Syrians on the border!

A couple of weeks ago I found myself wanting to paint something a little different from the T-34s I was working on for a series of web articles, and the Khador I was slowly working through for Ides of March... and I was saving my Dystopian Wars stuff for a post Ides painting session. I snuck by work and grabbed a couple of the packing sample T-54/55s that were sitting next to my desk and viciously attacked them... with an airbrush! I am a little ham-fisted with the airbrush but even with my skill level I was able to turn out what I thought was a pretty nice looking representation of a 1973 Syrian T-54/55.

1973 saw the conclusion of years of small border skirmishes between the Israelis and their Arab neighbours. The Egyptians launched an audacious assault crossing the Suez Canal quickly and efficiently, whilst the Syrians hit the Golan Heights. The Israelis were caught napping on the day of Yom Kippur, one of the holy days of Judaism, with their reserves only being called up hours before the attack.

Back to the test vehicle. I used Tamiya paints for simplicity and after a little trawling I found some recommendations from one of the larger scale modelling sites to get the distinctive green/grey/yellow colour scheme.  I am yet to put any markings on the vehicle as I still trying to hunt down a supply, but in the meantime here it is.

And whilst I remember, big thanks to Victor for his help on giving the blog a bit of a mid-life refurbish as my Photoshop skills barely extend to the ability to use the Magic Wand and Clone tools! He whipped up a new site banner and logo in a few minutes making the whole place look a little cooler!