The T-26 tank was a Soviet light infantry tank used during many conflicts of the 1930s as well as during World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and is widely considered one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s.
It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 produced.During the 1930s, the USSR developed approximately 53 variants of the T-26, including other combat vehicles based on its chassis. Twenty-three of these were mass-produced.
The T-26 was used extensively in the armies of Spain, China and Turkey. In addition, captured T-26 light tanks were used by the Finnish, German, Romanian and Hungarian armies.
Though nearly obsolete by the beginning of World War II, the T-26 was the most important tank of the Spanish Civil War and played a significant role during the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 as well as in the Winter War in 1939-40. The T-26 was the most numerous tank in the Red Army's armored force during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
The Soviet T-26 light tanks last saw use in August 1945, during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The T-26 was reliable and simple to maintain, and its design was continually modernised between 1931 and 1941. However, no new models of the T-26 were developed after 1940.

A fantastic topic with many references for T-26

So the model.
I got it for free in a buy one get one for free action at a closing sale of the last model shop in Zagreb .
So far i have done step one,making the chassis.
You have to glue 4 parts together.



Plastic is green and is medium/hard.
Details are good so far,there are some minor mistakes,but almost unvisible.
Fit isn't brilliant but its fine.
Assembly is tricky,would be much better if they had made it out of one part.









Ill try to write as much as possible,so i can help everyone building this kit.

End of Part 1.

Kind regards,Sven

:-H

Do the upper hull peices fit better than the Mirage M-26s? There seems to be much more lower hull detail.

Hi Sven

Great start.
I can't wait to see more of it

I'd like to know why do you paint with the primer large areas of your models before finish

Usually I apply only some diluted putty or some mr surfacer in small areas,such as for example where I've applied the putty or where I need to hide small scratches and few glue traces.
I aplly the primer coat just when I finish. I'd really like to know your method

Cheers

Hey Mauro.

I primered it now,because after applying mr.surfacer 500 its really hard to make details cause you have discoloration,some green spots some gray..
So its very hard for me to see what am i exactly doing,it has no other point,because i later apply another thin coat on all the parts.

Edwin,im sorry,but i dont know the anwser to your question i can only say that the details are good.

Sincerely,Sven.

I understand what you mean Sven

Usually to verify the smmothness of my putty fillers, I paint them with a thiny coat of gray paint or diluted Mr surfacer 1000
I prefere apply the primer when the model is finished because I want to prevent the risk to have a too thick layer of paint on the model.
Moreover if I need to fix a surface flaw with sand paper, I'd strip away also the primer. That will create a color difference that will be visible after the final painting.

Anyway, I think is a matter of taste. Maybe kits cast in plastic gray solve this issue

cheers

Hello Mauro .
Gray plastic is indeed very helpful.
I apply a extra thin coat almost 70% diluted,so i does not fill all the details.

Kind regards,Sven.

Unfortunately no proper update,but just to show you why.
I have been messing with the suspension for 3 or 4 days now (about 10-12 working hours).
The problem is this part:



As you see,two giant sink marks,and there are 16 of these .

I assembled 1/2 of the wheels,as i said it took me almost 12 working hours.
The assembly goes like this:
First you have 16 wheel parts,that are terribly stupid attached to the sprue.
When you take them off,you have to assemble them into 8 complete wheels.



Than you have the part in upper picture,you need two of them to put two wheels together.
When you did 2 sets of 2 wheels,you are ready for final assembly.



To attach the final part consisting of two smaller part,there is a seam when you glue the two parts,which has to be filled.



And in the end 2 pins which secure the wheels on place.







I cant wait to finish these,so i can start some scratchbuilding on upper hull and turret.

Kind regards,Sven.

other refeences

http://anonymous-generaltopics.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-26-diagrams-and-paint-schemes.html

it's really well done so far Sven

Hello, Sven!
Didn't early versions of T-26 had riveted hull?
Or is this OOB project?

BTW, looks like the part C17 had to be inserted from outside of a suspension. On your last photos seems that did it from inside (front suspension only. The rear one seems ok.).

Hello,im doing it OOB,but im still considering to rivet it.
About the suspension,yes its wrongly positioned,but that part is for the other side,i just put it all together so people can see how it looks.
Currently this project is on a pause,i have another one i must finish,
Kind regards,Sven.