Italian Armour colours?

[Swanningabout]

It's amazing how much info is on the net, but how impossible it is sometimes to find an answer to a simple question. If I paint an Italian tank (such as the M13/40) in North Africa in WWII an overall single colour, what would it be? I have only Tamiya and Model Master Acryl to work with. Would RLM 79 do it? Or XF59 Desert yellow?

 

[Swanningabout]

BTW: when I was wingeing on about it being hard to find info on the net. I didn't mean here at SCA. This place is great for answers. I just meant the net generally.

 

[bdr65]

You would get away with using either german or british paints used in the north african
thearte, as there is no doubt the Italians and certainly the Germans would have used
captured paints on there vehicles. I know Life color paints has an Italian armor color
paint set that you would be able to get paint references from.

 

[Swanningabout]

Thanks for that info. I don't think the hobby shop I go to has Life Color, but I will check it out next time I go there. Otherwise, I might just settle for Acryl's RLM 79 Sandgelb. My impression of the desert war is that there was so much bleaching of paint in the sun, etc., that often many tanks of all sides must have ended up looking similar. But I am still open to suggestions.

 

[spud]

i Think lifecolor do a set for this and you can buy the pots separate if you find it

 

[bdr65]

Yeah, when you take into account sun, sand and sandstorms ,paint would rapidly deteroiate
and bleach in that enviroment. Iam on the other side of the fence as iam going to be
building a DAK vehicle.

 

[Swanningabout]

I was looking at the back of the box of an Italeri small scale Italian armoured car, and one of the colours they recommend for it is 4720, which is Acryl's sand. This is a very light colour. I might go with that if not the RLM 79. But somehow, I had the impression from some earlier research I did, that Italy's colour was more orangey than that. The problem is, when you have armour of all sides in that theatre, Italian, German, British, you don't want them to look all the same somehow. I used to use light stone for my British tanks, but it looks as if that is similar to sand. Hmmm . . .

 

[bdr65]

Swanningabout, here is a reference pic of the L/C's italian armour colours.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lifecolor+paint+sets+italian+armor&id=C46E4D38076B27106698F3137B3F7ABF6F9C567E&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=725C7571F74F0ED75F10B9FB30AB04C6331A325E&selectedIndex=13

 

[Swanningabout]

THanks Spud and bdr65 for the reference to LifeColor. This brand is not immediately accessible to me so I am going to take the plunge and just go with Acryl 4711 Armour Sand.