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Actually the roadwheels you are using are nearly all rubber, which is why they replaced them...they chunked up really easily and generally didn't hold up that well.
Were there actually 3 types as per http://www.andreaslarka.net/T-26_details/T-26_details.html (scroll down) or do those all metal ones just have the rubber worn off or removed?
Kimmo
At first glance I thought these were T-28 wheels. They are about the right size and look very similar, but they are from Vickers. They are visible on the rear station of a few other Vickers tanks exported to Poland early on.
Both Finland and the USSR were Vickers customers. The Finns, as you know, used both Vickers and captured T-26 tanks at the same time. Finland often resorted to cannibalizing vehicles to keep them operational and that generally, many parts were interchangeable. I note, too, that other parts on the tank at Parola are not original, like many other captured tanks there.
As for the T-26, the original Vickers rubber wheels were replaced in production, at some factories, in 1935. They are appropriate for the first tanks used in Spain. For anything manufactured much later than 1936, they are not correct. That said, there were already quite a few T-26 in the Red Army tank park by 1936, in many versions, so there were still many around when the Germans invaded. Work from photos.
Correct wheels are now available from Комплект ЗИП (Komplekt ZIP). The set also includes replacement suspension and idler wheels to update the kit. Surprisingly, HB do include the late wheels as spares in the kit. They are wrong for the earlier versions, but right for the later ones. Go figger.
There was a recent book by Maksim Kolomiets on the T-26, published by Eksmo. It is essentially a reprint of the Frontovaya Illustratsiya monograph, which has also been printed in Polish. A few years ago Ian Allen published four small books in English on Soviet tanks by Mikhail Baryatinsky, another noted Russian author on Soviet
bronetekhinka. The volume light tanks includes a brief history of the T-26.
Frankly, read Russian authors if you want to know about Soviet tanks. 90% of what is out there in English is out of date. Most of
that is basically rehashed German gossip.
As for the history, in English I suggest David Glantz.
Stumbling Colossus is a rebuttal of the Suvorov debate, and provides an excellent report of the status of the RKKA on the eve of Barbarossa. It is a history book, dull and dry, and there are no pictures.
Regards
Scott Fraser
