1:35 IDF tank crew '1973'

The crew of an Israeli tank from the Yom Kippur War

This multi-figure resin set from Royal Model is designed so that the figures complement one another: each one takes up a different place on the vehicle and looks in a different direction. Thanks to that a relationship arises between them and the finished model stops looking like mere hardware.

The battlefield it belongs to

On the Golan Heights, in the first days of the clash, the fighting for the so-called Valley of Tears took place, where a handful of Israeli battalions held off a force many times their size until the reserves arrived. On the southern front, by contrast, it was about the crossing of the Suez Canal and the fighting in the fortified belt. In both cases the crews spent whole days on their vehicles, so equipment, blankets and crates piled up on the rear of the turret. For a faithful scene from this war that matters as much as the figures themselves.

Assembling the group

Try the layout of the figures dry and only then level the seating surfaces to the particular shape of the turret. Free the resin of grease before painting and apply a thin primer, otherwise the glazes on the skin catch unevenly. A wash a shade darker than the base tone and a fine brightening of the edges will give the overalls depth. Suggest chipped paint on the helmets with a hard graphite pencil.

Which models it suits

• on the turrets of Sho't tanks and Magach series vehicles
• in dioramas from the Golan and from the Sinai front
• for a modeler who wants to man a vehicle in one go
• as the basis of a scene with equipment loaded on the rear

The set is unpainted and without a base.