Finnish T-26 m1933 - Part 7

Well, I think this is part 7 anyway (having done some intermediary work that involved the Pegasus T-26 models). In any case, this is just a small update to show the completed brace of little Pegasus tanks...

The little Pegasus E-Z Build T-26s went together as advertised, with just  one slight adjustment to the tracks. As I mentioned in a previous post, the track components stick out a bit so you need to sand the retaining pegs to get them to sit nice and flush with the fenders.

A minor niggle, as the two other 'improvements' I made were personal choices. For pure war gaming play, they build perfectly well 'out the box'.

Next is the basic painting of the camo scheme to bring the three new models up to the same state as my pilot example.

Roll out the barrel!

Having rectified my T-26 engine's air outlet cover grill, I only had the model's rather weedy 45mm gun barrel to replace. So, I placed an order with a Polish company - Model-making.eu - for six Aber metal barrels...

£2.15 each, they take the budget price of my Pegasus T-26 models up a bit.

The advantages are clear, the spindly Pegasus plastic 45mm gun barrels are poorly moulded. There is little chance to be able to drill out their barrel and, in any case, the muzzle doesn't have the appropriate rim. Plus, the metal version is perfectly turned, has no mould seam and is nice and straight.

Left: The original Pegasus barrel. Not the best.

I'm satisfied with the majority of the other features of the Pegasus model, really it's very nice even when compared to some of the display quality kits out there.

As a matter of fact, I also need this metal barrel for my excellent Mirage T-26 models. For some strange reason, Mirage included the original Finnish 37mm gun in their Finnish T-26 models instead of the Soviet 45mm gun (which the Finn's retro-fitted to all their versions as the war progressed). This then makes the Mirage models near perfect, and the best models available of the T-26 variants in 1/72.

Ex-Finnish T-26 Model 1933 light tank in the Bovington Tank Museum.
Source: Wikimedia

Finnish T-26 m1933 - Part 4

Just a quickie...

I kinda put this project on the back-burner while I await the delivery of the replacement metal 45mm guns (coming from Poland). But I couldn't resist tinkering with the other 'not so good' aspect of this simple kit - the engine's 'blank' air outlet cover grill, this should have a mesh cover, but Pegasus have fudged this feature.

As it happened, I had bought some scale model mesh material - by Plus Model - and so I thought I might as well rectify Pegasus's omission.

The mesh material is available of different gauges - to suit different scales - and mesh patterns. They are also made out of different materials - some metallic and some, as in this case, a nylon mesh.

You simply cut out a patch of the material to suit your needs - you have to be a little careful as the nylon mesh has a tendency to fray...

I cut an oversized patch and glue it into place - using PVA glue - to help prevent the edges fraying. Then I trimmed the excess away with a razor blade (excuse the terrible photography)...

Even though I was careful I ended up losing the top row of my mesh, were this a display kit I would have had to start again! But as this is just for war gaming I decided to let it past as when it's painted I reckon you might not notice it.

So, there you go. If you have a radiator or other metallic grill (or even netting) there is a solution. I should say I hunted around for a cheap alternative, but even my good old stand-by - net curtain - didn't go down to this fine a mesh.

Postscript: Got the mesh painted in its basecoat black. It doesn't look too bad, so I will add this to all the other T-26s in my forth-coming unit. Just needs some dry-brushing to finish it off...

Finnish T-26 m1933 - Part 3

After a bit of umming and ahhing, I decided how I would equip my Finnish T-26 companies (2 x light tank units of 3 T-26s each). The Rapid Fire rules specify the inclusion of the Finn's T-26E variant, but I can't find a model that reflects that accurately. So I have settled on a unit configeration of two of the cheap Pegasus T-26 m1933s plus one very nice Mirage T-26 m 1939.

Anyway, back to the kit. I'm starting by doing a 'pilot' example of the Pegasus m1939, but noticed a couple of niggles (nothing big).

The tracks of the Pegasus model stick out a bit - they are supposed to be flush with the mudguards. So I ended up sanding down the stubby axels so that the tracks sat closer to the chassis. Also, the 45mm gun is a little bit weedy looking (and a bit bent). So, in this case, I am going to look and see if I can find a replacement metal gun on the internet.

I primed (or base painted really) the tank with a bright green - Humbrol's Grass Green - because I thought it might give a nice glow to the top coat which I am doing in my 'Finnish green' mix (a darker green). Be nice to see what effect this has.

I was brave and experimented with a 'washy' application of the dark green! It's a streaky in places so you can see the bright green undercoat in places. This might be quite nice as it gives a nice variation in tone (I suppose were this a 1/35 scale kit I would have created this effect a little more smoothly by pre-shading with an airbrush).

Does it work? Well, my preference I think is for a flat dark green though I know other might prefer the hint of the brighter green as it conforms to the idea of the Finnish designation of the colour as being 'Moss Green'. Here's a reliable reference photo from the excellent Andreaslarka.net...

Finnish T-26 m1939 on display at the Finnish Armour Museum. This clearly
shows the green as being the dark 'blue-green'. Picture source and copyright:
© Copyright by Andreas Lärka, Finland. Andreaslarka.net

I'm going to see how this runs when I apply the other camo colours - I can always return to my flatter dark green for the rest of my T-26s (and subsequent Finnish armour) if it doesn't 'wash'! ;)

Note the 'creamier' tone of the Finnish 'grey' on this tank. This is the warmer tone of grey I have been trying to reproduce by adding Vallejo's 'Stone Grey' to my mix. But notice how it is nowhere near the sand colour that some model manufacturers use in their painting instructions. (My recipe for my Finnish 'grey' is now about a 60/40 of Stone Grey to Pale Blue Grey paint.)

