Finnish T-26 Light Tank companies

The final kit arrived to make up the six tanks I need for two companies under Rapid Fire's rules for the Finnish Continuation War. So, having sorted the camo colours we're all set to go!

As you can see, four of the T-26s are the Pegasus 'E-Z Build' m1933s, while the lead tank in either company will be a lovely Mirage 1/72 m1939 variant of the T-26. Technically, the two Mirage tanks are slightly different variation of the T-26, but the differences are negligible.

I would have really liked to have gotten my hands on a Vickers 'T-26E' - this was a Finnish variation based on the British Vickers 6 Ton tank (the design on which the Soviet T-26 is based). But I just couldn't find an example of this in plastic, resin or diecast.

 It's all a bit complicated but if you want to know all about the T-26 variants in Finnish use then visit this website for a detailed history: Jaegerplatoon.net - Vickers 6 Ton/T-26E tanks and Captured T-26 (ex-Soviet) tanks.

The 'E' in the Finnish T-26E stands for 'Englantilainen' (English/British), because of the Vickers heritage.

Now, I could have made a seventh T-26, as the Rapid Fire rules wargame rules specify an HQ tank for the armor brigade. But six similar vehicles was enough for me and so I am opting to make my HQ tank a captured Soviet T-50 light tank instead. (The Finns capture just one example of the T-50 light tank, and - as it happens - it was used as a command tank.)

I managed to find a diecast model of this less well-known tank on eBay for a nice price - so why the heck not.

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!

Chevrolet Radio Van conversion - Part 7

Some good progress on my Finnish Chevy Radio Wagon. Generally, I am pleased with this model but that's more to do with what I have learned about scratch-building than the quality of the model (or painting) itself.

Black seems to be a good base for me as it gets into all the little nooks and panel lines and so helps provide some pre-shading of sorts.

The base colour I went for was my usual Humbrol Light Olive as you can take that colour either way. You can darken it with shading or bleach it with some streaking and highlighting. I believe proper modellers call this process 'modulation'.

Choice of camo scheme
As this vehicle is something of a 'what if', I have chosen a suitably speculative camp to go with it. It's actually a pre-1943 Finnish pattern - before they made a proper effort to standardise on a three-colour scheme. Though as little reference exists for what individual units did (it seems to have been mainly up to them) I went with a scheme I saw used on MW's model of a Finnish armoured AA truck (because I liked it)!

Having chosen that pattern, I then had to work out how to actually paint it. Airbrushing at this scale seemed out of the question (though technically not impossible with a lot of masking) so I plumped to go old-school with my brushes.

First thing was to outline the pattern using a soft white chalk pencil. This took a couple of attempts as the pattern has to 'wrap around' the vehicle and join up logically.

The good thing about using chalk to mark out the pattern is that you can easily erase it using some blue tack. (At this point I should mention that this initial try at drawing the pattern failed. I got a bit confused by all the lines and when I started painting I realised that the patches of colour would not join up correctly. So I have to re-apply the base coat and start again.)

My second attempt went better and I ended up with a reasonable end product. All the patches joined up properly and the balance between the two main colours was roughly 50/50.

The outlining with the oatmeal-grey was - as you can imagine - a bit of a bitch. It is also probably far neater than the real camouflage actually was applied! But that's a result of the graphic designer in me - lines have to be neat.

And that's where we have got to. I'm touching up a few things and then I will apply a satin varnish before weathering.

The main disaster (there's always one) was the horrendous base coat or rather the reapplication of the base coat. I applied it too thickly in my cold damp attic and it has crazed a bit. I thought o could get away with it but it really niggles me now, but I have gone too far to strip the paint back now (as I would have, were this a display model).

The moral: stick a heater on for half an hour or so before you spray with rattle- can aerosol paint!

Finnish Camo painting tests - Part 2

Right, my first test scheme done (though not weathered yet), I'm moving onto the second of the camouflage patterns based on what I believe to be the correct colour set for WW2 Finnish armoured vehicles. This time, it's a more subdued interpretation of the Finn's 3-colour camo based on examples on display in various museums.

[Note: You might ask why I didn't just base my colour scheme on museum exhibits in the fist place - after all if they are in a museum they are bound to be authentic aren't they? Well, that's a can of worms I don't want to open - suffice to say very little original WW2 vintage Finnish paint schemes still exist, and where they do they are often faded and discoloured. So, in short, if you see a nice Finnish camo scheme in a museum the likelihood is that it is a modern repaint. So determining which of the schemes out there are the authentic ones can be a bit tricky.]

Anyway, 'nuff said - here is my second crack at 'a' Finnish 3-colour camo...(This time using a Zvezda 1/100 T-34 Model 1940 as the test-bed...)

