introduction

Replacement barrel from Model Depot for the 2A64M 125mm Main Gun found on the T-64, T-72, T-80, and T-84. This barrel is listed by the manufacturer for use with T-80 kits, although the barrel is used on all of the aforementioned tanks. However, this barrel has some serious shortcomings.

details

This 1 piece barrel is made from machined aluminum and appears to be a direct copy of the oversized barrel in the DML/Italeri/Zvezda kits. Attaching the barrel to the DML/Italeri/Zvezda kits is simply a matter of replacing the kit barrel and drilling a 5/32inch hole to accept the locating pin. SKIF T-80 and T-64 kits need the opening widened to 5/32. SP Designs turrets, based off of the SKIF turrets, are a perfect fit for this barrel. Tamiya‘s T-72 has the barrel already molded onto the mantlet, so it will require gluing the barrel/mantlet together and then cutting off the main gun barrel and then drilling the 5/32inch hole. AEF Designs T-72 turrets and Anubis Designs T-72 turret mantlets are TOO SMALL to accept this barrel, as the base is wider than the mantlet collar.

The barrel offers only one advantage over plastic kit barrels - NO seam to clean/file/sand/worry over. However, the barrel does have a rough machined finish that may hamper the look after the barrel is painted, depending on how think the paint is applied. Prototype photos show the barrel coverings to be smooth.

There are no markings for adding the ridges along the barrel found on Russian tanks. This seems to be a part of the thermal wrap and is a noticeable detail. Make these from evergreen strip, #100 .01x.02 is my suggestion and use reference material for placement. Also, none of the strap buckles are on the barrel or provided as detail, so these will have to be scratch built or scrounged from a PE set.

I used three references for my scale comparison, and as expected, the barrel did not match any of them. The barrel is too short by at least 7mm and is over 1mm too thick. The bore evacuator is too thick by a noticeable 1.4mm and is also too long and placed incorrectly on the barrel. The interior barrel width (caliber) is also the same as the DML piece…4.0mm which equals 140mm at 1:1 scale.

Finally, for comparison, I measured the SKIF, DML, and Barrel Depot T-80 barrels for dimensions:

SKIF DML Barrel Depot Prototype in 1/35*
Barrel length 133.5mm 133mm 133mm 140mm
Base width 7.2mm 8.0mm 8.0mm 6.7mm
Barrel width 5.7mm/5.1mm** 6.4mm 6.4mm 5.3mm
Bore Evacuator Width 7.2mm 7.9mm 7.9mm 6.5mm
Barrel Interior (caliber) 3.8mm 4.0mm 4.0mm 3.6mm

* Best guess based on research material, rounded up to nearest tenth. These may be incorrect.
* *The SKIF barrel has thicker sections on the base side of the bore evacuator and smaller ones in front of the bore evacuator.

in conclusion

This barrel is not worth the money except at deep discount ($1-$2) and only if you just want to replace the DML barrel with a metal one. Otherwise you are better off using the plastic barrel in the kit.

Thanks to My Wallet for providing the review sample.

References:

Concord #7508 “The T-72 and T-90 Tank” 2001 By Steven Zaloga and David Markov, ISBN 962-361-673-2
Concord #7503 “Russia’s Main Battle Tank T-80U” 2000 By Steven Zaloga and David Markov, ISBN 962-361-656-2
Polygon “Tank T-80” 1993 : Gonchar Publishing House, ISBN 5-88541-006-2