Finnish T-26 Tanks

View of the entire platoon

I finally completed a set of eight T26 tanks. for my Finnish force. The T-26 was the most numerous tank in Finnish service during WW2, mostly captured from the Soviets. In Soviet circles, these are known as the T-26 obr1939; the Finns called it the T26C.

All around view. The registration numbers on front and back and made using cut up US registration number decals

The vehicle registration numbers come from slicing up US tank number decals. The Hakaristi (Finnish Swastika) are from Miscellaneous Miniatures. I couldn't find a good decal solution for unit markings so I just cheated and left them off.

This image was the inspiration for the paint scheme

I wanted to try something a little different with these tanks. Previously, I've used the hairspray method for painting winter camo. While it looks cool, I not really found any historic pictures that authenticate its accuracy. Many images of winter camo on tanks show a sloppy white wash, possibly faded and re-applied several times. This is the look I wanted to go for. I was sure I could make this work without it just looking like a really bad paint job.

Another view of all eight T26.

The basic method is as follows:

1. Base coat with Green (Vallejo Refractive Green 70.890)
2. Paint the tracks and roadwheels (Vallejo Black Grey 70.862)
3. Gloss coat, decals, another, and another gloss coat
4. Give the surface that will have white camo an light overall coat of AK Washable White AK751. 
5. go back over with Washable White to create some sloppy swirls and streaks.
6. Use a wet drybrush to add wear around the sharp edges
7. Add a final touch of bright white and some streaks using White paint (Vallejo White 70.951)
8. Touch up with base coat color again add scratches or small chips
9. gloss coat and pin wash for panel lines, vision slits, or any recess that should not have white wash accumulated in it. 
10. Snow added to tracks using Foam Putty

I'll probably do a more in depth tutorial on the next batch.

You may have noticed they're missing crew in the open hatches. I'm going to paint up a large batch of crew for all the tanks at some point in the future. I promise.

T26s along side T28s.

I plan on doing every platoon with a lightly different camo scheme. This will help to keep things interesting while still giving the army an overall matching theme. I did something similar with my 21. Panzer force.

How can these be the same miniatures?

You may have noticed I didn't use the usualy backdrop for these pictures. Here is what it looked like when I tried to use my light box. Very washed out. In person, they actually look somewhere in between these two images.