Diorama: IDF in Africa/ 1973 Yom Kippur War

Part of the Israeli counter-attack against the Egyptian army in the second week of October 1973 took the form of their own canal crossing into Egyptian territory west of the Suez canal. The terrain on this side is in stark contrast to the desert in the Sinai. Here, lush farmland is irrigated by many canals moving fresh water from the Nile river. The Israeli army spent some months after the ceasefire patrolling this area and holding their gains until the withdrawal was negotiated. Below are some photos taken by Israeli soldiers of some of the canals and the war debris that had in some instances found it's way into the waters.

I wanted to display my recently built IDF M-113 and M-38 Jeep in a setting that would give some life to the models. I planned to do a multi-vehicle scene much as in the above photos. Maybe with a T-55 or T-62. The dimensions of the diorama base that I could reasonably fit into my model cabinet would dictate the final layout. As I had seen many photos of aircraft remnants scattered around the locations of the most intense fighting, I economized on my available space by using only a tail section of a MiG-17 to add an element of interest. I used the trumpeter 1/32nd scale MiG-17 for this purpose. The Jeep is from AFV Club in 1/35th scale and the M-113 is from Tamiya, also in 35th scale. The water in my canal scene is made from 2 part Polyester resin (thin type for poring over counters and table-tops) mixed with acrylic pigments for coloration. The base is foam insulation in a large picture frame. texture to the foam provided by a heat-gun and water putty.

And here is the final result: