Firefly's barrel length!!...

[brizo58]

Hi All,
Now I was sitting here looking at my Firefly this morning. It seams to me the more I look at it the more the barrel looks too short??. Looking on eBay the firefly barrels Dave sells look a lot longer?. So in mm how long should it be?. Any help/advice would be greatly received. Brian...

[tomhugill]

Would be best to find a blueprint for a definitive answer?

[dgsselkirk]

It is interesting when you look at period shots of the tank. When you see 3/4 views that barrel looks like a monster! but if you come across straight on side shots it tends to look smaller. We used both blueprints and an actual tank to model the barrel. Here is the math for you guys:

The overall length of the tank is close to 7700 mm. The barrel length from mantle to the end is close to 330 mm.
Converting these numbers to 1/16 makes overall length approx 481.25mm and the barrel length 20.6 mm

The supplied barrel is 204mm and the Mato BB barrel is 214. Now, a few mm's have to be hidden in the mantle so in fact the original barrel is closer to the right legnth unless you wish to hid more of the Mato barrel in the mantle. I should point out too that you will have to enlarge the hole in the mantlet to accomodate the Mato barrel. Also on our barrel we carried the right shape further toward the breech than the Mato barrel. Also the Mato barrel is a bit over scale in thickness and the muzzle break. Of course it has to have heft because it is designed to shoot the 6mm BB's. Basically all HL and Mato barrels are over scale for the BB's. I remember measuring up a Panther barrel for my L70 kit and it was way over scale.

Having said all this this, yes, the Mato barrel will make your tank look more impressive and I have listened to you guys and other customers and our Version 2.0 now available comes with the Mato barrel standard.

[brizo58]

Ok that's cleared that up!! I think. Dean is the virsion 2 barrel available on it's own? if so what is the price with post?. Brian...

[dgsselkirk]

Same one as Dave Forgebear sells so I would save the freight from me and order from him...

[brizo58]

Thanks Dean and Geoff . I'll wait until I get back from holiday and order on from Dave. Brian...

[brizo58]

Thanks for the pics Geoff somehow it just look so much better. Brian...