about the kit

As World War II approached, the U.S. Ordnance Department was committed to develop a light weight, air-cooled machine gun for infantry use which can be more easily packed for transport instead of heavy weight, water-cooled M1917A1 which was 42 kg.s for gun and tripod. After some modifications; the result was M1919A4 at a weight of 14 kg.s for gun and low-slung tripod. It was much lighter but was unable to maintain the same level of sustained fire as the water-cooled one, and did not have the steadiness of accuracy as the heavier weapon. Its light weight and ease of set-up made it much more useful as an offensive weapon for infantry units and especially Marines. The weapon was the Marine Corps' primary light machine gun for more than 30 years. It served in many roles, including as an infantry support weapon, tank machine gun, and in several types of aircraft. M1919A4 required at least a two-man machine gun team.
EM-35041 American Marines WW2 Pacific Ocean (Machine Gunners) includes two members of an U.S.M.C. Machine Gun team of a gunner and loader.

box

The kit comes well packed in standard Evolution Miniatures 70x100x35 mm hard cardboard box . The front part of the box shows a photo of the figure painted by Maxim Veretelnikov which can serve as a basic painting guide. Inside the box, the parts are represented with the casting blocks. Two body parts and small parts are seperately inserted in small plastic zip-lock bags to avoid unexpected damages during transfer.

parts

The figures are nicely sculpted by Sergey Traviansky and cast in grey color resin in crisp details. The parts can be easily removed from the casting blocks with no damage. There is not much need for a serious cleanwork.

MARINE #1 - GUNNER
Posed to carry the machine gun on his right shoulder, it comes in 7 parts. The figure is given as a single piece without arms and most of the personal gear are cast on the figure. Facial details are well defined and top of head is cast conical for the good fit of helmet. He wears two-piece sage-green (a lighter green color than OD) HBTuniform - Herringbone Twill combat uniform worn by Marines in Pacific. It was developed for tropical condition in lightweight and more rip resistance. The jacket had three pockets, one on the left breast and two lower pockets. The pockets had no flaps or closures. On the upper pocket was stenciled in black, USMC insignia: an Eagle, Globe and Anchor, with the legend USMC above it. The jacket was loose fitting and closed by four blackened steel buttons with U.S. MARINE CORPS in relief. HBT trousers had two front diagonal pockets, cut through to the inside of the legs. Two rear hip pockets were patch style, open at the top. The trousers had belt loops and had the same metal USMC buttons as the jacket. As for the footgear; he has standard issue boots of natural leather with rubber heels and soles, and USMC web leggings which had fewer eyelets than the standard type. Cloth folds, upfolded trotters of pants, loaded pockets of the uniform and utility belt are well defined. The figure wears his jacket unbuttoned which makes the nicely represented abdominal muscles, dogtag and untied Y-suspenders visible. He carries 2 water bottle in canvas covers on the back side, a small arms case on left and first-aid pouch on the right side. A machine gunner glove is attached to his belt on the left side as the other pair is placed to his right shoulder as a support pad when carrying the machine gun.

Right arm : Posed to carry the machine gun on his shoulder. Sleeve is hollowed for the easy fit of the right hand.

Left arm : Posed to carry an ammo box. It shows nice cloth folds.

M1919A4 machine gun : Details of the machine gun are well defined. Right hand is cast on this part.

.30 caliber M1A1 ammo can

M1911 leather holster . It will be attached to the right side.

M1 Steel helmet with cloth camouflage cover. It was brown and beige on one side, and green on the other, being theoretically reversible for operations on beach or in jungle but never been used in that way. Torn effect on the cover is well defined.

MARINE #2 – TRIPOD & AMMO CARRIER
Posed to carry the tripod and ammo cans, it comes in 10 parts. The figure is cast as a single piece without arms and field gear. Head is sculpted looking on the right side and facial details are well represented. He wears the typical U.S.M.C. tropical garment - HBT uniform of jacket and trousers, ankle boots and short leggings. He has utility belt and Y-webbings with strings over his uniform. Cloth folds, pocket details, torn effect on the trotters and back of the right leg of trousers are well defined. Two M-1 carbine ammo pouchs with two-cell magazine pockets for 15 round magazines, first-aid kit pouch and Collins no:18 V-44 Fighting knife are cast on the figure.

Right arm : Posed to carry M2 tripod. Details of the tripod and cloth folds of upfolded sleeve are well represented.

Left arm : Posed to hold the cloth strap attaching the ammo cans together. Note that the strap should be scratch-built with a metal foil.

M1 carbine : It was a .30 caliber, light weight, gas-operated, magazine-fed, air-cooled, self-loading semi-automatic rifle. Assistant gunners of MG teams are armed with M1 for close defense. Details of the rifle are well defined.

U.S.M.C canteen It has a canvas cover with crossed flaps - 2 pieces

.30 caliber M1A1 ammo can - 2 pieces

Short leg of tripod

M1 Steel helmet in canvas camouflage cover

references

The following books can be useful when painting this kit ;
- Osprey Publishing- Elite059 - The US Marine Corps 1941-1945 by Gordon T-Rottman & Mike Chappell
- Greenhill Books - The Marines In World War II - From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Christopher J.Anderson
- Europa Militaria No.2 - World War II Infantry in Color Photographs by Laurent Mirouze

conclusion

A very nice kit sculpted and cast in high quality with great details. A must to paint for the Pacific War fans.

Very Highly Recommended