat.

4:57 we updated the gun from 105 to 120, crew no reactions. we added step ladders to the skirt, and installed some better chairs. crews throws a 3 days party.

Nicholas: This Centurion is covered in dirt because it's a regular runner at the musem Me: Looks suspiciously at the clean Chieftan in the background........

The naming of the tanks is actually really interesting and now it makes sense.

Chieftain squats like Slav Tankest when on engine deck of tank.

9:25 Crouching Chieftain, Hidden Slav

Always nice to hear that a vehicle is still running. There's something sad when I hear a vehicle, tank or aircraft is no longer running or functioning. It's what makes Tankfest so great.

I might be biased as a swede, but for me it's easily the best looking Centurion version. Wish someone would make a 1/35 kit of it in plastic.

Honestly, I love how they've just used track links for the base of the info chart stands in front of each vehicle.

Some comments about the engines 1) It's interesting that the US M4 and M4A1 and the British Cromwell, Comet and Centurion all used modified aircraft engines (Meteor was a derivative of the Rolls Royce Merlin). The Ford GAA used in the M4A3 was a V8 version of a V12 liquid cooled aircraft engine that Ford was developing (Can't let GM's Allison V-1710 have the market to themself) that the USAAF eventually cancelled. 2) US reciprocating engine names. R=Radial O=Opposed ("Boxer") V=V Configuration IV=Inverted V, Not Specified=Inline. Number = Cubic Inch Displacement. The engine used in the M48A3, M48A5, M60 series and M88 series is the AVDS-1790 - Air Cooled, V Configuration, Diesel Fuel, Supercharged, 1790 Cubic Inches. Modifications follow the displacement and are alphanumeric. So, the full name could be AVDS-1790-2A. Interestingly, it is a modification of a gasoline engine used in the M46, M47, M48, M48A1 and M48A2, the AV-1790 - Air Cooled, V Configuration, Gasoline Fuel and Carbureted is implied

We really appreciate that you are one of the few last who do NOT just read from a prompter, instead learning the text by heart. I personally find that much more listenable, if there is a word like that.

4:39 You should find the use and service manuals along with a pad of fault report/broken items forms in their dedicated storage compartment at the drivers position when you go inside. At least that's where I found one when I did my 9th grade job exploration week at an armored regiment machine shop back in 1999 ;)

Not a bad service life for a tank designed in WW2.

G'day Nick, Hats off to you for remembering, let alone saying out loud, that opening explanation of how the Swedes, bless 'em, describe their Centurions. It might as well be Babylonian cuneiform as far as I'm concerned. Still, a good ol' Centurion is, basically, a good ol' Centurion. Much beloved down here in Oz by the older Tanker types. It was an Army mate who organised a totally unofficial inside and out tour of one of our Centurions, many years ago, and it was this experience that gave me my first truly traumatic claustrophobic event. The Centurion was just sitting there but that didn't stop my imagination from running with the thought of trying to do your job, stay alive and what to do if you had to bail out quickly. It was then that I really appreciated the roomy confines of my beloved C-130s. Yet, there was a strange fascination for that, then new, tank. Flash forward to a few years ago and my discovery of your channel. Instantly, that scary yet compelling fascination with tanks was reignited. Thanks to your professional filming and editing; what you do looks seamless and 'easy'. I know now that what you do is not easy and that it takes a lot of time and dedication to bring us your inside and out looks at all things armoured. Thanks, Nicholas. Looking forward to the 'inside' episode. Cheers, BH