1991 Desert Storm – Iraqi Army Progress

Starting some research on Irqi markings.  None of the photos I can find really have much in the way of defined markings on the Iraqi tanks, so I’m looking into some secondary sources.

My BTR-60s finally arrived, so I can complete building for my 1991 Iraqi Army armored / mechanized force.  BTR-60s are now built, primed, base-colored, and washed.  Additional wash and progress put on ZSU-23-4s and T54/55/Type 59-IIs.

15mm Battlefront, originally for Team Yankee, re-purposed for a 1991 historical Desert Storm force.

So their close-order drill on their morning formation might need a little work (not much cover and alignment in those ranks), but the Marines for my 1991 Desert Storm force are pretty much done.

Next to the Iraqis!  Some of their vehicles are still coming to me in the mail.

Next on to the Iraqis!  I have nine T-54/55/Type 59-IIs built so far, two ZSU-23-4 Shilka SPAAGs, and five BTR-60s on the way, along with a heap of infantry.

USMC vehicles are more or less done here.  As previously detailed, new ERA panels were fabricated and put on the M-60A1s.  Also added missing taillight cowlings for the LAV-25s, and radio antennae to all vehicles.  Added the AAV-7P amphibious assault vehicles, although admittedly on those the scale is a little off (they should be a little bigger).

Meanwhile, also started my infantry in a big way.  Painting is mostly done, with an approximation of US 1991 DBDU Six-Color Desert Pattern (“chocolate chip”) camo pattern (approximation, these are 15mm minis after all).  I’m also not 100% sure on the inclusion of the Dragon ATGW for a 1991 USMC force (I was trained on the AT-4) … so I’ll have to check on that.  This kit was originally US Infantry Platoon for Battlefront’s Team Yankee.

Next steps include a last pin-wash on equipment, perhaps a dry brush on the weapons (light grey / interferon blue), and of course figuring out what I want to do with the bases.

So now that this USMC task force is pretty close to complete (well, the vehicles anyway, infantry and possibly aircraft to follow), there comes the task of updating some of these from “Team Yankee” theoretical 1980s combat to 1991 historical combat.

The biggest example of this will be the addition of ERA panels (explosive reactive armor) fitted to USMC M-60A1 main battle tanks for the 1991 Gulf War.

These are sheets of metal and shaped explosive designed to explode outward when hit with slower-velocity projectiles like enemy rockets, missiles, or HEAT warhead shells.

I have reference material showing how these blocks looked in 1991 and how they were generally laid out, so I’m building my own pieces, coloring and scaling them to fit on my three M-60A1s.

In the course of building up my 1991 Gulf War USMC force, I ran across some old Forces of Valor toys that are in approximately the same scale that would make nice additions.  Okay, they’re 1:144 (10mm) instead of 1:100 (15mm), but given the price people were asking for these same vehicles in Battlefront 15mm, I cut my losses and just used these … once they get a little love, that is.

The vehicles are the AAV-7A1, Amphibious Assault Vehicle used for beach landings by the USMC from the late 1970s to the present day (although back in the day they were formerly known as LVTP-7s).

Again, these are going to be a little off in scale.  But since I already had them, didn’t have to build them, and with just a little love Forces of Valor toys can make really great miniatures in a pinch, and since I had extra parts lying around after building my Battlefront Marine vehicles, I decided to take the easy win and add these two AAV-7A1s to my Desert Storm force.

With the earlier screw ups corrected and painting / washing re-done, I was finally able to put some time toward forward progress on this 1991 USMC Desert Storm force.

Again, the kits being used are the Ryan’s Leathernecks, LAV-25 Platoon, and US Infantry Platoon from Battlefront’s Team Yankee.  However, I am not creating a 1985 Germany Team Yankee Force, but a historical 1991 Gulf War force.  Therefore, the painting schemes are very different and some kit-bashing modifications will be made.

Absolutely nothing against the kits themselves, I’m just using them for something else.

So I’ve had some real set backs on this project.  Once again, I’ve forgotten how murderously finicky and fragile the dark wash can be on any desert army (or arctic for that matter, anything with a lighter base color).  This is particularly true with more modern historical vehicles with such broad, flat panels.

Well, the dark wash on these Marine vehicles went down positively horribly, even though I thinned it considerably.  Fortunately, I was able to save these vehicles with another light coat of desert sand.  This covered the train wreck, I had to mix the airbrush paint myself using watered down craft store acrylics.  Hardly an ideal solution, but it worked.

After that,  pretty much a full day was spent PIN washing these vehicles again – almost an hour per vehicle.  It was murderously time consuming, but I think I have a wash down I can live with.  The American “desert yellow” has come out well (the temperature of the color of course changes with the wash, so you have to air brush with that in mind). and I think I’m in the home stretch of these vehicles.

MEANWHILE:  Also working on my Iraqi T-54s/55s (some with side skirts, some without), and some Type 59 II Chinese imports / upgrades.

ALSO:  Started on the “Ryan’s Leathernecks” infantry that come with the set.  Lots of M16A2 service rifles, M249 SAWs, M203 GLs, an M72 LAW or two, even a small mortar and what looks like a Dragon ATGW.   Again, this was originally for Team Yankee (mid 1980s), I’m adapting it as best I can for a 1991 Desert Storm force.

Started work on my US Marine Corps Desert Storm force – in earnest.  Building and priming was done, now fired up the airbrush (many problems there, but worked through them) and put a sand base color, then a dirt-brown “undersplash”, then started hand-painting tires, tracks, and running gear.  Mostly done with the running gear, but a little more to do for the wheels on the tanks.

For Veteran’s Day I switched gears again and got back to my ongoing USMC and Iraqi 15mm forces for the 1991 Gulf War.  Long way to go on this one, and more vehicles are coming (BTR-60s for the Iraqis, Infantry, and of course Marine infantry and weapons teams as well).

This is a project close to my heart, and one I’ve been putting off for far too long. For almost two years now I’ve been wanting to build a US Marine Corps Team Yankee force, but instead of using them in a fictional war in Europe, I wanted to build them for 1991 historical Desert Storm.

So I finally broke down and bought it all, enough to field a respectable US Marine Corps force approximately as it would have appeared in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, along with some enemy forces I can tweak into the T-55s, Type 59s, BTRs, and other vehicles used by the Iraqi divisions holding this section of the line. Possible recreations may include part of the Battle of Khafji in January 1991.

This project will cover the construction and painting of these forces, using mostly Battlefront 15mm from Teak Yankee and Fate of a Nation.