"TARGET I.D.": FN/Toy-Tech P-90, Undoubtedly!!!

by ARTsenal

"...Little Green Slab of Clay"
Unlike the usual "Double Barrel" comparisons of 'soft and real guns, I had to rely on updated literature and a couple of interviews for this still-rare gun. With the help of X-ring, KuYaw and the sites of Justin and Remtek, I'm pretty sure that all of you 'softers and firearms enthus' have seen this gun which is good for me and will save me from the same fate my distributor endured by trying to overall describe it. In my opinion, if Gumby were to morph himself into a gun, he would look like the P-90 That olive green that Toy-Tech molded the gun into combined with the organic curves copied from the real FN version makes the weapon look more a like sculpture piece at the Getty Museum. Of the three progressive prototypes known and written about, the first firing prototype #1 was the model of choice for Toy-Tech to copy. The folks at Toy-Tech weren't high on saki when they developed the design lines of this gun to the specifications of the actual. Dimensionally matched lengthwise at 19.5", and 2.2" worth of width. The height of the gun varies from differing sources due to the various optics mounted on proto's 2 & 3. This airsoft P-90 with it's early short tunnel optic height is 7.75" as compared to the longer British-sighted 8.3" of the prototype 2. Toy-Tech weight is of only 2lbs. and not 6.5lbs of FN. Of the actual FN gun the polymer body and metal receiver are of two seperate constructs a la AUG. Even though the Toy-Techs version is all one-piece plastic, the crafters were able to define the separation of the polymer body which has a fine textured roughness to it and the supposedly metal components which are very smooth. The polymer-simulated section extends from the butt plate to the muzzle protector that protrudes down like the MP-5K grip or the "J.Leno" chin extension that is to protect the supportive hand from the muzzle. The smooth metal wanna-be parts are the magazine lateral guides/supports, optics superstructure and the pseudo charging rail above the trigger. It's hard to tell these features on the some of the visual aids but they are there. The real gun body is assembled in a left/right clam shell arrangement with imitation securing screws running along the sides. Toy-Tech has done the same with the carbon-copied contour clam shell and blackened cosmetic screw placements on their replica as well. Other blackened parts that separate it from being absolutely "Gumby" green are the shoulder pad, mag release catches, trigger, selector, charging handle, optics base, and a FN-detailed muzzle compensator. There is an elongated ejection port on the ventral(bottom) side directly below mag turntable where the real rounds are turned, loaded, fired and discarded. Of course the 'soft P-90 followed suit detail wise but not functionally, and the ejection port is blocked with a black plate. The horizontally-placed dial selector is as detailed and textured as the source literature has stated. The number "1" for semi is at the 12 o'clock position while "S" for safe is at the 1 o'clock position and "A" for auto is at the 11 o'clock. Another neat feature of the real gun that was omitted on the 'soft P-90 was the sling ring/disassembly key that fits in the void located in the optics superstructure to the rear above the support. Besides from being a sling mount, this key aids in disassembling the plastic trigger group from the gun body. The magazine is the final and finest touch to this gun and the Toy-Technicians have outdone themselves on this feature. It's translucent using the same smoked plastic as the AUG and SIG rifle mags, detailed per surface detail as the real mag, and dimensionally so with differences only in the circular rear section of the mag where there should be a ammo turning disk and feed guides for the real SMG ammo.

FN's EROTIMATIC
Yes, the P-90 feels as it looks which leaves it wide open to your interpretation as well as my own. Getting grip on the P-90 is like holding a woman in your arms...... nothing but curves, subtle & smoothness.......certain degree of measurable pleasure to the hands without the accompaniment of a brisk slap or sexual harassment charge. But as with real women there has to be a weird psychological thing happening when holding this gun. There's a rear-heavy full stock bullpupped feeling of an AUG coupled to the clasped-hands gripping sensation of the 93R smoothed out with a visual cue of a very shortened FAMAS elevated sight structure yet accented with that manhood-inadequate stub of a compensator sticking out of the gun body and finally a thought of "did I accidentally eject the mag?" because there's nothing hanging there as with regular mag-fed guns when if fact the top-mounted P-90 mag was literally in your face like a Calico carbine all that time!! Single handedly the P-90 is finely balanced along the sharp-angled pistol grip that you urge to shoot it arm extended away from your body like an average handgun. The dial selector is very conveniently placed right underneath the trigger so as to be manipulated by either the firing hands trigger finger or the front supportive hand's thumb or index they're so close. At the shoulder & cheek or at the hip, the P-90 is all comfortable. FN designed this snag-free SMG from the outset and translates just as well to the Toy-Tech gun. The optical as well as the left/right auxiliary sights are well elevated for natural eye relief on target. Removing and inserting the mag is like learning another a foreign language backwards because unlike changing a centered, bottom-mounted vertical mag that is housed between the hands like an MP or M-16, the P-90 mag lies horizontally along the top of the gun with the release located to the rear of the pistol grip. The piggyback-riding P-90 magazine requires that you pull the mag up by the rear end and then pull horizontally towards you to extract the mag out of the supports, very awkward to the simple bottom-pulled magazine or even the side-magazine of the Sterling SMG. If that doesn't scramble your eggs then reinserting it will. When inserting a fresh magazine you reverse the process but remember that it's a P-90 which requires the non-feeding end to be inserted into the gun first as opposed to the usual ammo-feeding end insertion into the mag housing of a standard rifle.

