Hi all,

I am starting work on a MiniArt model of the Daimler Dingo in North African colours. Great model, by the way that is going to give me quite a few headaches but that is not the issue here.

I did an online search for images to work out the colouring for the internal bits (MiniArt make great models but give lousy colour detail advice) (well, none actually). The problem is that I saw several photographs of actual vehicles all giving different results. Some showed the inside of the superstructure to have the same colour as the camouflage on the outside, some showed a white (ish) inside and some showed a light grey inside. I assume that the inside colours changed through time, designated area or perhaps per batch?

I am looking to create a Dingo that was part of the 7th Armoured Division at around middle to end of 1942 in North Africa. Was there a designated internal colour scheme for armoured cars that was different from the tanks of the same division? I know that the insides of the M3A1 (Stuarts) and M4's (Grants) were white but that could have been because these were US delivered material and British made vehicles were different?

Any general advice would be welcome indeed.

The Dingo experts will no doubt come to my rescue, but the basics as I understand them are that "open-top" vehicles like the Dingo were painted the same colour inside & out, unlike tanks that were silver inside. (US tanks came with white insides...)

Early arrrivals to the desert were almost certainly in standard SCC 2 "turd brown", eventually repainted in a more practical desert colour when time permitted. So, early transfers from England might be SCC 2 inside & out. When repainted, the insides might, or might not, get repainted too, so you could have an exterior in desert camo and an interior in SCC 2. Later arrivals would have been assigned to the Africa front in production and would be a suitable desert colour inside & out.

I avoid saying exactly which desert colour you need (Light Stone? Portland Stone? Etc), as I rely humbly on the likes of Mike Starmer's research for the ever-changing fashions of British camo! Bear in mind that the dust and mud of N Africa got everywhere, so all the colours would be muted anyway.

Hope this helps as a starter!

That helps me a lot, Tom!

So without having a specific car in mind insides were either SCC-2, which I believe if a rather green olive drab, or the desert camo of the outside, perhaps a bit more vibrant in colouring than the outside simply because there would have been more sun interaction and sand blasting on the outside than the inside, but less vibrant than straight from the can.

I think that will do me very well, Tom. Thanks!

Personally I think I will adopt the green inside, yellow outside look. Should look a bit more interesting that way.