Most Italian AFV's in Libya and Egypt were in a "sand" shade. This was much browner and darker than British Stone or DAK Gelb yellow at least before the sun weathered it to a lighter shade. In around 1942 Italian armour appeared in an even darker sand shade, factory applied. Some vehicles sported green wavy lines over the sand (both shades). In the early days (1940) some CV33/35 and M11/39 appeared in either rust brown with dark green blotches or dark green with rust brown spotches. Some photos show what looks like normal sand shade also (but hard to tell from B/W photos). At Beda Fomm the Australian Official history refers to "dark green tanks" and photographic evidence seems to confirm this, the M13/40s appearing a very dark shade. At the same location there's a very distinctive M11/39 in sand with geometric triangular shapes in green. I have some Italian acrylics (Lifecolor) which are the best match I've seen. They list equivilents. Lifecolor UA080 mimetic yellow 3 Federal Standard 33434 only equivalent Gunze H34. For the record: Lifecolor: UA107 light sand no equivilents FS 33448 UA115 mimetic green 1 no equivilents FS 34258 UA088 mimetic brown 2 Humbrol 180, Tamiya XF9, Gunze H33, Testor 1785 FS 30109 Note the dark yellow colour was apparently "short-lived" being replaced by the lighter sand colour which it briefly superceded. Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 3 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com