1. Base colours. 
The basic colour I'm starting with is the green, and in this case - despite the official description of the Finn's green element being termed 'Moss Green' - research leads me to believe that the actual green of a 1941-45 3-colour Finnish camouflage pattern was a bluish-green.

I began with a primer coat of Humbrol's No. 30 Dark Green Matt acrylic spray, which is a slightly lighter bluish tinged green than my main coat will be. The main coat was then applied and consisted of a mix of Vallejos' [70920] German Uniform and a dash of [70979] German Camo Dark Green.

2. Grey(ish)
Next, I'm trying out a warm grey - which has a hint of oatmeal colour to it - which I have mixed using some Vallejo Model Color [70990] Light Grey and a dash of Vallejo [70884] Stone Grey...

Amusingly, this looks just grey in my photo which just goes to illustrate how tricky colour matching can be when using photography, Changes in light and exposure can 'warm' or 'cool' colours. You'll just have to take my word for it that there is a very subtle hint of Stone Grey (a soft beige) in there.

I am not going as far as some modellers go through and making this part of the 3-colour camo an obvious sandy-beige. Even model manufacturers - like Tamiya - tend to get very 'artistic' when it comes to interpreting this colour (they have gone full-blown sand).

3. 'Sand Brown'
My preference (note wording) for the type of brown which will represent the very loaded description of 'Sand Brown' is more of a mid-chocolate-brown. In my case, I have plumped for Vallejo's Model Color [70941] Burnt Umber...

The only issue I have with this is the shape of this pattern rather than the colours themselves. But apparently this is an authentic pattern so my personal aesthetics have little relevance. The brown turned out looking a little glossy for some reason, but I will be giving it a spray of matt varnish later so that should tone this down.

Well, that is the basic painting tests done, I'll need a little time to reflect on which I prefer. In the meantime, I will finish off the two test models with some weathering as they are quite nice in their own right.

Finnish camo painting tests - Part 1

I've done several posts about my attempts to understand the Finnish 3-Colour camouflage. I am hoping this is my final tussle with the issue. On the face of it, the job of painting a model of a piece of Finnish WW2 armour should be fairly straightforward - but as I have mentioned before there are a lot of varying interpretations of what is meant by the well-known colour recipe of Grey, Moss Green and Sand Brown. Here are two examples of how this simple recipe can get a little complicated...

This wonderful Finnish T-26 is by Ray Peterson. The colours - even though
weathered - are still quite vivid renditions of the Finnish 3-colour format.

On the other hand, here is an example of Tamiya's relatively new Finnish 'Sturmi'
Stug. This is one of Tamiya's own demo models (photo by Jens H. Brandal). As
you can see, it's quite a contrast to the T-26's colour scheme.

I decided that the easiest way to get a handle of what might look right would be simply to try out a few test models. This might sound a bit drastic but Zvezda makes some very cheap 1/100 models (£2.50) that are ideal for practising and experimenting with colours schemes and weathering techniques before applying them to your full-sized models.

First of all, I created a set of colour swatches so I could see some of the possibilities
available to me. As usual, the colours indicated on the bottles or in manufacturers
literature don't precisely match what comes out the bottles. Colours also 'change'
depending on what other colours they are painted onto so seeing my choices on
a mid-olive was quite an important starting point.

Reference source notes: This first variation attempt at the Finnish 3-colour camo is based upon modellers reference guides, the painting instruction of some model manufacturers and their box art and upon the work of other modellers. It's a vivid interpretation but in a literal sense conforms to the official description of the Finnish colours as being 'Moss Green', 'Sand Brown' and 'Grey'...

So, let's have a go...

I happened to already have an example of Zvezda's 1/100 scale T-26 light tank. This snapped together in less than a minute and I began my painting test with 'a' version of the Finnish Moss Green. I used Humbrol's acrylic 'Grass Green'...

This is pretty striking compared to the usual military olive drab or dark green. However, part of this experiment is to see how these various colour combinations or choices changes during weathering.

After the Moss Green I added the Grey element of the camo pattern. My choice for this was Vallejo's Model Color Pale Grey Blue [907]...

And finally, I added the 'Sand Brown' - which I interpreted in the form of Vallejo's Game Color Beasty Brown [72043] mixed with a little Model Color Burnt Umber [70941] to create a brown somewhere between the two browns used in the example models I show at the top of the page...

Well, that's my first attempt. Not so sure about the vivid green, but we shall see after the weathering stage (it might tone it dow a bit). The grey is a bit bright as well (in its pristine form) but I am quite happy with the brown.

Next I shall try out my alternative scheme - which will be a little more subdued - and then I can compare the looks and choose what I think it the most authentic.

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.