|
Soviet Light Tank T-26
with
cylindrical turret
UM, 1/72 scale
S u m m a r y |
| Catalogue
Number: |
UM No 361 T-26 |
| Scale: |
1/72 |
| Contents and
Media: |
116 cleanly moulded dark
green plastic parts on three sprues, 2 rubber band endless
tracks, 21 PE parts on two frets, decals for at least one
vehicle (see main text) and 2 double sided A4 sized instruction
sheets with history, parts plan build diagrams and paint/decal
drawings. |
| Price: |
USD$7.98 online from Squadron
|
| Review
Type: |
First Look |
| Advantages: |
Important subject, heaps of
detail and well moulded |
| Disadvantages: |
Rubber band tracks only, PE
on turret looks difficult. |
| Recommendation: |
Recommended with
reservations |
Reviewed by
Glen Porter
UM's 1/72 scale
T-26 is available
online from Squadron.com
As I have already reviewed several
Mirage 1/72 scale T-26s, it’s hard to examine this UM kit
without comparing it to them.
The Mirage offerings are highly detailed but many of the parts
were very small and fiddly and they have those rubber band tracks.
However, the Mirage T-26 kits can be built without using the PE,
which to my mind is an advantage. You are correct, I don’t care much
for PE. This UM kit, on the other hand, is perhaps a little less
comprehensive than Mirage's, but is still well detailed. However,
the PE will have to be used especially on the turret as it forms the
entire side surface. It looks to me like it might be hard to get it
to sit down properly without rolling, as the whole side of the
turret is a cylinder.
Like the Mirage kit, a lot of the parts are also very small and
fiddly and fingers shaped like tweezers would come in handy.
The tracks are of the rubber band type but are endless and, I must
say, I think this is a backward step for UM who usually do link and
length tracks. They are, however nicely detailed and I guess the
proof will be in the building.
There are two colour schemes in this kit; one, on the back of the
box, I assume in Russian use, is in their dark green and has no
markings at all, and the other, in the instructions, in Finnish
colours, has only three markings. However, on the decal sheet there
are a host of markings [numbers, straight lines in various colours,
dotted lines also in various colours and a red/white/red colour
patch], none of which are in the instructions. I know it is the
correct decal sheet because it has the kit number on it.
If you are into PE and can handle the tracks then this will
definitely build into a nice little model. In my opinion though,
it’s not up to the standard of the other recent UM kits.
Recommended, but with reservations.
Thanks to
Squadron for the review sample.
Review and Images Copyright © 2005 by Glen Porter
Page Created 04 March, 2005
Last updated
04 March, 2005
Back to HyperScale Main
Page
Back to Reviews
Page
|
Home | What's
New | Features
| Gallery |
Reviews | Reference
| Forum
| Search