1/35 T-26
Building Zvezda's 1/35 T-26

And finished! Zvezda's 1/35 T-26 Mod. 1933/1935, with Aber metal 45mm and 7.62mm barrels.

The T-26 was a Soviet light tank, and a mainstay of the USSR from when it was first built, all the way up until the beginning of the Second World War. Developed originally in 1931, it was based off the British Vickers 6 Tonne Tank, which at the time was being exported to many countries around the world. The original versions of the T-26 maintained the "twin turret" layout of the Vickers, with 2 turrets each carrying a 7.62mm machine gun. However in 1933, an entirely new turret was developed carrying a high velocity 45mm anti-tank gun, at the time the most powerful tank weapon in the world. It's appearance with this turret became iconic, and the T-26 Mod. 1933 and later variants went on to serve in both the Spanish Civil War, the battles against the Japanese in Mongolia, and the Second World War. For its time the T-26 was one of the best tanks in the world, and it served with distinction until it became obsolete, with a total of over 10,000 being produced.


Despite my initial worries due to this being an older Zvezda kit, it was honestly not bad at all! The fit was not the greatest of course, but being that this is a tank rather than an aircraft it was definitely acceptable, and any gaps were very small. Building the kit didn't take too long, and the most complicated part (other than the tacks 😛) was drilling out a hole in the gun mantlet, to fit the new metal 45mm barrel I purchased seperately from Aber. I am very glad I made the decision to buy this barrel set however, as the barrel included with the kit was possibly the weakest part of the entire kit, a slightly lumpy cylinder with no hole or dent in the end at all. For comparison the Aber 45mm barrel is an excellently machined and very accurate representation of the 45mm 20K tank cannon, and really makes the kit look so much better than it otherwise would of. The inclusion of a metal 7.62mm machine gun barrel with the 45mm one is greatly appreciated, especially as the kit itself came with no machine gun barrel at all! Other than the tracks this kit positively flew together, and I moved right onto the painting.

For painting I (of course) used Vallejo Air paints, primarily from my Soviet tank camo set, which seemed just perfect for this vehicle. The vehicle was primed all over with a Primer coat of 4BO Russian Green, followed by a base coat of Dark Green, these created a perfect match for the real T-26s I have seen. I painted the (not clear) headlight lens using metallic aluminium in order to give it a nice shine, and using German Red-Brown as a rust colour, I painted the exhaust pipe and many small rust details all over, in order to make the vehicle look more weathered. The tracks were painted with a primer base of Vallejo black primer, which was followed with a light coating of metallic gunmetal, and then an even lighter coating of red-brown to give them a worn and dusty look. I also used the gun metal paint for the tools to give them the appearance of metal. Following this I sprayed the vehicle all over with a VERY light coating of red-brown in order to give it a nice rusted weathered appearance. I didn't want the vehicle looking like a wreck, but I also didn't want it to look shiny and new.

For the decals I decided to use the included decals to make my own scheme, one typical of a T-26 with simple red stars. I first sprayed a few patches of pledge gloss where I wanted to place the decals, and once this dried I put the decals down over the top, with a light coating of Humbrol decalfix to keep them in place and make them conform to the surface. Finally once they were dry, I gave the vehicle an all over coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish, with special focus on the decals, which now very nicely blend into the rest of the tank.

All in all, I spent about two days on this tank, and I am incredibly happy with the results. I fully believe this is my best tank yet! ^~^