Live Resin 1/35 US MARSOC MSOB GMV-M Turret Gunner Build Review

By Michael Benolkin

Build Review

Over the years of modeling, I've wanted to add figures to my projects but the quality of many figures 'out there' leave much to be desired. The injection-molded plastic figures released by several different Chinese manufacturers are okay, though the details are soft and the poses are usually generic. There are even several aftermarket companies that produce heads and accessories to help add some fidelity to these figures, but that is a different topic. Resin figures are generally better for story telling as they tend to have better details and provide posing options right out of the box (without having to resort to aftermarket). Like the plastic figure kits, you need to shop around to find the better sculptors/resin masters to work from.

I wanted to try a resin figure from Live Resin for a special project. What strikes me about this product line is the imagery on their packaging that leads one to believe that there is some exceptional detailing inside. If you use the fast-food and chain restaurant commercials as a guideline, the products look much better on TV than they do on your plate. With that level of cynicism on my mind, I ordered this MARSOC figure and was pleasantly surprised that the details on the figure parts are just as sharp as the packaging. Unlike the sculpted masters, it seems that the Live Resin folks are producing their masters from CAD drawings and the results are quite impressive.

This figure comes in pieces: head, upper torso, lower torso, left and right arms, left and right legs, and a number of accessories/separately cast details. The engineering of these figure parts is equally impressive as you can almost snap the parts from the casting blocks (I used sprue cutters) and then a quick pass with a file to clean up the remnants of the casting block attachments. The fit of the parts is also impressive as they almost all fit snugly in their respective recepticals. The exception for me was the rear of the lower torso mating surface needed to be filed to allow the combat vest on the upper torso to overlap at the rear. It was a 10 second modification and then it all fit nicely.

I used cyano to assemble the figure and then test fit the figure into the Live Resin GMV-M turret - the figure sits nicely with his left hand on the edge of the turret and the right hand holding the handle of the yet-to-be-installed machine gun. So far, so good.

I used a pin vice to put a hole in the figure's backside so it could be mounted into a painting jig. A pin was installed using cyano, and the pin head was removed using a simple rod cutting tool that can be found in your local hobby shop for cutting connecting rods on RC aircraft and cars. This tool is ideal for cutting brass rod as well for grab irons and other details.

The figure now sits nicely in my figure painting jig and it was time to prime the figure using NATO Green. You can click on the image of the primed figure and see that great detail just waiting for some attention.

I painted the figure's details according to my not-so-conventional project vision and I must say that these figures are as easy to paint as they are to build given the excellent relief detail cast into the figure. You can see the full project here.

While the Live Resin figures are a bit more expensive than the average resin figure, the details are worth every bit of the price. Even Live Resin's figures can be accesorized - they offer a wide range of feet, hands, heads, and weapons from which you can alter the figure to suit your specific needs. This one is perfect for me as it provides a point of interest atop my Ma.K. hover tank and is specifically designed to work with their armored turret which I am also using.

If you've been wondering about Live Resin figures, I can honestly say that they are as impressive in person as they are in the product photos. If only those hamburgers on TV looked as nice in person...