Introduction:

The MH-6M Little Bird (nicknamed the Killer Egg) and its gunship attack variant AH-6, are light helicopters used for special operations in the United States Army. This agile, unarmed helicopter is outfitted with outboard "benches" designed to ferry up to three commandos on each side. Painted black for nighttime operations, this small aircraft can conduct rapid insertions and extractions of special operations forces into areas its larger brother, the MH-60 Black Hawk, cannot.

Review:

Kitty Hawk released AH-6/MH-6 Little Bird (KH50004) in 2018. Although the offering includes 6 resin crew miniatures, Live Resin decided to produce their own set of figures for this particular kit: 2 pilots and 5 Special Ops Operatives riding on helicopter outboard benches. This review covers the MH-6 SOF Helicopter Assault Team Operator strapped to external personnel pods (EPS) - Figure 2 (LRM-35053), while the reviews of the other figures in this series can be found here: link.

The figure kit is packed in a hard cardboard box. The box art follows the typical Live Resin form: two CAD images show the figure from several different angles, as well as displaying the figure sitting on the helicopter external pod. In the box is a single zip-lock bag with resin pieces, additionally secured in a layer of bubble wrap.

Similar to the rest of the figure kits in the MH-6 SOF series, this 1/35 scale kit includes over 30 pieces. It sounds intimidating, but try not to panic just yet, the assembly is not as hard as the number of parts might suggest. The pieces are:

- torso,
- legs,
- right arm,
- left arm,
- head,
- right boot,
- left boot,
- helmet,
- weapon with both hands,
- equipment pieces (24x)
- weapon equipment pieces (3x).

Closer inspection reveals perfect casting of the pieces; there are no visible defects in the resin whatsoever with ton of details impressively defined and superbly delivered in scale. I reviewed many figures from various manufacturers and the quality of Live Resin cast is second to none.

Although large, casting blocks are easy to remove due to the minimal contact points with the pieces. Some pieces are very small, some extremely thin and fragile… I suggest handling those with a lot of care.

Assembly:

As with the most Live Resin figure kit reviews, I decided to add ‘assembly’ as a separate heading in the review. With 36 pieces, the assembly is not a quick and straightforward process. The end result, however, is well worth the extra effort.

After removing the pieces off their carrier blocks and cleaning them, I started the build by fixing torso to the legs. The boots came next, as well as the arms. The main figure parts fit really well and are easily aligned due to the protrusions and indentations in corresponding pieces. Minor putty work is needed to get a perfect result. As for the equipment, Live Resin follows their “modular figure” principle, supplying broad selection of equipment pieces separately so the modeler has the option to build a specific loadout setup. I decided not to do a complex loadout for this figure, adding just the things I feel are essential to a Special Ops Operative. I used Magic Sculp in the process, reducing and filling any gaps that might have occurred when fixing the pieces. Finally, by fixing the head and the helmet, I finished the assembly. Some of the thin pieces (ie. boom microphone or weapon sling) are going to be added once the figure is painted.

Altogether, the figure assembly takes some time and manhandling the figure could result in breaking some of the delicate pieces. However, I definitely feel the figure is worth it, as the finished miniature looks absolutely amazing, and portrays the Special Ops Operative perfectly.

Conclusion:

MH-6 SOF Helicopter Assault Team Operator strapped to external personnel pods (EPS) - Figure 2 (LRM-35053) from Live Resin is a superb 1/35 scale figure kit. The resin pieces are perfectly cast with impressive details all around. The assembly is a bit complex, but the finished figure looks absolutely amazing and realistically depicts US SOF Operative. Although originally designed to fit Little Bird helo from Kitty Hawk, the figure can be used in various other scenarios as well.


Live Resin kits are available from: https://models-hobby.com/.