Wiking 1/35
Komsomolets, Finnish Army 1941-1944 Marks

I recently did an in-box review of the Toga brand 1/35th scale T-20 Komsomolyets Artillery Tractor. It can be found in the archives here. In that review, I mentioned that there were no decals provided. I also said that the instruction sheet showed an actual photo of a T-20 with the word “Harjoitusvauku” on the side and the numerals 452 on the front. I said that I wished that these marks had been provided on a decal and that I was unable to translate the word.

I subsequently got two e-mails from readers in Finland, that corrected the spelling of the word (it should have been Harjoitusvaunu). They said it meant “Training vehicle”. They also both told me of a decal firm, named Wiking, that I never heard of before. They said this firm did Finish WWII armor decals in 1/35th. I contacted Wiking and sent them an e-mail asking how much a sheet would be, including postage. I mentioned that I did reviews for Cyber and never had heard of or seen any of their sheets. I did a build review of a 1/72nd scale BT-42 on Cyber by UM brand, a while back, and had to modify some German swastikas to use on it as the decals in the kit got lost someplace in transit.

I know of no other company that makes Finish “Hakaristi” (their version of the swastika) armor insignia. (and believe me I looked and looked for some for the BT-42 build.).

This particular sheet comes in a cello bag with a instruction sheet. The instructions is a single sheet that is folded over into 4 pages. The first page begins with an actual black and white photo of a T-20 parked in a grassy field it has a large letter L with a small letter r on the front with the numerals 6-35 beside them, all in white. This mark is one of the decal options.

The photo is followed by a history in Finnish only.

Pages 2 - 4 give us five different line drawings of captured T-20’s in Finnish markings.

• A Soviet T-20 Komsomolets in captured Finnish Anti-tank Battalion of the Armored Div. markings, Summer 1942. This is the one, mentioned above, with Lr and 6-35 on the front.
• A Soviet T-20 in captured Finnish marks for the Tank Depot Varkaus, Spring 1940. This one has the word Harjoitusvaunu on the side and serial no. 439 on front.
• A Soviet T-20 in captured Finnish marks, unknown unit, summer 1942. Serial no. Ps 755-8.
• A Soviet T-20 in captured Finnish marks, unknown anti-tank unit, autumn 1941.  Serial no. SA 2342.
• A Soviet T-20 in captured Finnish marks, unknown anti-tank unit, autumn 1941.  Serial no. SA 2344.

The Hakaristi (swastikas) are all in black and white, with some full-armed and some with the Finnish styled short arms. All the lettering and numerals are in white.

I highly recommend these decals. They are all printed in register and look to be of good quality.

I want to sincerely thank Mr. Olli Wikberg of Wiking-Decals for this review sample.

Wiking decals are not available in the U.S. and rather limited in Europe too, Mr. Wikberg says. The decals can be ordered direct from Wiking at:

www.wiking.fi

Their mail address is:

Wiking-Divisioona Oy
Elontie 97 B
FIN-00660 Helsinki
Finland