Monday, July 19

Preview: MiniArt's new 1/35th scale Israeli Tank Crew from the Yom Kippur War

Miniart has given a new set of injection moulded plastic with four tankers in 1/35th scale from the era of the Yom Kippur War in their new "Real Characters" set. We have been able to identify some of these tankers in photos of the time and from the recent "Valley of Tears" miniseries. We see the boxart, and the sprues of the soldiers in our preview...

MiniArt's latest Kit Coming Soon:

Israeli Tank Crew. Yom Kippur War
Kit No #37086
From MiniArt
1/35th scale
From the "Real Characters" series
The kit contains four figures of Israeli tankers
The Subject: Tankers from the Yom Kippur War.
Yom Kippur War was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and during Ramadan, the sacred month of fasting in Islam. It lasted until October 26, 1973. The war, which eventually drew both the United States and the Soviet Union into an indirect confrontation in defence of their respective allies, was launched with the diplomatic aim of persuading a chastened—if still undefeated—Israel to negotiate on terms more favourable to the Arab countries.
Egypt and Syria attacked Israel simultaneously on two fronts. With the element of surprise Egyptian forces successfully crossed the Suez Canal with greater ease than expected, suffering only a fraction of the anticipated casualties. Syrian forces were able to launch their offensive against Israeli positions and breakthrough to the Golan Heights. The intensity of the Egyptian and Syrian assaults began to exhaust Israel’s reserve stocks of munitions. 

Israeli troops wave from the turret of their tank, somewhere in the Sinai Desert during the Yom Kippur War on Oct. 12, 1973.
With reinforcements on the way, the Israel Defense Forces rapidly turned the tide. Israel succeeded in disabling portions of the Egyptian air defences, which allowed Israeli forces commanded by Gen. Ariel Sharon to cross the Suez Canal and surround the Egyptian Third Army. On the Golan front, Israeli troops, at a heavy cost, repulsed the Syrians and advanced to the edge of the Golan plateau on the road to Damascus. 

Soldiers pose on the top of a tank during the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973
On October 22 the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 338, which called for an immediate end to the fighting; despite this, however, hostilities continued for several days thereafter, prompting the UN to reiterate the call for a cease-fire with Resolutions 339 and 340. With international pressure mounting, the war finally ceased on October 26. Israel signed a formal cease-fire agreement with Egypt on November 11 and with Syria on May 31, 1974.

Soldiers pose on top of a tank during the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973
Recently the miniseries “Valley of Tears,” that depicted the 1973 Yom Kippur War through the eyes of three soldiers during that battle. The drama is named after the tank battleground in the Golan Heights, where Israeli troops held back Syrian forces – despite being greatly outnumbered – until the arrival of reinforcements. It surely helped inspire these figures.
The kit:
This is the second set of Israeli tanks from MiniArt, the previous set featured modern soldiers of the IDF - this set goes back to the '70s and the fierce battles of the Yom Kippur War.

Kit No #37076 "IDF Tank Crew" set on the left and the new  #37086 Yom Kippur Set on the right...
The box contains models of four figures of Israeli tank crew during the period of the Yom Kippur War. Some of you might have noticed on the box the title "Real Characters". From what we can discern some of the characters this is based on came from real life, like the centrepiece figure Ariel Sharon. This photo below was taken after another win by Gen. Ariel Sharon Division in the Southern front. Still, he was hit in the head and had to put on a bandage. Next to him are standing Defence Minister Moshe Dayan and Gen. Shlomo Lahat.
Other figures look to be modelled a little on some of the cast from the "Valley of Tears" miniseries...You can see the facial resemblances and the uniforms also are very similar.
The plastic in the set comes on four separate sprues, The figures come with typical tanker's gear, uniform overalls and pistols in holsters.