At long last, after no less than 4 years of gestation, this project is now completed!
This is a 1/72 ST26 bridge-layer built around 1935 for the Soviet army. Only a few dozens (maybe 60..?) were built, probably from the huge stocks of T26 the Soviet army disposed of at the time...
It is not know (to me anyway!) whether those bridge-layers were still in service at the end of the '30s and whether they were used against the Japanese, the Finns, the Poles or the Germans...
The project was started a long time ago, based upon SHQ's all metal T26 kit (which I had designed) but the tracks were rather poor (it was one of my very first pattern!!) and I soon abandonned the project.
A friend of mine had cast the main bits of the bridge for me, from a single scratchbuilt pattern, and while opening up boxes lately, I found the bridge unit and thought I could re-start this model with Mirage's recent T26 kits.
Mirage's kit is quite nice, well detailled, easy to put together. The tracks are of the vinyl type, but the quality of this material is better than usual, halfway between the too flimsy Airfix/Fujimi tracks of bygone, and too rigid Matchbox ones.
Modifications included a new hull roof, a new very simple cylindrical turret, and the attachment points for the bridge. As you can see the bridge itself is very simple too, and I suspect wooden beams were placed atop once the unit had been lowered in place. This must have saved weight and saved quite a bit of engines from dying too early...
Painting was done with Tamiya acrylics as base coats (the bridge is sligthly lighter in shade than the tank), and weathering achieved with paris plaster (for the dried up mud), artists' watercolours (washes, stains), artists' oils (weathering) and pastels (dust).
All I have to do now is incorporate it into a little diorama of some sorts...