I have been fascinated by the camouflage of this particular Syrian tank for many years. It is rather unique for the time as most of the Syrian army in 1973 was painted in Sand/ Green/ Grey camouflage.This photo was taken at the Israeli anti-tank ditch along the eastern frontline of the Golan Heights. The gigantic tank battle that took place there was later called "The Valley of Tears". Here is my version of the scene in this photo.

Well executed. Very nice all around. Great job on the cammo. Must have been a real bear to mask, etc., or is the cammo brushed? Either way I'm very impressed.

Great dio ... very well done. Looks very close to the image.

Cheers
Walter

Hi Armorsmith,

It was entirely hand-brushed other than the base coat green which came out of a "rustoleum" camouflage Green spray can. Like I said, this was a quick decision to use an old kit I had lying around. Here is the link to my blog with loads of other photos showing alot of the build-up:
http://edokunscalemodelingpage.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your compliments !

Ed Okun

Nice scene and paint job. From what I have read. This particular tank was from a unit that was from the north....in a mountainous region with Snow, thus the white camo.

Really well done. I'm getting dizzy just looking at the camo!

Great job! I hand brushed my first tank a year or so ago and it was pretty fun!

Looks very nice and the detailing is great! thanks for sharing!

Ed,
I remember that pic from National Geographic when I was a kid. You've done a brilliant job on that camo and dio! Very impressive!

What's interesting about the pic is that each of those tanks in it seem to have a different pattern.

Gaz

Ed, just got the AFV Shot Kal kit for the 1973 version of the tank. It fought right there on that AT ditch. You've inspired me to get it built! Can you recommend a camo guide to Syrian Armor in the '73 war?

Thanks,

Bill

ED,

Outstanding in all respects! Bravo.

Laramie

well done!

Excellent camo work! The dio came out just great.

Robert

Really excellent work Ed- I think you have really nailed the camo and the scene in which you have set it matches the photo quite nicely.

From Ed to Ed: Great hand job! Err... You know what I mean...

Hi Bill,

Syrian camo colors for the 1973 war were primarily a base coat of dark green with oversprayed patches of sand and a purplish-grey color. Robert Manasherob books (Sabingamartin) on the T-62 and T-55 show some of these schemes very well. I think Bison or Star decals had some very good markings and color guides as well. There are loads of photos on Google. Don't worry about patterns too much. The Syrians were all over the place with that. If you can get the colors right, you'll be fine.

As Ed mentioned, both of those books are excellent and have plenty of color art work to inspire a number of camouflage projects, that's for sure.

Outstanding job on this project, Ed! Wow, you have really captured that famous photograph in your diorama! Someone else mentioned that you have inspired them to build their AFV Club Sho't Kal; well you've inspired me to finally buy it along with another Tamiya T-55.

Thanks for sharing your work.

So to finish this project, I had to give it a name plate. Maybe one day I'll make it to a show somewhere in driving distance...

the valley of the tears the most bloody battle of the entire "yom-kippur" war. oct.6-24,1973.1,000 syrian-tanks vs. 7 idf-zahal.the idf win the battle.