Work that Body
Toy-Tech developed the P-90 with latest airsoft technology of it's time -- gas. It requires the use of a hose with a male connector valve to the gun and the other end to a tank reservoir/expansion chamber. CO2, compressed, or Green Gas will work the gun at an estimated 40-50 psi. The high capacity magazine is cool in that it's quickly loaded by pulling back a twin-springed pressure plate and pouring an estimated 250 BB's thru a single large refill hole in the bottom of the magazine. Once filled, you turn a dial centered at the circular section on the top of the mag and this will slide a door over the exposed refill hole closing it off so that no BB's will fly out from the pressure plate tension springs. Looking down into the feed mechanism of the gun itself, Toy-Tech used a large rotating screw-type conveyor or turbine similar to the internals of their M-203 airsoft components encased in a grenade launcher body. Once the mag is inserted onto the gun body, turning the dial on the mag will open the hole and allow the BB's to be fed into the conveyor and on into the pressure chamber for firing. The pressure chamber and turbine take up about 2" of the gun interior leaving an actual airsoft barrel length of 8.5" instead of 10.5" of the original. A lot of gas pressure is required to rotate the conveyor pushing all those BB's so firing rate is extremely low as well as range & power even in semi. The sight tube is simple and contains plastic lenses with no target designating circles as on the real gun or any other alignment markers like crosshairs or dots. The optics housing serves to only encase the heavy weights inside to weigh down the nose of the P-90. The ambidex'd auxiliary sights are there but I had to cut out the notches on the rear sight moulds that were originally solid. These sites worked better as target references than the tube mounted on center.

Beauty Over BB
As a copy to compliment the real gun, Toy-Tech has done a fantastic job to the P-90. I couldn't compare the airsoft model to the actual firing model for the reason that in the U.S. there exist only two FN P-90's; one at the new FN facility, the other is either at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds or at the U.S. Secret Service HQ. Surprisingly my church of worship -- the Stemridge arsenal -- that provides every gun thing to everybody with a camera, didn't have the real P-90. Even in print, photo sources vary from prototypes like Remtek's site shows two different versions of proto 2 both with different optics and body-enforcement screw placements. What I can compare the airsoft P-90 to in matter of quality, detail and craftsmanship is the KSC/Steyr TMP, both beautifully done. This gun however will do injustice to the wargamer not only for that dated hose & tank gas set up but also because of the conveyor system which is made of soft plastic and has been known to break making the gun inoperable. Toy-Tech M-203's have been known to have the same technical setback. The body halves are screwed together at the optics superstructure but is secured with adhesive along the bottom contours of the grips and stock so if something were to fail inside, the gun becomes an immediate conversational piece. This gun is too nicely made to start breaking apart. The gun body's noisy squeaks and cracks, combined with loose BB's in the mag and conveyor make the P-90 useless for quiet-ops. The gun's optics are for the look and not looking thru, so targeting the opposition is crude. Overall, it seems Toy-Tech has made the P-90 as a concept show gun with a helluva body with less bless on the 'soft potential. The optics base and muzzle compensator are removable so that scratch built upgraded optics and compenstors can be attached to this gun. Since I can't separate the halves I'm wondering if I should cut away at that panel covering that bottom ejection port. An electric P-90 built with a nice black gun body and the larger British version square sight as on the Remtek website was in the making for 1994 but that was in promos only I haven't witnessed any thing further on it. Unfortunately Toy-Tech is no longer, and my distributor who had two P-90's on hand is no longer with the airsoft hobby. One went to the silver screen thru me, the other probably went to my 'soft collector rival Jesse Galan who is also a writer for "Airgun Digest". I'm still hopeful that some of the other 'soft manufacturers will acquire a Toy-Tech specimen, study it, improve upon it, and continue it where Toy-Tech left off.

Hold a Woman or a Grudge???
My usual routine for acquiring a gun for either myself or the entertainment industry is to do extensive research in print or person, create an interest, confirm with my finances (girlfriend), and then make the purchase. Any break in the routine will mean certain trouble in the future (at least in my future) and the P-90 did this. Without a nanosecond of research time (didn't even know what the thing looked like) the gun was bought spontaneously just by the way the distributor couldn't put the description in words. I'm into the standard SMG/rifle design lines of having a mag sticking outta the bottom and some substance at the front like a foregrip or barrel sticking out the front, that "functional" firearms look, "macho-ness" in the machinery if you want. To me the iconoclastic P-90 just doesn't look it. Bullpups took some gettin' use to, the AUG shape was wild, the Calico 950 outrageous,ut this P-90 is way too out there. The only time the P-90 looked awesome to me was when Dennis Rodman handled it in the movie "Tag Team" since he is twice as ugly and 10 times way out there!! For the six years that this gun has been used on stage or studio, artists and techs praised its appearance as I scoffed at them in the background. After finding out its manufacturer ceasing production and existence, I retired my P-90 to only photo sessions. As to several female photographers and female models kept noting on this P-90, "...it is the most sexiest and erotic femenine-themed gun to hold, rub up against your cheeks and hips, sling accross the chest, so smooth and tender to a ladies hands and is easy on the painted nails of the trigger finger". Uh yeah, okay, whatever, um, so uh, ahem...............*sigh* now I sound like my former distributor. Leave it up to a woman to give the perfect description for the P-90!!!

Thanx again to X-ring and associates Elias, Kuyaw, Justin, Poncho, and Sam with special suckin' up to FN, Stemridge and Mr.CIE at Warner Bros.

P-90 source: Jane's Guns Recognition Guide, Gun Digest book of Assault Weapons 3rd Ed.(my bible), Military Small Arms of the 20th Century 6th Ed.

View & compare Toy-Tech's P-90 with the rest of its SMG contemporaries in color on my crude, unrude, and unofficial website at: HTTP://MEMBERS AOL.COM/LRDDAEMONT/INDEX.HTML

ARTsenal