1/35 Israeli Sherman

[Beans]

Somehow this model survived several moves with very little damage.  Some dust, some missing parts and a slightly bent barrel.

I always liked doing Israeli armor because of how they would take something old and retro-fit the living crud out of it.  

This is an early Sherman tank with a aftermarket AMX 75mm turret.

[oldscool]

Cool

[Mike999]

Can be easily restored!  Of if you want to start all over, now Dragon makes a model of the "Egyptian Sherman," with that weird oscillating turret from the AMX-13 tank.  Those were built for Egypt but Israel captured many of them in the 1967 war. 

Weird Trivia:  both Egypt and Israel built tanks with the same 75mm French gun that even fired the same ammunition.  The Israelis modified the Sherman turret to fit the gun, creating the M-50 Sherman.  The Egyptians mounted the whole turret on a Sherman hull, creating the M4/FL-10 tank that you built.

 

[Beans]

1 hour ago, Mike999 said:

Can be easily restored!  Of if you want to start all over, now Dragon makes a model of the "Egyptian Sherman," with that weird oscillating turret from the AMX-13 tank.  Those were built for Egypt but Israel captured many of them in the 1967 war. 

Weird Trivia:  both Egypt and Israel built tanks with the same 75mm French gun that even fired the same ammunition.  The Israelis modified the Sherman turret to fit the gun, creating the M-50 Sherman.  The Egyptians mounted the whole turret on a Sherman hull, creating the M4/FL-10 tank that you built.

 

Very cool info!!  Thank you.  I once planned on doing a whole series of armor from the 1967 war.  I had a heavily modified M113 that unfortunately succumbed to time and moves, along with an old T55 with a crazy swirly paint job.  

I may very well restore this one little by little.  

[Jim B]

Well, that's different.  Well done.

[Mike999]

15 hours ago, Beans said:

Very cool info!!  Thank you.  I once planned on doing a whole series of armor from the 1967 war.  I had a heavily modified M113 that unfortunately succumbed to time and moves, along with an old T55 with a crazy swirly paint job.  

OK, let me tell you more than you possibly ever wanted to know about that...🙃

If you're going for accuracy...in 1967 Israel didn't have the M113 yet.  Even more fun for modelers, in the Six Day War it was still using WWII-era half-tracks as personnel carriers.  The old Tamiya M3A2 half-track will work. 

Some sources say the IDF captured a few M113's from Jordan in '67.  But the IDF didn't get its first "official" M113A1's until 1970.  The difference between the M113 and M113A1 is the engine: gasoline in the original M113 and Diesel in the A1, from 1964 on.  For us model builders, they're externally the same.  The big external change came in 1979 with the M113A2. It moved the fuel tank from the interior to a pair of tanks mounted on the rear.

For a fun IDF build, the Academy M113 kits have been around since the 1990s.  Academy does an IDF "Zelda" version that's a 2-in-1 kit:  either an IDF personnel carrier with the perforated metal armor, or a Command & Communication version.  Academy even changed the interior to the correct IDF configuration, with the crew seats in the middle.

The Zelda kit has a lot of aftermarket stuff dedicated to it, including photo-etched perforated armor to replace the somewhat clunky (and not really perforated) Academy parts.  Academy also makes the IDF "Fitter" engineering vehicle, the M113A1 with the crane on top.

[Beans]

1 hour ago, Mike999 said:

OK, let me tell you more than you possibly ever wanted to know about that...🙃

If you're going for accuracy...in 1967 Israel didn't have the M113 yet.  Even more fun for modelers, in the Six Day War it was still using WWII-era half-tracks as personnel carriers.  The old Tamiya M3A2 half-track will work. 

Some sources say the IDF captured a few M113's from Jordan in '67.  But the IDF didn't get its first "official" M113A1's until 1970.  The difference between the M113 and M113A1 is the engine: gasoline in the original M113 and Diesel in the A1, from 1964 on.  For us model builders, they're externally the same.  The big external change came in 1979 with the M113A2. It moved the fuel tank from the interior to a pair of tanks mounted on the rear.

