FV4005 STAGE I "Centaur"

Stage II

I am kinda bored building aircrafts or something so I am trying to build a tank.

Origins

After 1945, the Soviet Union continues developing heavy tanks since the debut of IS-3 and the USSR would continue to produces such tank. The thick and heavily angled armor of the IS-3 making the Conqueror's 120 mm gun barely penetrates it. This terrifies the western countries especially the United Kingdom that have high chance to get invaded by the USSR. As such, the War Office filled a requirement to defeat that armor. The gun must can defeat a sloped armor with 60° of angle, at thickness of 152 mm (6 inches) at range up to 1830 m (2000 yards). Also a suitable carrier to carry the gun into the battlefield. This requirement create the insane gun that have 183 mm calibre – the largest purpose-build anti-tank gun to put onto a tank ever. This gun first intended to put onto an FV200 chassis. And designated as FV215
(if you play WoT/WoTB then you already know what this thing is).

A photo of FV215 scale model.

Another project was also launched to find an alternate carrier for the 183 mm gun into action quickly on an already existing chassis. This meant to constructed quickly in case Cold War turn hot before the FV215 ready. And guess what? this project's name is called FV4005.

Quick brief of the gun

The British Military looked at the 155 mm gun project that would be a standard in USA. Even this big gun lacked the required punch to defeat the IS-3's armor. So the British Military looked at the massive 165 183 mm (6.2 and 7.2 inch) HESH (High-Explosive Squash Head) instead. The 165 mm not meant to K-kill (destruction of the vehicle) but instead meant to be M-kill (Mobility kill) – In this case, for example blowing a track or other component for mobility counted as a kill. The 165 mm was not enough to kill a heavily armored target unless hit the bare armor plate. Therefore, the 183 mm gun would be powerful enough to kill the target into unoperable status. The barrel length is not really known, but atleast the length is 4.5 meters or 30 calibre.

The gun would not be designated until December 1952. The gun design would be serialized as ‘Ordnance, Quick-Firing, 183 mm, Tank, L4 Gun’, and turns out as the most powerful gun ever. The gun barrel length is currently unknown, but somewhere around 4.5 meters (15 feet) and weight of 3.75 tons (3.7 US tons)

HESH as the main and the only shell

HESH was the only ammuntion for the 183 mm. They chosen the HESH shell because their effectivenes doesn't decrease according to the distance, a good choice for a vehicle that meant for support at long range. The shell weighs 72.5 kg (160 lbs) and at 76 cm (29.75 inches) in length. A single propellant contained in a case that have 68 cm (26.85 inches) in length and filled mass at 33 kg (72 lbs). The complete shell had length of 144 cm (56.6 inches) and mass of 105.5 kg (232 lbs). The case propel the shell to velocity of 716 m/s (2,557.6 kph or 1,601.6 mph). When fired, the gun had recoil force of 87 metric tons (86 US tons) and creates recoil length of 69 cm (2.25 ft).

Thank God I was not born to carry the shell and the propellant.

Design of the Stage I

3 Centurion Mk 3 hull used for the testing as the carrier of the gun. Nothing was changed except the turret mechanism and the turret itself. The Stage I itself was locked in gun elevation, but still can traverse (this is where the part get confusing. Some sources state that the turret is fully traversable, but only limited to small fire arc since the recoil would flip the tank, other source state it had limited traverse, just like WoT/WoTB and WT). The turret doesn't incorporate a turret basket, instead ontop of the turret ring was placed a platform where the gun placed on top of it (this is the reason why FV4005 looks so tall). The gun use a concentric recoil system. A tube placed at the breech end, and acting as space saving solution for the already cramped platform. The turret wasn't fully enclosed and the fully enclosed turret was added at the Stage II.

The vehicle in a hangar, as you can see that massive steel thing is the recoil system.

As I mentioned before, the platform is cramped and only accomodate a gunner and a loader (who needs a commander for testing-purpose anyway). The gunner would sit on the left side of the gun, at the back of him there's a big box that meant to storage ammuntion. The locked elevation allowed the addition of the "loading assist" system to help the loader handle the ammo by aligning it with the breech (I don't know how this works so I just put there as static display). This wasn't an autoloader since it lacked a rammer. The recoil spade also added to the hull, this bulldozer shaped thingy is meant to transfer the recoil force into the ground, easing the strain on the suspension. When the vehicle is stationary, it will be lowered to the ground. It's function is by digging into a ground because the recoil force from the gun. And the last thing added to the vehicle was the travel lock to lock the gun in a position if not used (due to the lack of sources while I make this, I just found out that the lock locking the gun at +2° of elevation, and I make this at +0°)

The "Centaur" isn't an official designated name for the vehicle. Well, people call it The Doombarn or the other one.

FV4005 Stage I on trial.

Side view.

In Game feature, system and controls

The only activation group are, 1: Engine 2: Driver's Hatch.
And control is pitch up to forward, down to back, roll left to left and vice versa.
No slider control for this one.
In the near future I will add more feature to it.

The loader carrying a HESH round. On the left side of him is a fully assembeed shell. The actual shell not assembled if in storage. This just used for scale.

A pic showing driver's head and travel lock.

I FORCED TO USE INVISIBLE WHEELS BECAUSE THE ACTUALLY FUNCTIONAL TRACKS MAKES MY PHONE GO BOOM BOOM

Sources:
FV4005 – Heavy Anti-Tank, SP, No. 1 “Centaur”
FV4005 WT WIKI yes, I use this as information source
British Broomstick, the FV4005 | Cursed by Design

Honourable mention

RESTORING THE BIGGEST GUN TANK IN THE WORLD ( FV4005 )
Tanks Chats #124 | FV4005 Tank Destroyer | The Tank Museum

ANIME GIRL AT MY STAGE II, LOOK IT UP

FOR MORE EXPLANATIONS, HELPS AND/OR INFOS COMMENT DOWN BELOW.