Lancia Lince camo colours

[The Great Escape]

Hey all.

I’m after some direction for sources of photographs of the lancia lince.

I’ve got a 1/16 model and want to be as accurate as I can with colour patterns. Internet searches don’t yield that many pictures (the same modern photos of a modern restoration).

Any help with Italian camo would help!

Thanks

[Kingsman]

LifeColor have a set of Italian military colours, as do Hataka.  Patterns varied considerably and could be single, 2 or 3-colour, depending where they were deployed.

 

The CV33 and M14/41 in the Bovington museum, captured in Libya and still in (very grubby) original paint AFAIK would both seem to be in overall Giallo Sabbia Scuro with patterns of Rosso Ruggine.  

[JackG]

Is your subject WWII or post war?

 

Only one vehicle was completed in 1943,  and with the fall of Italy, the factories in the north came under German control.   Consensus appears to be that most vehicles were taken by German occupation forces until the end of the war.  Afterwards, any surviving vehicles were adopted by the Italian police, or used by the military unit 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment Lancers in Aosta.

 

Photos of the German operated Lince seem to confirm the Italian "amoeba" camou pattern continued in production, and therefore likely in Italian paint colours.   The only differences noted is some finishes had wider as opposed to thin outlines of the camou shapes.    Some minor differences could be a result of two different production companies - Lancia and Ansaldo.   Colours are likely splotches of dark green and brown, all of which are outlined in dark yellow.

 

dark green = Verdo Scuro

brown = Rosso Ruggine

dark yellow = Giallo Sabbia Scuro

 

 

regards,

Jack

 

 

 

[The Great Escape]

Thanks both @Das Abteilung and @JackG

 

So German operated but in Italian amoeba camo pattern. Got it!

 

Not the nicest looking paint scheme!

 

I appreciate your help there though.

[JackG]

The Beutepanzer site seems to have the best collection of the Lince in german use;

http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/italy/autoblinda/Lince/Lince-1.htm

 

On the second page is only one photo, and the scheme stands out as quite different.  Looks like the camou shapes were applied to a yellow based vehicle:

 

 

regards,

Jack

 

[The Great Escape]

@JackG

Can I ask one more question about this subject?

 

Miniart make a Daimler dingo and one version they do is shown as an axis vehicle: 

 

I don’t understand! It’s definitely a dingo and not a lince.

 

So why is it German? Captured?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[John Tapsell]

Yes it's a captured or impressed vehicle put into service by the Germans - they called such vehicles Beutepanzer (literally 'booty' tank or armour)

 

The '(e)' at the end of the vehicle designation denotes the original nationality of the vehicle - E for England, F for France, R for Russia, T for Czech etc - Panzer 38(t) being an obvious example.

[JackG]

The Dingo was a very popular vehicle on both sides.  Some were already captured during the battle of France in 1940, and would see service on the Russian front in 1941.

http://beutepanzer.ru/Beutepanzer/uk/armor_car/dingo/dingo-01.htm

 

regards,

Jack

[The Great Escape]

Thanks @JackG and @John Tapsell

That’s exactly what I wanted to know. Britmodeller is an excellent source for learning more about the history behind the subject of the kits. Thanks to you both.

[John Tapsell]

There are also numerous exaples of German vehicles being pressed into service with allied forces but rarely on an organised basis like the Germans did. Many allied units would 'acquire' extra transport. Some were crudely marked with allied starts over the existing German colour schemes whilst others were fully repainted.

 

Hans Von Luck describes how his battalion in Normandy (re)captured a German motorcycle from the 51st Highlanders. When they looked more carefully they realised it was one of their own battalion's vehicles that had originally been captured from them in North Africa.

 

Similarly, this image always springs to mind.

Edited August 5, 2021 by John Tapsell

[Enzo Valentini]

As far as the production of the Autoblinda Lince is concerned, the Regio Esercito never got hold of any production models, as the original order for 300 vehicles was issued in Summer 1943 and remained on hold because of the new political situation (fall of Mussolini and the Armistice). Their production was cleared by the new German authorities on 1 October 1943. The final production number is still unclear though, as a German paper dated 27 February 1945 declares that 104 were produced in 1944 and all delivered. We know however that the official Lancia story speaks of 122 chassis manufactured in 1944 and a final number of 250. 

Regarding the colour scheme, the so-called amoeba is in Italy used also for tank but would be probably most appropriate to define some Regia Aeronautica schemes, is one of the two most frequent schemes on late war Italian AFVs manufactured and impounded by the Germans. 

One is characterised by large blotches of dark greed and dark red divided by a reticle in light sand colour that separates the two previous colours, the second, always with the same three colours, show more rounded dark red blotches on a dark green basecoat, even in this case bordered with light sand. 

The Lifecolor set while not perfect gives reasonably accurate colours, I have not the slightest idea about the Ammo by Mig Italian colours set as I never tested it. 

If you are interested in the subject I might also post some info about the colours of the interiors of this vehicle. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Enzo Valentini