Zvezda 1/100 T-26 M Soviet Light Tank - Part Two

Well I seem to remember saying how long can this take to make........quite a while it would appear! With one thing and another (Normandy trips etc) I haven't picked a paint brush up in nearly a month. However I'm now back in the groove and to prove it here's the build report on the Zvezda T26 in 15mm scale.

The first job to do was undercoating the five parts on the sprue using Army Painter white primer. Then they were given two coats of Vallejo Russian Green with the G35 Airbrush. I'm just trying out Vallejo's Airbrush cleaning solution for the first time and have found it perfect for the job. I decided to do as much painting as possible whilst the parts were still on the sprue to ease handling.

I think I said there were five parts earlier. Sharp-eyed ones amongst you will have spotted the sixth - a large flag. This is for use in Zvezda's board wargame.

Once dry the sprue was sprayed with Vallejo Sepia wash to form the shadows.

Again, once dry, the whole sprue was dry-brushed with a slightly lightened mix of Russian Green to pick out the highlights. Afterwards the tracks were painted Dark Grey.

The tracks were washed with Vallejo Sepia wash and once that had dried, dry-brushed with light grey to pick out the track teeth etc. As you can see the detail is very fine and crisply moulded with no flash whatsoever.

Finally it was time to separate the parts from the sprue ready for assembly. The sprue attachment points were by-and-large sensibly located and easily cleaned up - with the possible exception of the one attaching the upper hull glacis plate which needs care when cutting (side cutters recommended to avoid cutting into the glacis plate inadvertently). So there we are, just five parts to assemble! This reminds me of the kits you used to get in cereal packets when I was a kid. I cleaned a few of the contact points up before applying polystyrene cement - though the model can be snap-fitted together without glue if desired. I had to open up the holes in the lower hull a little, but this is more likely to be to accommodate the layer or primer on the pins than an error in kit design.

All went together smoothly.I just needed to clamp the front glacis to the lower hull until the glue went off as the right corner was ever so slightly warped.

Once dry, the areas where the model had been separated from the sprue were touched up and the exhaust given a coat of Rust coloured paint followed by Vallejo Smoke translucent paint.

I'm intending to use the T26 as an HQ base for BKC II so I tried it for size on a Warbases mdf 50mmx50mm base with three Plastic Soldier Company figeures. This will be my next project when the tank is finished. (See below)

To finish the model it was lightly dry-brushed with sand paint to pick up the edge highlights and some markings (taken from the box art) painted on the turret. The figures are PSC plastics and the ruined building Mainly Military.

You can see from this shot how critical it is to clip the front glacis from the sprue without damaging the edge. If you were a little over zealous with a knife you'd not get a clean join between the upper and lower hull parts.

Finished as an HQ base for BKC II

 Well that's it finished. A nice little project for a couple of evenings. What's the verdict?
Pro's

• Simple and very quick to build
• Well sculpted and moulded flash free
• Goes together very well

Con's 

• Whilst good value compared to say a Battlefront product, £2.75 for what you actually end up with might seem a little steep?
• If you wanted a commander figure you'd need to carry out some major surgery.
• At the price charged it might have been nice to include some decals.

Overall though, I'm quite pleased with the end product and am looking forward to the promised additions to the range ( I think some are already a reality!).