M51 Ishermans and F4-E Phantom for the Yom Kippur War!

More escalation for the YKW! First we have a platoon of upgraded M51 Shermans from Khurasan. Love that massive 105mm gun right?!?!

I really like these models. They aren't supplied with crew, but I swapped in a tank commander from Battlefront's range. If he looks a little on the larger side, more on that later...

The models are really straightforward to build. I painted them in the usual style - AK Grey-Green, light Agrax Earthshade wash, sponge chipping.

Chevrons pointing forward indicate the second company (pointing down, first company; pointing up, third company).

OK so this marking I completely messed up. The Hebrew letter (aleph) indicates the individual vehicle within the platoon (here, the first vehicle) - the numeral indicates the platoon number (second platoon, in this case). I assumed the opposite when I put on the decals. Ugh. I might fix this, or maybe not.

EDIT: I couldn't not fix the tactical markings so I did that today. First I put second battalion markings on the gun barrels, then replaced the markings on the turrets.

Now we have call signs "Aleph", "Bet", and "Gimel" of the 1st Platoon.

Unfortunately, for some reason the Battlefront decal sheet only had decals for Aleph and Gimel, so I painted Bet's marking by hand. I also put vehicle ID plates on the tanks, they're Battlefront decals too.

So these vehicles are now officially done!

Anyway onto the next thing. This is an Academy F4-E Phantom in 1/144 scale, marked for the 107th Squadron of the Israeli air force, 1973.

Pretty easy to paint, I used the same colours as on my Skyhawks.

The roundels are from the same sheet as used for the Skyhawks, too. The tail numbers are hand-done with a fine-tipped technical pen. The red vertical stabilizer and emblem are distinctions of the 107th squadron based at Hatzerim. This aircraft is based on an illustration in the Osprey "Israeli F-4 Phantom II Aces" book by Shlomo Aloni.

So the only thing about the Khurasan models is that they're a bit smaller than other 15mm models. It's OK when they're by themselves but don't put 'em too close to the plastic Battlefront Shermans. This one is an old metal Sherman, maybe from Command Decision? But still bigger than the Khurasan model.

Stay tuned for more from the YKW. I have a few Israeli jeeps and something for the Egyptians to use to defend themselves from Israeli air attack. Shalom!