Background
Egypt is one of the lesser known operators of
the venerable IS-3M heavy tank. The
Soviet Union shipped about 100 of these tanks to Egypt between 1957 and 1967 as
part of the flood of military aid negotiated between President Nasser and
Nikita Krushchev. Records are spotty,
but it appears that tanks were divided among the Egyptian 125th Tank
Brigade, 7th Infantry division and 6th Mechanized Brigade.
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| IS-3M in a Cairo military parade in the late 1950's. |
The
IS-3M had a host of problems, especially when compared to the more modern
Israeli M48 tanks supplied by Western countries. Among other issues, the IS-3M had a very slow
rate of fire, an engine which performed poorly in desert conditions and a very
rudimentary fire control system. The
IS-3M’s 200mm thick frontal armor was very effective against the M48’s 90mm
main gun at normal combat ranges however and its powerful 120mm gun could
penetrate any armored vehicle in the IDF’s inventory.
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| IS-3M destroyed at Rafah, 1967. |
During
the Six Day War M48s of the IDF 7th Armored Brigade squared off against IS-3Ms
supporting Egyptian positions at Rafah in several engagements on 5 June
1967. An entire IDF tank company was
savaged by the IS-3s before the Egyptian positions were finally overrun.
 |
| This is one of the IS-3Ms captured by the IDF in 1967 employed in a static artillery position along the Suez Canal. The engine has been removed to make room for ammunition storage. |
The
Egyptians eventually lost about 75 of their total force of IS-3Ms during the
Six Day War. About 30 of these were
captured by the IDF in operating or repairable condition. Some
of these, with the engines removed, were employed by the Israelis as static
artillery or pillbox positions along the Jordan River in the West Bank and in
the Bar Lev line facing the Suez Canal.
These saw limited action during the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur
War in 1973.
The Kit
This kit is the only game in town if
you want to build an IS-3M out of the box.
The Tamiya IS-3 kit can be converted into an IS-3M with some aftermarket
parts, but after considering the price difference between the kits ($15 vs.
$45) and the potential extra work modifying the Tamiya kit I opted for the
Trumpeter kit. Its molding lacks the grace
and elegance of the Tamiya kit but it is by no means a lost cause. It can be built into an excellent model with
just a little care and a few aftermarket parts.
The kit includes the correct T-10
style road wheels as well as the revised fenders with sand shields. It
does lack the correct tracks found on late model IS-3Ms as well as some details
found on the hull underside however. This
was not an issue for me since I planned on using aftermarket tracks and the
bottom hull would be out of sight.
This
kit does not have a high part count so assembly was very simple and straight
forward. There were no significant fit
issues or parts that needed excessive cleanup.
I spent most of the assembly time finessing the photo etch parts from
the Eduard IS-3M upgrade set onto the model.
Like
most Soviet tanks during this period, the casting texture on IS-3M turrets was extremely
rough. The molding on the Trumpeter kit
turret was good, but not quite good enough.
I accentuated this effect with Mr. Surfacer 1000 and a stiff nylon
brush. When the stippled surface was dry
I ran a sanding stick lightly over the surface to bring down the sharp
points. In this manner I could replicate
as rough a cast surface as I needed. I
also added weld beads around the lifting hooks on the turret. I used styrene rod softened with Tamiya Extra
Thin cement, then shaped and formed with a hobby blade.
The
lifting eyes on the Turret roof, upper hull and engine deck were molded solid
and needed to be drilled out. Several
were at awkward angles to drill out. I
tackled these by shaving off small sections of styrene tubing and cutting the
resulting rings in half. This created a
nice eyelet which could be glued in place.
The
external fuel tanks presented a special challenge since there is very little
information available on exactly how the fuel lines on the top of the tanks
were arranged. The only clear reference
I could find was on the instruction sheet from the Aber photo etch set for the
Tamiya IS-3 kit. I used lead solder and
fuel caps punched from sheet styrene with a sub-micro punch and die set. I still have some question on the accuracy of
the setup but it looks somewhat credible at least. I also added drain plugs on the bottom of
each fuel cell and weld seams on the side using Archer Fine Transfer products.
All
of the photos of IS-3Ms in Egyptian service seem to show them without the smoke
canisters on the rear deck installed. I
left them off the tank but made good use of the photo etch mounting brackets
from the Eduard set.
Another
detail missing on the rear engine deck was the quick release cables running
from under the turret ring to each fuel cell.
I created these with lead solder.
Some sources indicate
post-war IS-3s utilized a reinforced track links with a stiffener across the
center and hollow guide teeth. Period
photographs show some IS-3Ms with solid guide teeth and others with them though. For the
tracks on this kit I used the Trumpeter Russian 650mm track link set which
contains the correct reinforced type of track but with solid guide teeth. These required little to no cleanup and went
together cleanly. They are a huge
improvement over the vinyl rubber ban type tracks that came with the kit.
