Benbros TV Series & Mighty Midgets

No.14 Centurion Tank

No.14 in the Benbros TV Series was a well made model of a Centurion Tank. Like the previous military items, it was based on an actual vehicle developed by the British Army during the post-war years. 

The model of the Centurion Tank had three main parts: the detailed body, the turret rivetted onto it, and the flat base. There were four wheels or rollers fixed to the base on which ran the tracks. Interestingly, the rollers were always unpainted so both the body and base parts of the model were painted before assembly. The mid-green rubber tracks were also fitted before the base was rivetted on and so cannot be removed. With this complexity of construction, it is not unusual to find the base put on upside-down!

The turret on the top was able to swivel in a full circle and along with the rubber tracks this gave the Tank good play value. On the base 'Benbros' and Made in England' were cast, and overall the tank measured about 55mm in length.

The first issue was coloured olive-green and appeared in a TV Series box with a large number on the picture faces. This continued until the switch to Mighty Midgets occurred when the Tank colour changed to a matt dark-green but the tracks remained green.

The final issue was painted in a brighter green and was always glossy in finish. 

The Tank was a popular toy and is still quite common although the final bright green version is scarce.

Variation 1 : Olive-green, TV3 box

Benbros No.14 Tank

Variations

(1) GLOSSY OLIVE-GREEN    green rubber tracks    TV3 box

(2) MATT DARK GREEN           green rubber tracks    MM box

(3) GLOSSY GREEN                 green rubber tracks    MM box

Variation 2 : Matt dark-green, MM box

Variation 3 : Glossy green, MM box

Colour variations (left to right) : 1, 2 & 3

Base detail: Correctly fitted base (bottom), inverted base (top)