New Model Point set contains a Soviet/Russian 14.5 mm KPVT heavy machine gun barrel. According to the information on the label on the set package the barrel is suitable for Dragon and Zvezda BTR-70 and BTR-80 kits, for SKIF BTR-152E kit and for conversion of Zvezda BTR-80A model to BTR-80S variant.
In a single plastic zip-bag we get three machined brass parts and two short lengths of wire. Also provided is a small instruction sheet.
The muzzle / flash supressor piece fits snuggly to front end of main barrel / cooling sleeve part. The fit of the small cylinrical piece to the rear end of barrel is not so good. There is a lot of play between parts - the diameter of pin that is supposed to fit inside the main barrel tube is much too small. It is easy to fix, but seems to be obvious mistake during production of parts. To finish off the assembly it is necessary to use provided wire pieces. From the thinner 0.2 mm diameter wire only two short 1 mm pieces are needed to provide additional details on the cooling sleeve side. The thicker 0.4 mm diameter wire is provided to make a barrel change handle. The exact dimensions of the handle in 1/35 scale are given on the instruction sheet to help in bending the wire, but the actuall hand grip part is not provided and must be added by a modeler.
Brass parts are excellently machined. Hollowed flash suppressor cone has thin in-scale looking walls and perforations on barrel cooling sleeve while only reproduced as rectangular depressions look great.
I don't have enough references to say anything meaningful about accuracy of the barrel other than that it looks exactly like the gun on a few photos of the real thing I managed to find. I took a photo of the barrel parts with the metric scale next to it, so those of you who know the true dimentions of the KPVT can check the accuracy of Model Point product themselves.
As I don't have any of the target kits for which the Model Point set is designed, I cannot comment on how easy or difficult it is to replace barrels provided in those kits with brass parts.
Model Point set parts look great and despite a small problem with loose fit of one the parts it shouldn't be too difficult to use. The handle details make this set a bit more complex than avarage replacement metal barrel, but the extra effort needed to assemble it should pay off once the model is finished.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Mikhail Putnikov of Model Point for the review sample!
SUMMARY
Model Point set parts look great and despite a small problem with loose fit of one the parts it shouldn't be too difficult to use.
About Pawel Krupowicz (Vodnik) FROM: WARSZAWA, POLAND
As first lines of this bio appear under all my reviews, I feel it is important that I start with this information: In March 2005 I ventured into the other side of modeling "industry" - I was not only building model kits, but also helping design them as a consultant for Dragon Models Ltd.. These days...
