OK everyone I have a two part question for you guys.
1. Did the Afrika Corps have a standard camo pattern that they used on their vehicles?
2. Does anyone have pictures of this pattern?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks Guys!

No, I have seen a number of patterns but nothing that comes close to standard. Most DAK vehicles are shown as monochromatic yellow. I have illustrations of very soft edged green mottling over the base yellow color and one illustration of a Pz III in base gray with a yellow brown cross hatch pattern on the upper surfaces.


See number 1.

Ok, so the sand color I see in most pictures was the basic paintjob on the vehicles?

Based on the refereces I have, yes.

Thanks for the help guys!

Jim

A very good reference for German and British forces during the desert campaign is called
"War without Hate" by John Bierman and Colin Smith.
The book covers the campaign from all sides. Bierman and Smith did a great job starting with the Italian invasion, to Rommel's arrival, to the end of the campaign in May of 43. If you are thinking of doing a piece or a dio from the desert I highly recommend this book. I picked mine up over at Amazon.com for less than $20.
Harry

Jim, this question deals with my favorite subject - North Afrika - I do lots of models and have lots of refrences and have spent WAY to many hours researching camo adn paint schemes adn paint colors and paint chips......good gawd i need a life.

Here goes...

DAK vehicles first arrived in Lybia in 1941 Panzer Gray and were rushed into service before painting. Most vehicles were cammoed in a slurry mud of the local sand that was pasted or brushed on the vehicle. When dry this looks very effective. In many photos it is difficult to tell the difference between paint and mud.

1941 - HM 1941 No. 281 dated MArch 17, 1941 directed that a base of Yellow Brown (RAL 8000)and gray green (RAL 7008) for cammo be used in place of panzer Gray. The yellow brown should cover 2/3 of vehicle and the gray green the remaining 1/3rd.

Realities on the battlefields found the DAK short on supplies so many vehicles were just the yellow brown or yellow brown sprayed over dark gray with some of the dark gray showing fo the disruptive pattern.

1942 - HM 1942 no. 315 replaced yellow brown with a darker sand brown color called Brown (RAL 8020) and Panzer Gray (RAL 7027) for the disruptive cammo pattern. The gray was rarely used. Most verhicles were overall Sand Brown. However stores of Yellow Brown were to be used up first so verhicles in this transition were mixed.

When rommel captured Tobruk, the Germans captured large amounts of British stores and would have used British paints on vehicles as well.

Now on to the Paints...

- Testor's Model Master line has the DAK paints and RAL numbers listed above.

- Humbrol 93 is a good match to RAL 8020 Drown and Humbrol 94 is a good match to RAL 8000 Yellow Brown.

- Xtracolor has a line of RAL paints for the above colors as well.

- there might be others but these are my standards.

Keep in mind that the desert conditions were very harsh on the vehicles and a sandstorm could strip the vehicle to bare metal. Paint colors and shades would vary due to weather and sunlight and how thin it was applied.

PM me and I can send you some scans as I do not have them hosted so I cannot post them in the forum.