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I think the T90 still uses an auto loader, that’s why the barrel returns each time

Soviet tanks from the T-64 onwards used autoloaders to reduce the silhouette and mass of the vehicle. You can make a tank a lot shorter if a man doesn't need to stand up inside it, and if it's shorter you can have the same armour thickness for less weight.

Great work, both Kinji and Jürgen! The more things that move, light up or open and close on a R/C model the better. The glow from the Shtora-1 emitters is particularly good!

I thought it might have something to do with the reload, fort the timing in the model suggested so. I was thinking that the gun tipped so the breach was low enough for a crew member to reload from the lower hull. Oh, yeah, an automatic loader.... Duh!

The US would rather have a loader as a person than as an autoloader by doctrine. One more person to share maintenance and no hassles if the autoloader malfunctions. They do break and when they do your tank just became a big paper weight. Some guns raise automatically after the firing sequence as part of evacuating the gas from the bore. The Abrams doesn't do this as it has a bore evacuator on the gun, but the T90 doesn't have a bore evacuator as far as I know.

Here:

you can see how looks like the crew work on the T72B? . The autoloader can break your hand during such playing with the camera ...
The design and sequence of the autoloader in T72B... is the same ( or almost ) like that in the T90, so you have an idea of what working in the Soviets tank looks like. In the Polish Army, we said:
"F#€%&*d Like in a Russian Tank" - which is exactly what this movie shows. And forgive the soldier's juicy vocabular.

And here

you can see a comparison of the work of the autoloader in the family of T-72/T-90 and T-64/T-80 tanks.

tankme wrote:The US would rather have a loader as a person than as an autoloader by doctrine. One more person to share maintenance and no hassles if the autoloader malfunctions. They do break and when they do your tank just became a big paper weight.

Yeah. The autoloader also weighs a lot and, despite its compactness, also takes up a lot of space in the turret, and in addition, the ammunition is placed at the bottom of the turret basket (the so-called carousel), with no isolation from the crew. This is one of the main reasons for the spectacular "flying turrets" in the Soviet family of tanks (hitting the turrets or the hull under the turret almost always ignites the entire ammunition supply - as a result, an explosion and burning of the entire interior (the crew usually evaporates).
There are no perfect solutions, but hundreds of tests have been done and the live loader has been found to be faster than the autoloader, which, combined with an isolated ammo rack, puts it above the Soviet standard.
The Americans are returning to the design of a new Abrams turret equipped with an autoloader (the first attempts were made in the 90s during the work on CATTB) - but also an isolated ammunition magazine. Unfortunately, this will reduce the stock of ammunition in the main storage ...

tankme wrote: Some guns raise automatically after the firing sequence as part of evacuating the gas from the bore. The Abrams doesn't do this as it has a bore evacuator on the gun, but the T90 doesn't have a bore evacuator as far as I know.

The Leopard 2 does just that. Raises the barrel after each shot so that the loader can load another shell. Abrams does not do that - because his M256 gun has a different design than the German RH 120 / L44. The Americans turned the breech of the cannon clockwise, which makes loading faster and easier than in the Leopard (in the Abrams the loader can load round at different angles of the cannon - even when the cannon is moving). In addition, they redesigned the breech, and disassembled a heavy and long hydraulic recoil, and in its place they installed a lighter, less space-saving and lighter large spring. Abrams loader at work:

Leopard 2 loader at work:


All these tanks have a bore evacuator system. However, the Russians use additionally compressed air blown directly into the cannon, while the Americans and Germans only use the bore evacuator (bold on the barrel) and it works. The French in their Leclerc only use increased pressure from the NBC system (protection against contamination), which means that they must close the hatches tightly when shooting - very uncomfortable and dangerous if there is an accidental explosion of defective ammunition (we had an accident in Poland a few years ago - ignition of ammunition outside the breech as a result, the loader Leopard 2 was killed) .

Hello,
Sorry for the late reply.
Got my first vaccination yesterday, today I am not well ..
Yes the T-90 have automatc loader and the barrel goes into load position.

Gentlemen: my thanks for you all for the education. I am now glad that I asked the question above, for I am eager to learn about modern AFVs, even as I pray they be used no more in killing. I wish I knew of a way to call your postings to the attention to all on RCTW. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Hey, I’m looking forward to adding the shtora lights to my tank, do you think you could help me?