Soviet T-26T artillery tractor by RPM 1/35

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. The plastic in the other RPM kits I built was sooooooo brittle, it was almost like working with clear plastic; you know, like when canopy glass breaks instead of bending like normal styrene.

Also thanks for the info on that engine grill.

pinkboy, I'm building this same kit for "The Ostfront" group build so maybe my WIP posts can help you.  Assembly is done and is been painted, but I have to work on some other kits so its been sitting stagnant for a few weeks:

/forums/t/130500.aspx?PageIndex=37

To be honest its a dog of a kti and needs a lot of TLC to make it look decent.  The biggest problem is the fit of the cabin to the upper hull, but there are a myriad of issues to deal with.  I guess it can build up OK ff you dont' mind soft detail, some poorly molded parts and sloppy fit!! 

Here are a couple of websites that I found invaluable for detail references.  I used a lot of T-26 photos for hull details as they are basically the same:  Just watch out for what year the pictured variants were manufactured.  Variants manufactured later had different hull details than earlier variants (like the T-26T)

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/galleries/T-26/T-26T.htm

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/galleries/T-26_5.htm

http://henk.fox3000.com/T26.htm

http://www.thetankmaster.com/english/afv/t26_1.asp

Oh and the instructions would have you cut off the large intake grill right behind the cabin so that you can install a double curved cover over it....DON'T!!  The intake grill molded on is correct for the artillery tractor!  Just cover it with a mesh screen and you'll be good to go!  This isn't the  smaller intake screen at the rear of the engine deck.  That one is OK to add the cover to.

Hope this helps!  Good luck with the kit!

The Airwaves set is #35021 and the Eduard set is 35208. Model Kasten tracks are SK-38 for the T-26. Those are the AM items I have for the kit. There is probably more out there.

Thanks Rob.  That was exactly the type of information I was looking for.  I know what you mean about how it's supposed to be fun.  I think I've gotten myself into yet another modeling project which will be fun to display when it's done, but perhaps irksome to build.  I do this to myself far too often.  Oh well....

Again, many thanks!

george choksy

I've got the kit. It is the exact same kit as their twin turreted T-26 and single turreted T-26, just without the turrets. Even the twin and single turret upper plates are included (with the corresponding turret holes) but are listed as unused parts.

It's an old school Eastern European kit. Thick, flat parts that you have to carefully align. A gazillion delicate individual links on thick sprues. A lot of thick sprues containing mix and match parts. You use some parts off of one sprue, other parts off of another, etc. My sprues are mainly white with the suspension in a very light grey and one sprue in a bone/off-white color that you only use a couple parts off of.

I believe you can use the old Airwaves PE set for the 7TP and probably the old Eduard set for the T-26 (although that is for the Zvezda T-26) for generic grill details and such.

No decals included in my kit and the instructions are a front and back page of photocopied quality. Of the one page sheet front, top half is a parts layout with a brief description of the vehicle in Polish, the bottom half of the page is construction of the hull sides and suspension.

The back side of the page is instructions for the upper hull, tracks and superstructure, with the bottom half of the page showing the right side view of the vehicle with Humbrol colors H114 for the vehicle, H113 for the muffler, H53 for tracks and H67 for road wheels.

I bought mine maybe 10 years ago. It had a price of $19.99 and a clearance of $9.95, but I believe the owner sold it to me for $5-7 just to move it out the store. Never got around to it. I was tackling a couple other Eastern European tank kits and the experience sort of put me off from starting another. (Techmod T-50 and RPM TKS).

Modeling is about relaxation and fun to me. I found neither kit to be either fun or relaxing.

This is the box mine came in.

My friend has built the standard RPM T-26. It's a nice kit for an Eastern European model. Just don't expect awesome detail, or locator pins. I assume the T would not be much different.

Erik

Sorry I can't help you with the build, pinkboy...  haven't had the pleasure of working on this one. You might want to copy your post and drop it into a few more forum catagories (general discussion, etc.).

Never hurts to blanket the landscape.............

Best of luck with it