Introduction

M240 is the US military designation for the FN MAG, a belt-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled 7.62mm medium machine gun. Manufactured by Fabrique Nationale in the 1950s, the MAG (Mitrailleuse d'Appui General) was chosen by the US military in the late 1970s as a replacement for the M60 machine gun. M240 was first adopted as a coaxial tank gun, but the weapon eventually developed to a family of subvariants for a wide range of applications… it is used in the infantry role, mounted on vehicles and helicopters, and as coaxial tank machine gun. All variants are fed from disintegrating ammo belts and are capable of firing most types of 7.62mm NATO ammunition.

M240G is the standard medium machine gun of the US Marine Corps. The M240G is almost identical to the US Army M240B version, but lacks a front heat guard and accessory rails, and as such is a few pounds lighter. Also, M240G has three gas settings, allowing this weapon to fire between 650 and 950 rounds per minute. By no way a beauty, the M240 is extremely reliable and proven design, serving as a powerful supplement to the lighter 5.56mm-based M249, M16 and M4.

Live Resin is a resin company from Russia, specialized in producing high quality weapon and accessory sets in 1/35 scale. This review covers their M240G Standard US Marine Corps Medium Machine Gun (LRE-35087) set.

Review

The USMC M240G weapon set comes packed in a zip-lock bag safely secured between firm cardboard backings. The CAD box art on the front shows all the kit parts, while the one on the back lists Live Resin offerings which could be combined with the basic M240B kit: US Army scope sets (LRE-35007, LRE-35008 and LRE-35028), US Army M240 accessories (LRE-35016) and Ammo Belts 7.62x51mm NATO (LRE-35089).

The kit consists of 3 resin casting blocks with M240Gs and 3 resin blocks of accessories (ammo feed system parts, carrying handle and bipod): 21 parts in total. The grey resin looks really good and, other than some tiny flash residues which are easy to remove, there are no defects in the cast. All the delicate parts are superbly rendered in scale.

The M240G depicted in this kit is the version currently employed by US Marine Corps to Afghanistan and Iraq. The M240G allows for commonality throughout the USMC whether the weapon is used in an infantry, vehicular, or airborne role. The M240G is the ground version of the original M240, 7.62 mm medium class weapon designed as a coaxial mounted machine gun for vehicles. The M240G is modified for ground use by the installation of an "infantry modification kit", which includes a flash suppressor, front sight, carrying handle, a buttstock, infantry length pistol grip, bipod, and rear sight assembly. Also, the top of the feed tray cover on the M240G is upgraded with picatinny rail, which serves as an attachment point for different optical systems. All these modifications are clearly visible and really well depicted on this 1/35 scale M240G weapon set.

All M240s are fed from disintegrating ammunition belts. Live Resin supplied a portion of an ammo belt in this kit, but also the M240 combat ammo pack. The pack enables direct attachment of a lightweight ammunition container to the weapon, holds 50 rounds of linked 7.62mm ammo and protects the belt from dirt and debris. The combat pack also allows better movement of the M240 during initial insertions and engagements. Live Resin also added a small piece of ammo belt going from the ammo pack to the weapon itself. .. a detail giving extra realism to the kit.
The carrying handle is not only used for transporting the weapon, but also for barrel replacement procedure. The M240 handle in this kit looks good but very delicate, so take your time when cleaning the handle from its resin carrier block. Also, be sure to study the references before attaching the piece to the barrel in order to see the correct handle/barrel connection point and angle of the attachment as well.
The folding bipod is attached to the M240 gas chamber and there are mounting points on the bottom of the receiver to fit infantry tripods or vehicle mounts. The kit is supplied with both open and closed bipods, with the unique shape of M240 bipod extremely well rendered. Again, be careful when cleaning the bipod from casting blocks, the parts are very delicate.

Even after reviewing many of their sets for Armorama, I’m still astonished with the quality of Live Resin weapon sets. The advanced 3D modeling and high-quality printing technique Live Resin employs to produce 1/35 scale goodies works incredibly well. The M240Gs in this set look great; all the fine points on the receiver assembly, cocking handle, the rail on the feed tray cover… the details are wonderfully executed and well defined. I attached the picture of a real M240G to this review; compare it with the resin 1/35 scale piece and see for yourself how well guys at Live Resin did their job.

Conclusion

This kit features M240G employed by US Marine Corps in current Middle Eastern conflicts. The set includes several ammo feed pieces, carrying handle and bipod... All together 21 resin parts for building three M240Gs in 1/35 scale. The resin cast is absolutely perfect and features incredibly well defined details. But hey, we learned to expect nothing but the best from Live Resin, right?

Thanks to Yaroslav from Live Resin for this review sample.

References

World Guns
FAS.org
Globalsecurity