I've been slowly working on a variety of 28mm Italians for my forces for the 1940-1 East Africa campaign and have managed to snatch a few photos, including a size comparison shot of most of the 28mm manufacturers. These have been done using an army painter wash & highlight, not quite as grand as some but fine for me at 15-20 minutes per figure!
First up is a comparison shot of many of the current manufacturers. This is really interesting, as the Perry Italians are a bit less slender than the plastic 8th Army. They mix just fine, but actually the closest match are the Warlord Bolt Action Italians (originally sculpted by Richard Ansell, I believe). The Warlord chaps have slightly unusual solar topees (looking a little like lemon squeezer hats), but they are nice figures overall and have a great range of support weapons.
L-R: Artizan (x2), Warlord, Perry plastic 8th Army, Empress, Askari, Perry Italian
Close-up of Warlord, Perry plastic 8th Army, Perry Italian
Here's the Italian sergeant again. Lovely sculpt.
These are the 45mm Brixia mortars from Warlord; really clean models that actually look like guys trying to keep their heads down and fire a mortar. The separate heads mean I've been able to do one for the Bersaglieri and the other for the regulars.
81mm mortar & crew from Warlord, again.
Just for fun: some Empress Eritrean Askaris scouting down a sample section of the terrain I'm building for the mountains of Keren. Colonial troops seem to be under-represented in many ranges but Empress and Askari (in the US) make some super models (both for the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-6, but quite adequate for WW2 as well.)