T-55A Question (Camouflage; pictures may be needed)

Modeling Subjects Armor
1

I recently got a 1/72 T-55A/AM kit by Revell, and I painted the body, turret, and wheels desert yellow. I’ve ran into a problem. I don’t think there are any T-55A tanks in the desert yellow color with some green camo added. I was gonna do a weathered Iraqi T-55A, but the color doesn’t match up.

I don’t feel like repainting the parts again, so I was wondering if there were any countries that use the T-55A with a desert yellow color along with some neat green camo? Do the Somalis have desert yellow T-55s with a green camo added?

I don’t want my tank just to be all desert yellow. I want some of the green camo added.

Edit: Did the Soviets have T-55s with a desert yellow/green camo scheme at any point?

Any help is appreciated!

2

Some options:

Iraqi T-55 from ODS (OP Desert Storm) '90-'91.

Syrian T-55 from '73 Yom Kippur War.

3

Egyptian T-55… although they do use a German IR searchlight to replace the original Soviet type.

4

Just out of curiosity, were oscillating turrets like the FL-10 ever mounted on T-55s?

5

None that I have ever seen.

6

The FL-10 turret would be a step down in firepower and armor. Dropping from a 100mm gun to a 90mm or 75mm. Also the turret ring on the T-55 is likely larger. On the Sherman it makes sense to replace an early or mid production medium velocity 75mm gun turret with the FL-10. But not on a T-54/T-55.

7

I have an urgent question. What Tamiya paint colors would I need to paint my tank like this?:
Iraqi T-55A

8

I’d go with Buff, some sort of medium gray, and maybe the new JGSDF or RAF Dark Green (sorry I don’t know the XF numbers of those paints off the top of my head.

9

Does anyone know what country this tank originated from? I’m not sure if it’s Iraqi or not. What do you think?

10

I would guess Syrian from the camo, but that is strictly a guess.

11

What are those orange wests on the crew? Look like life wests, but why would they have it?

12

Quoting Biff Tannen’s lackey from “Back to the Future”: Hey maybe the dork thinks he’s gonna drown! [:P]. Actually, they might be life jackets for a water crossing exercise, or just safety vests for training.

BTW, I believe all T45/T55s were delivered in green from the Russian factories, so the undersides most likely should be green.

13

Yes the photo is from a series taken during an amphibious exercise. The tank had just come off of a landing craft.

14

I have built two Hooben T55’s and I painted them both in a middle east camo pattern - after a lot of research the best type of yellow I found for such tanks is MIG oil ochre.

I painted one in a Syrian Yom Kippur war and one in an Egyptian scheme. The Syrian model looks great with green striping of “light Khaki green”. (Also some Syrian tanks of the era even have grey camo stripes, either with or instead of green.)

It is a lighter shade than Russian armor green - which is not particularly easy to find - but a close match I found for that was called “Italian Olive” from krylon. (Some say just to use Olive drab but I don’t, it is not the same as RAG it is too dark… if OD was all I had, I might use it but only after lightening with a lot of white mixed in.)