Hi All,

I am posting some photos of my recent build of an Egyptian T-55 tank from the 1973 Yom Kippur war. I haven;t quite finished it yet and still need to paint the crew. This would be my first post so I may not get the photo up there on the first try. I'll try not to bore you all with my attempts. if i get it right the first time this will be a photo journal of this work in progress


Thanks,
ED

WOW !! I did it!! OK, here i go. These first photos show some of the detail work I did on the hatches and fuel line tubing. I used very fine gauge silver solder for the tubing from an electronics store. The hatch details came from my spares box.




I have used the Friul tracks as i really like the weighty feel of the model with these in place. The way they lay across the roadwheels is very natural.
More to come.

Cheers !!
Ed Okun

Here are photos of the model after I applied the base coat of paint. I used Testors 'Modelmaster' enamel paints. The base color is "British Gulf light stone". The Egyptian army tank crew is actually the "Warriors" African tank crew set. These figures are very animated and I changed them abit by removing the large pockets on the pant legs and putting TINY moustaches on each one to make them appear more Middle-eastern. That was fun and in a very, very microscopic way.....






Cheers !!
Ed Okun

Next step: camouflage. The Egyptian army used a wide variety of shades and patterns on their T-54/55 series of vehicles according to an article written by Vasco Barbic in "Tamiya Model Magazine- Spring 1988. I quote here an excerpt from the article pertaining to colours: During the Yom Kippur war of 1973 the following combinations were applied, more often by brush":

1. Large black patches over dark yellow sand.
2. Large charcoal and light field drab (or light earth) over pale ochre
3. Large Field drab or light earth swaths and clouds over pale ochre.
4. Large Black plus mid-grey plus field drab patches over light stone.
5. Black plus mid grey plus mid green with dazzle bands over light stone.
6. Brown olive patches sprayed over light sand.
7. Coffee and light brick red clouds or wavy bands over light stone.
8.Dark grey olive and light brick red or light field drab over light stone.

So you can see there are endless possibilities and as no two vehicles were painted alike you can exercise artistic license to come up with a generic pattern. My model is painted with "Signalbraun" and "Schokoladenbraun" from the Modelmaster German WWII vehicle range of enamels in a pattern that to me is logical and easy on the eyes.




More to come..
Cheers !!
Ed Okun

Nice work so far, I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Gordon

Ed,
I like your camo!! You might want to consider adding some pla card inserts or clear acrylic lens for the periscopes. They are missing from the kit and add alot to the model.

Chris

Patience pays. This model is nearly complete and I am slowly posting the photos so you can see what I've done here.

My next step was to outline with a fine brush each sprayed area with a thinned mix of each paint color to sharpen the edges as if hand painted by the tank crew. After this I sprayed the entire model with Pledge clear acrylic so that my oil wash would smoothly flow and not create oily splotches.




I read that the Egyptians painted their fenders and sometimes the turrets with white recognition bands so that they would not be confused with the Israeli Tiran 5 tanks. These markings were applied just prior to the assault across the Suez canal. Here you can see how i sprayed a lighter mix of the original colors over the camo pattern to give the effect of sun bleaching of the colors




More to come....
Cheers !
Ed Okun

H

Now I'm really having fun. I have clear coated the entire model and applied the oil paint wash. I didn't want to darken the overall color too much so the oil wash was selective and precise. Corners, recesses depressions etc. were picked out with a "Van Dyck brown" oil color and a very fine brush tip. The oil can be easily removed with a thinner dampened cotton bud if it's too much, or it can be blended or feathered to create subtle tones of weathering. Here are some detail photos showing this stage.









The next step after the oil has dried is to spray an overall flat coat to seal the oil and also to give a base texture for the pastel powders. These were also applied much as the oil wash to enhance details and create a dusty or dirty appearance without the "wet" look.

Cheers !
Ed Okun

great work. Looks real to me : D are you planning a dio for this?