The
turret hatches provide some nice interior detail and the Eduard set has a
fairly extensive collection of interior parts for the turret. The diorama I had planned for this kit
required the hatches to be closed however so I fought off recurring attacks of
AMS and posed the hatches shut.
Photographs
of Egyptian IS-3Ms show them consistently sporting a single headlight with no
brush guard so, I filled the locator hole for the right headlight and left the
very nice photo etch brush guards from the Eduard set aside. The power cables are lead solder. The headlight is fixed with a clear MV lens.
Photos
of IS-3Ms in the field in Egyptian service are surprisingly rare. The few I did find (all three of them) appear to show vehicles
that had seen hard use in a harsh climate.
I decided on this build to try some chipping techniques I haven’t really
used much before. First, I gave the tank
a base coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black. I
often do this on armored vehicles since it gives a good opaque coat that makes
it easy to simulate shadows in recessed areas.
I followed this with a coat of XF-13 JA Green. After this coat cured I added chips and
scrapes with Hobbico brand ‘Master Mask’
masking fluid. One of the challenges
that comes with this method is remembering where you placed the small bits of
fluid. I made it a point to photograph
each side of the vehicle once the fluid was in place before it dried. I was then able to use these photos as a
reference when scraping them off.
The
final base coat was made up of a mixture of XF-55 Deck Tan and XF-57 Buff. I followed this with a post shade of heavily
diluted XF-2 Flat White. Once this coat
had set I scraped off the masking fluid exposing the green base coat
underneath. As I took the drops and dabs
off I added small scrapes and gouges with the tip of an X-Acto blade to make
the larger chips seem more natural.
The
result was a pretty stark contrast between the dark green and light beige
desert camouflage. After a light glaze
of diluted XF-57 Buff with an airbrush the chips toned down and blended well
though. The thing I like best about this
technique is that you get a very pronounced 3D effect with the layers of paint
when you pull off the masking fluid. You
can actually see the levels of paint peeling back just like it does on a full
sized vehicle.
The
markings supplied with this kit represented an IS-3M as seen in a parade in
Cairo in the late 1950’s. While it was
tempting to use the large black falcon (it really looks good) that the tanks
sported in the parade, I wanted to show an IS-3M as it would have appeared in
the field in 1967 during the Six Day War.
Unfortunately, I really found no evidence to convince me that they wore
the falcon markings during that time period.
That isn’t to say they absolutely didn’t or couldn’t have, just that I
haven’t seen any proof.
Instead I based
my IS-3M’s markings on a photo of a recently captured vehicle taken in
1967. It has Egyptian Armored Corps
flashes on the turret, and I reasoned likely on the hull front and rear as
well.
Initially
I used decals from the Star Decals ‘Egyptian
Tanks in the 1950’s’ sheet for these markings but they were very thick and
didn’t want to nestle down into the rough turret surface detail.
The color didn’t seem quite right either, so
I scraped them off, repainted the area and started over. In the end I masked off the simple shapes and
airbrushed them on. I think the end
result was worth the effort.
The
only decals I actually used were the Arabic numeral registration plates for the
front and rear mud guards. I affixed
these to small pieces of .13mm Evergreen
sheet styrene. These
decals alone were worth the price of the whole sheet. They add a nice touch of contrast to the
mostly drab vehicle. The Arabic numerals
on the turret side are conjectural to IS-3Ms but are commonly seen on
photographs of other Egyptian AFVs during this time period. I painted them by hand with Vallejo
acrylics. To be clear, most of the marking
placement on this vehicle is conjectural but I made sure to at least keep it in
line with period practice.
Once
the major chipping was done I accentuated them with scuffs applied with a
Prismacolor dark grey artist pencil in high traffic areas on the tank like on
the sand shields and around the hatches and DshK heavy machine gun mount. I followed this immediately with a wash of
Windsor Newton black oil paint. The
black wash is where the detail really began to show itself.
After
letting the wash dry thoroughly I followed it up with a light dry brushing of
ground pastel chalk. I used buff chalk
on the tracks and a very light dusting of brown and black chalk on the desert
camouflage upper surfaces.
The
final weathering step was a very light touch of silver on the friction areas on
the tracks and drive sprocket.
One
photo of an Egyptian IS-3M in the field shows the tank with tarpaulin rolls
strapped in place on the turret grab handles.
I liked this look so I started to add similar rolls made from facial
tissue stiffened and held in place with diluted white glue. The only problem was that what looked good in
the photo just seemed to spoil the distinctive lines of the tank. In the end I just left them off. I think I made the right choice.
Overall this build was thoroughly enjoyable. Keeping the hatches posed shut allowed me to finish it in, what is for me, record time (about two and a half weeks). I'm becoming a bigger fan of more simple kits that don't overwhelm my calendar and get me bogged down on a build that never seems to end.
