T-26 tank

When Rubicon released their plastic T-26 late last year I kew I had to get me one of these iconic tanks. As with others of their kits I was rather impressed by both the quality and detail these guys have managed to put into this kit. Once I had chosen which of the ten possible variants I wanted to make the assembly was straightforward. It also came as a pleasant surprise that there were more than enough parts to build another turret to go with the tank.

The soviet made T-26 tank is based on the British Vickers 6-Ton tank. With 23 different versions in serial production it was to become the mainstay of the soviet army with about 11.000 of all marks produced till 1941. It saw service not only in the Red Army but also in the Wehrmacht, the Finnish Army, with Romania, Bulgaria, Afghanistan and in the Spanish Civil War.

During the Spanish Civil War it was the most numerous tank in the theatre as well as the best one, easily outclassing the outdated Spanish tanks of WW1 origin as well as the German Panzer I's and the Italian CV33 or L3/33 tankette. 281 T-26's M36 were supplied by the Soviet Union to the Spanish Republic. It was captured in large numbers by the Rebels and was highly regarded by their new owners. In fact a not inconsiderable prize money was to be paid to each soldier (or group of soldiers) who managed to capture one of these vehicles in tact. Especially the Moroccan Regulares seemed to be quite adept in this game.

The second turret I built was the M38RT conical version with horseshoe antenna. The two headlights above the main gun give it a quite sinister appearance in my opinion. Should I come round to build me an early Soviet Force for Operation Barbarossa this beauty will come in handy no doubt.

Radio equipment was quite scarce in the red army and thus only the tanks of platoon commanders if any at all were equipped with radios. Communication within the platoon was through hand or flag signals. Arguably not the most effective way of communication especially once the bullets started flying. Thus any tanks captured by the Germans were to be refitted with radio equipment before they were sent to their new formations.

The T-26 was almost obsolete as early as the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Still it soldiered on and even in 1944 some units of the Leningrad front were still equipped with T26's. The last recorded combat action it saw as late as August 1945 during the fighting against the Japanese in Manchuria.

My only gripe with this kit would be the M36 turret missing the rear turret hatch which afaik all Spanish models featured. Still as mentioned above it's an awesome kit and well worth the money. At the moment I'm thinking about getting me another one... or two.

Despite the kit coming with a big sheet of decals, also containing some suitable for the SCW, the Rebel insignia on the M33 turret were painted by hand and honestly I'm quite chuffed how they turned out.