Italeri As 42 Sahariana

The model 42 Desert Vehicle was developed for the Italian Regio Esercito based on the chassis and mechanics of the AB 41 armoured car. Over the course of the operations on the African front, the need arose for a reconnaissance vehicle specially adapted to the desert conditions, where driving on sand required particular features that were not present on the currently available vehicles.

Thanks to its low profile shape and the big sized wheels the “Sahariana” was the ideal vehicle to perform reconnaissance duties and rapid “blitz” behind the enemy lines. It could be able to adopt several types of weapons such as the Breda 20/65 mod 1935 machine gun, the effective 47/32 anti-tank gun and the 20 mm. Solothurn anti-tank rifle