3/13/14 11:34 PM Colours Of '67

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Colours Of '67
Colours Of '67
with James Brown & Phil Yates
The Arab-Israeli War of 1967 presents a whole new palette of colours for
modellers. The Israelis used a range of grey-khaki and olive colours, while the
United Arab Republic used unadorned pale creams, and the Jordanians used
sand, green, and khaki. This article is an introductory guide to painting the forces
that fought in the Six Day War.
One of the most interesting discoveries when researching the Six-Day War was
the scarcity of detailed information. The Israeli Defence Force still maintains a high
degree of secrecy about its operations, while Arab sources suffer from a lack of
cameras at the time and quite limited detail. Even research by modellers looking at
original vehicles comes to conflicting opinions. As a result, this article is our best
guess, but if you have different information then feel free to try something else (and
let us know!).
Painting Middle Eastern Skin
Painting skin tones is perhaps one of the most tricky and most debated parts of
painting miniatures. After a bit of experimentation, we came up with the following
method.
! Basecoat the skin areas in US Field Drab (873).
! Give them a Brown Wash.
! Highlight with a 50:50 mix of US Field Drab (873) and Iraqi Sand (819), and add
further highlights of Iraqi Sand (819) if you wish.
Israeli Tank Markings
The Suez Crisis was Israels first large-scale use of tanks. In it they discovered that small markings were liable to be
missed in the heat of battle. As a result, their markings in 1967 were far larger and more obvious. Unfortunately, their
meaning is still somewhat obscure due to the Israeli penchant for secrecy!
The three most obvious markings were barrel stripes and chevrons indicating the battalion and company, numbers and
letters indicating the platoon and the tanks position in it, and a big stripe for air recognition. The following seems to be
the most common pattern, but others have been observed.
The number of the battalion was indicated by the number of stripes on the gun barrel. Companies are indicated by
chevrons (V-shaped markings) pointing down for the first company, forward for the second company, and up for the
third company. These were painted on any convenient flat panel on the side. On Centurions this was usually the side
skirt. On Pattons, this was usually the turret side.
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Platoons were generally indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4, with the individual tanks indicated by the letters
aleph ( "), bet ( #), and gimel ($) the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The platoon commander may have been
marked as aleph or perhaps just the unadorned platoon number.
A broad white stripe with a black outline formed the Israeli air recognition marking. The stripe ran fore and aft across
the engine deck, and often down the rear plate as well. It may also have been displayed on the turret top as some
photos show this. Halftracks and jeeps had a stripe running across from one front wheel to the other forming a T with
the fore and aft stripe running back to the passenger compartment and often down the rear of the vehicle as well.
Many vehicles also carried battalion or brigade symbols on the front left (looking forward) mudguard, but the meaning
of most of these is unknown.
Israeli Decals Deciphered:
A Guide To Using The Israeli Decal Set
Blake provides a guide and examples for using the Israeli Decal set for vehicles featured
in Fate Of A Nation.
Israeli Decals Deciphered...
Israeli Defence Force
Israeli infantry uniforms were a mix of old British khaki
uniforms, French camouflage uniforms (mainly in the
paratroopers and Golani Brigade), and new olive Israeli
uniforms. Soldiers often had a mix of these with their
jackets and trousers mismatched.
Right: Colour guide for the camouflage uniforms.
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Israeli Armoured Vehicles
Israeli vehicles were painted Sinai Grey, a greyish-greenish-brownish colour that was thought to provide a reasonable
camouflage in the Sinai desert, the more vegetated West Bank, and the rocky Golan Heights. The actual colour of
Sinai Grey is much debated as it seems to change colour with the light. Interestingly, the Israelis painted the bumpers
and wheels (and tracks on halftracks) of jeeps and half-tracks in black.
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United Arab Republic Sinai Field Army
The United Arab Republic operated in the deserts of Egypt, the Sinai and Yemen, so its uniforms were an appropriate
light sand colour. The remainder of their equipment was of Soviet origin, suitably repainted in a sand colour in the
case of the helmets.
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UAR Armoured Vehicles
Arab tanks were supplied in the Soviet Armys standard green paint (Russian Uniform (924)), but were completely
overpainted in a pale sand colour with no camouflage and very few markings. Some tanks may have carried vehicle
numbers on the turret sides, and some pictures show eagles and other markings in parades.
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Jordanian Arab Army
The Jordanian Arab Army was descended from the British-led Transjordan Arab Legion, and as such used a lot of
British equipment. Their uniforms were of local manufacture, but the helmets and webbing were standard British
equipment.
Jordanian Armoured Vehicles
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Jordanian Markings
Jordan used a mix of British and American equipment painted in a yellow colour, with hard wavy lines of green as
camouflage. Some vehicles added wavy lines in black as well.
Their marking system was essentially the British system. Vehicles carried geometric symbols indicating battalion and
company. Red symbols denoted the first battalion, yellow the second, and blue probably denoted mechanised infantry.
The first squadron had triangles, the second squares, and the third had circles. The names of famous Arabic generals
were often inscribed below these symbols. The front right mudguard (looking forward) carried the brigade flash, while
the other mudguard carried the registration plate.
Last Updated On Wednesday, February 19, 2014 by Blake at Battlefront
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