I'm quite pleased with it.

The results of my recent painting experiments, culminating to my 1/72 T-26.

My 'final' Finnish camo recipe..? So close, but not quite there yet.

I'm a little less pleased that my rough handling of the model during painting has rubbed off some of the dark green. But, then again, I do finish my painting process with a touching up session. Still, I'll have to try and be more careful.

As to the brown, I'm a tone too light and too red - I need a more flat-chocolate brown mix (I will tweak it to be a smidgen darker on my T-26 production run). In fact, I was greatly heartened by an email from Andreas from Andreas.net who said:

Quote: "The Finnish WWII camo was quite dark, so that is a thing to consider (even with the scale-effect)."

This reinforces my belief about the green and the brown. And while the grey is still quite light it will be calmed down a bit once I weather the model.

I continue to be annoyed with the weedy gun though...I will have to do something about that!

Credit: I would like to thank Andreas Lärka - of the excellent Andreaslarka.net fame - who has offered me his assistance (and importantly larger copies of his reference photos) which have helped me identify the colour hues that I am after.

Finnish T-26 m1933 - Part 2

I seem to be on something of a model making frenzy - I now have 3 models on the go simultaneously. What could possibly go wrong?

Hopefully my T-26 adventure won't end badly!

Last night I started my Pegasus T-26 kit (or rather 'kits', as there are two in the box), these will be the start of a total of 6 or 7 T-26s that will form the 'light' element of my Finnish tank battalion. Because there are so many of these little buggers I am relying on the 'E-Z Build' budget kits that Pegasus excel in (though my lead 'HQ' tank will be an excellent Mirage T-26 m1939).

There are just 15 component parts to the Pegasus T-26, which take a lot of the strain off making so many of these models (especially for novice modeller like myself)...

One of the two tank sprue sets you get in the Pegasus T-26 box.

Despite being targeted at the war-gaming/young modeller market (hence the low component count) Pegasus manage to pack a decent level of detail into their models. I think they are superior to other 'quick build' makes like Armourfast, PSC and Italeri (though PSC make-up for their discrepancies in scale and accuracy by giving the modeller a lot of optional choices)...

Nice level of surface detail, down to rivets and tools (you wouldn't get these on
an Armourfast kit)!

Of particular note is Pegasus's one-piece tracks. While - as with all 'quick build' makes - the track links themselves are grossly simplified and not accurate, the general look and running gear is quite nicely done. They even model a bit of 'track droop' on the upper tracks...

Instructions are - as you can imagine ' brief, to say the least. And there is no paint suggestion or decal sheet included - these frivolities are left up to the model-maker to work out...

So, naturally, I soon had the first of my two T-26s put together, with just some minor trimming of sprue stubs (there was practically no flash to mention)...

And there we have it, all done in less than five minutes! It's no wonder these type of kits are popular with war-gamers (who might have large armies of vehicles to build for a game).

I am not  going to be adding any 'improvement's or fiddling around as - to be honest - the level of detail is fine and quite accurate right out the box. I may drill out the barrel of the 45mm gun, but honestly that's it.

On to the painting!

December's stash addition

I said I was going to put the brakes on my new purchases until I started making a dent in my mountain of half-complete projects, and I am trying my best. This month's addition is a single kit!

...Well, technically it's two really. As you will see...

I am starting to move from my auxiliary transport building phase of my Finnish Continuation War project into the - perhaps more exciting for you, my readers - armoured vehicle phase. Last month I bought a beautiful 1/72 Mirage T-26 'Finlandia-45' light tank and this month I follow it up by adding some stablemates.

The Rapid Fire war game rules that I am using as my guidelines for the construction of my Continuation War collection specifies a total of 7 T-26 light tanks for its Finnish (1941-44) Tank Battalion. Now, while it would be nice to have seven Mirage T-26's (they do several variants that served with the Finnish Army) building seven of these excellent - but complex - display quality models seems something like over-kill.

So, I looked around and found that Pegasus Model - who specialise in war game quality 'e-z build' kits - do a rather nice set of T-26s. You get two in the box - which cuts costs drastically - and with only 16 parts to each tank they are (literally) a snap to put together!

A Finnish T-26 Model 1933 on display at the Parola museum in Finland. Note
the distinctive 'cylindrical' shaped turret. Source: Wikipedia.

But I should say that this isn't too big a compromise. Sure, the Pegasus T-26's are nowhere near the quality, accuracy and detail of the Mirage kit, but Pegasus do make some of the best 'war game' quality plastic kits on the market. They include a reasonable amount of moulded-on detail and have the best one-piece tracks among all the war game kit manufacturers (like Armourfast, Italeri and PSC).

The Pegasus tanks are also of a slightly different version of the T-26 - the T-26 m1933 (while the Mirage kit is a T-29 m1939 with the conical shaped turret. The Rapid Fire rules specify a mix of both the 1933 and 1939 models so that's convenient, my only worry is the comparative scale of the two makes.