One of the last steps before I move on to figure painting of the crew was finding suitable Arabic numerals for the turret. Usually a 3 digit number in either white or black and quite large appeared on the turret sides. Luckily I had an old dry transfer sheet from 'Verlinden' in my decal collection which had just what I required for the project. This 1/35th scale sheet was for the T-34 and included a full range of Hindu-Arabic numerals, Syrian and North Vietnamese markings. The numbers were the perfect size that I needed. A bonus on that sheet was the individual tank registration plate. This was unique to Egyptian armor of the 60s & 70s and appeared on the front right and back left fender of armor vehicles from that era. See the photos below:








So this brings me up to date on the model's progress. I am looking forward to posting more photos when the crew figures and equipment stowage are finished and I mount them on the tank. I will probably create a simple diorama style base for this model. I have an AFV club Shot-Kal waiting to build and and these will look great together in my display case.

Cheers !!
Ed Okun
.

Nicely done, Ed!! This looks great! I really love the hatch details and the mods on the crew, too!! Looking forward to the finale!

WOW, this looks really good.
It looks pretty realistic in my opinion, since it has much visual deep through the washes.

The tow cables are my favorite, they really look like they were hanging on a real tank for years.

Cheers Alex

Hi

the tank looks realy good. but i mis the rustmarks at your tank. you know in the desert its hot at day and in the night its could and wet so you have a lot of rusty parts at the tanks in the desert.

it would be cool to see the tank at a dio. looking forward to see more.

Here is the final photo of this very enjoyable build, chipping, dust, rust stains and all. By the way, I did fill the vision blocks with clear epoxy tinted with a touch of clear green. Another small touch was the cable for the DshK machine gune. This is the remote firing cable that is attached to the back of the gun and crosses down to the commanders firing handle. The next photos will show the crew mounted in the turret and more details of the AA gun.



Cheers,
Ed Okun.

ok, you've totally insprired me! Awesome job you did on this T-55. Where did you find your reference photos for this tank?

Regards,
Rob

Very interesting T-55. I like how the camo turned, neatly done and the rest of the painting looks great too.
What I really would like to see is that pic of the wrecked tank in the background !!

Cheers
Rob
www.scratchmod.com

Nicely done Ed- the painting is immaculate and the weathering is spot-on too.

Hi Guys,
You asked fr some of the reference photos that I used.
Here you go !!




BRgds,
Ed Okun

Here are photos of the painted crew. Still intend to paint the driver but he is currently on holiday.........




ED

Finally all the tank crew are painted and in positioned.





Cheers !!
Ed Okun

Great build, Ed. The camouflage and finish looks really good. Looking forward to see it with a painted crew.

Thanks for sharing

Great job Ed. Thanks for the views. The track color was inspired by the second color source image, I assume. Will you be posing it on such a surface? By the way, are those crewmen close relatives? (just kidding, they look good)

First off I want to say it is a really nice build. I do have a problem with it. The first 2 of the 3 reference pictures you posted are T54s. Early T54s used the one fuel drum set up, with the drum being flanked on both sides by smoke pots. T55s used a 2 drum set up.

T54s







T55s

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the reference photos and kind words about this model. I have those same photos, but abit smaller. All the pics you posted are T-54s, including the one with the red ID stripe across the back (with 2 drums). Your assumption that all T-54s could utilize the smoke pots and space enough for one fuel drum is accurate. You then say that all T-55s carried 2 fuel drums. That may not be entirely accurate. I've seen plenty of T-55s without drums at all. The four attachment points for the spare fuel drums can be configured to hold one drum, leaving 2 attachment points empty as you well know. T-55s apparently have an internal mechanism for discharging smoke directly through the exhaust so that's why smoke drums would not be accurate hung on the back. I was tempted to add those (I have some MIG productions pots lying in my spares, but it would not have been accurate mechanically for a T-55). As for there being only one drum on my T-55, lets just imagine that this crew ditched the empty drums they started out with and quickly added one full one from a supply depot. Could have happened, why not?

Sorry to disagree with you, but the 2 pictures I labeled as T55s are T55s. Notice no ventilator on top of the turret and both have the chamfer on the bottom edge of the turret that T54s lack. Both have the low profile loaders hatch with no AA MG. Egypt did have a few of the rare T54X which had that style hatch, but it would still have a ventilator, these do not. Also the T55 with the red stripe has T55 finial drives not T54. What I said was T55s used a 2 drum set up, as in when they mounted fuel drums there were 2 As you and I both know plenty of T55s ran with no drums as well as T54s. Using the exhaust to lay smoke was a feature in later T55s. That is why the T54s and early T55s used smoke pots.