"Afrika Corps Tanks Colour?" Topic

Do you differentiate between 8th Army, Italian and DAK tank colours? Indeed were the paint colours markedly different in reality? (prior to being weathered in the harsh desert conditions)

I always think of British tanks as being a sandy stone colour, with the various camo schemes of course.

At Bovington the Italian tanks are in a darker more yellow colour. They have a pz111 which is in a very light green grey.

If possible I do, otherwise they all just look like identical sandy blobs.

British I aim for light stone (which is a pale creamy colour), Italians a more orangey stone and Afrika Korps much more of a browny sand colour.

Various camo schemes help too.

Of course once weathered they still end up looking like identical sandy blobs, but there are some discernible differences.

This is Bovingtons panzer iii

link

I wouldn't call it green unless it has been repainted in the last couple of years.

There was also various schemes as well . I just happened to be reading one of my Panzer Colours series last night and the mud daubed Africa Korps scheme caught my eye. The early Afrika Corps vehicles literally had their grey over "painted" with mud.

I paint my (6mm) British and German tanks desert yellow – the Italians a bit of a greenish tint

The Germans in North Africa went through a few different schemes:

1. Dark Grey: initial vehicles that entered into the field remained in their base dark gray for a short time.

2. Mud over Dark Gray: many vehicles had a paste of local mud applied to the vehicle. This paste was made from either gasoline or water, with the latter weathering far worse than the former. Nonetheless, using either method the scheme quickly weathered.

3. Grünbraun base with Graugrün disruptive pattern (1941-1942).

4. Gelbbraun base with Sandgrau disruptive pattern. Final scheme used till the end of the war in N. Africa (1942-1943).

Also some vehicles might have only received overpaints of Sandgrau, or captured/requisitioned British or Italian paints, sometimes very hastily applied. Finally, apocryphally there might have been a few vehicles (Tiger Is and supporting PzIIINs) painted in a light olive green scheme in Tunisia. This might have been poorly applied dark yellow over the base dark gray scheme. May or may not have happened, but it does look attractive…

The tigers were painted with Italian green paint

I use (and I fully accept I fudge everything to suit myself and I don`t really care what you all think)

Vallejo – Iraqi sand for British vehicles; and Beige for German (DAK).

Surprisingly enough after washing and staining; both colours give a pretty good match to what you see in most painting guides and look very different for one another (making Beute British vehicles stand out among German DAK stuff).

Yep, definately, for the reason Martin gives. My Brits are 'sandier' than my Germans. I think it looks better.

I used Humbrols for these.

Great paint jobs !

@Olicana: Very nice!

I use Vallejo Iraqi Sand for my British&Commonwealth vehicles, Green Ochre for my Italian vehicles (or German Uniform WW2 with green ochre spots), and 879 Green Brown for the Germans.