AIW Colour Theory

For as long as I can remember I have been interested in the Arab-Israeli Wars (AIW). Even as a young adult I recall reading about the fighting over the Golan Heights (The Valley of Tears) and the image of destroyed T-55s, blown up as they crossed a defensive ditch sticks in my head.

Over the past twelve months or so I have been slowly amassing a selection of books on the conflict, the protagonists, and the hardware. The hardest part has been trying to pin down the actual colour of Israeli Sinai Grey. Due to a variety of reasons the official make up of the colour has never been properly released, add in the issues with local units conducting touch ups, seasonal variations, degradation, an officially changing tone over the years and there seems to be a lot of debate and even the experts have their own recipes. This makes it both frustrating (and impossible) to find the correct colour, but also very liberating as it means you can pick something along the lines of what you like - its the Middle East version of the German Dunklegelb...

So, some time over the next two weeks (between painting French EW infantry) I am going to have a go at painting up some of the M48A3 Pattons and M113s that Battlefront released as part of the Vietnam range. Once I have some work done I'll post up some images...

Israeli tanks - 1967
50/50 mix of
XF 60 Dark Yellow - 988 Khaki
XF 57 Buff - 821 German Camo Beige

50/50 mix of
XF 57 Buff - 821 German Camo Beige
XF 20 Medium grey - 987 Medium Grey

M48 at the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation