Armortek

Dear all, quick question, probably daft.....
Anyone happen to know what finish I should use for British vehicles in N Africa early 1940s? Believe I'm looking at "light stone" or "desert pink Z1" - no BS or RAL codes for the latter - but Matt finish or satin as with deep bronze green etc?
I guess even if it starts with a satin sheen, the desert will abrade it to a Matt finish pdq?
Thanks
Kevin

Kevin hi.

For the definitive source, I'd look in two places, one the work of Mike Starmer and the other of Dick Taylor, who had written a four volume series on the subject of British Army vehicle colours and markings.

Mike has written a series of authoritative monographs on British Army Colours and Camouflage, the relevant ones being:

Desert Colours; The Caunter Scheme 1940-41
Desert Colours; Alamein and After 1942-43

Mike's work is self-published and his contact details are: mike_starmer@hotmail.com

He often posts on the Missing Lynx website and you may well find your answer there.

Second source is Dick Taylor. Dick's 4 volume work is called Warpaint: Colours and Markings of British Army Vehicles, 1903-2003 (sounds like a Mastermind subject). The series is based on exhaustive research and is very readable. The relevant volume for you is Vol 2 which covers WW2.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Warpaint-Colou ... S68581XFAX

The post WW2 Deep Bronze Green was, incidentally, a real exception to most AFV colours in that it was very markedly gloss. Ugh - gloss is for fridges and reasonably priced cars......

All the best.

Stephen

Many thanks Stephen, always appreciate your uncanny ability to point us lesser mortals in the right direction

I actually have the Warpaint series. I had thought that while colour and scheme details were well explained, the book was mute on the finish. A quick re-visit shows that GO1650 4th Dec 1942, which introduced "Desert Pink Z1", does actually state all paints should be "as matt finish as possible". I guess it's reasonable to assume that previous desert colours, Light Stone, Portland Stone, etc, were also applied in matt finish.

Having googled Mike Starmer's work (other search engines are available) I have emailed him with a view to acquiring his books. You can't have enough reference material on the bookshelf.

As an aside, great to see you posting about your Cent again. Suspect I wasn't the only one getting withdrawal symptoms...
Thanks again
Kevin