For a fun IDF build, the Academy M113 kits have been around since the 1990s.  Academy does an IDF "Zelda" version that's a 2-in-1 kit:  either an IDF personnel carrier with the perforated metal armor, or a Command & Communication version.  Academy even changed the interior to the correct IDF configuration, with the crew seats in the middle.

The Zelda kit has a lot of aftermarket stuff dedicated to it, including photo-etched perforated armor to replace the somewhat clunky (and not really perforated) Academy parts.  Academy also makes the IDF "Fitter" engineering vehicle, the M113A1 with the crane on top.

Great info.  I am pretty sure that is the exact kit I built a long time ago.  Full interior and all.  Was totally clueless on the timeline.  I wasn't as much into researching then as I am now.  

[slusher]

 Very nice.

[magicmustang]

Great build.

I have a DML M51 in my stash. It has the parts in the box to build both turrets,  the M50 Super Sherman and the M51 Isherman.

Edited August 25, 2021 by magicmustang

[David G.]

Nicely done!

David G.

[stavanzer]

I've always liked the Israeli Armor. Like you, I am intrigued by the way they cobbled together old or worn out equipment in order to get usable, and in some cases better than original weapons. Really neat stuff.

[Mike C]

Nice build.

[Mike999]

If you're gonna build Israeli armor, you need some Israeli people to put in it!  Lucky for us, MiniArt recently issued 2 good 1/35 scale figure sets of Israeli tank crews.

Miniart #37086 "Israeli Tank Crew Yom Kippur War" is 4 full, standing figures.  One looks a lot like Ariel Sharon, he's wearing the standard olive-green IDF fatigue uniform.  The other 3 are wearing the tanker coveralls, adapted from a NOMEX flight suit, and the post-1967 tanker helmet. 

MiniArt #37076 "IDF Tank Crew" is suitable for a Merkava tank or other modern Israeli vehicle.  A nice touch with this set is a female tanker, which is accurate.  Both men and women in Israel are subject to military conscription.  She appears to be adjusting her helmet so that her pony-tail fits inside, another nice touch. Pic below.

The Yom Kippur War figures would also be suitable for the 1967 Six Day War, if you swap their helmets for the U.S. M1938 tanker helmet, modified with a boom microphone and some wiring.  The tanker coveralls were new then, and rumors spread that they caught fire easily.  So many tank crews continued to wear their regular fatigue uniforms.  There wasn't much "uniform" about 1967 IDF tanker uniforms, as photos from the time show.  

Edited October 14, 2021 by Mike999
goof

[vintagerpm]

19 hours ago, Mike999 said:

If you're gonna build Israeli armor, you need some Israeli people to put in it!  Lucky for us, MiniArt recently issued 2 good 1/35 scale figure sets of Israeli tank crews.

Miniart #37086 "Israeli Tank Crew Yom Kippur War" is 4 full, standing figures.  One looks a lot like Ariel Sharon, he's wearing the standard olive-green IDF fatigue uniform.  The other 3 are wearing the tanker coveralls, adapted from a NOMEX flight suit, and the post-1967 tanker helmet. 

MiniArt #37076 "IDF Tank Crew" is suitable for a Merkava tank or other modern Israeli vehicle.  A nice touch with this set is a female tanker, which is accurate.  Both men and women in Israel are subject to military conscription.  She appears to be adjusting her helmet so that her pony-tail fits inside, another nice touch. Pic below.

The Yom Kippur War figures would also be suitable for the 1967 Six Day War, if you swap their helmets for the U.S. M1938 tanker helmet, modified with a boom microphone and some wiring.  The tanker coveralls were new then, and rumors spread that they caught fire easily.  So many tank crews continued to wear their regular fatigue uniforms.  There wasn't much "uniform" about 1967 IDF tanker uniforms, as photos from the time show.  

 

This is the more appropriate set.