Post by krumlauf83 on Dec 19, 2009 10:28:57 GMT -5
Hello, here is my review of my new VIVA MG34 
Let us start from the beginning. I had been waiting for a german machine gun all since I started with airsoft WW2 and I had seen the Shoei MG42 on a few games and I was very impressed with the loudness of it, but being gas operated and the need for external gas tank made it a little less appealing to me.
I wanted an AEG machine gun, but only the even more expensive ULTIMA was available a few years later
There were a few rumors about a AEG version of both a MG34 and a MG42 for a while, and one day I finally found some pictures of fully machined metal MG34 on the net and the rumors said $700, it was almost to good to be true
And it was, it was only sold in Spain, Portugal and Ireland I believe, and it seems it was never officially released, and the price was now around €790! I was tempted but I just did not have the cash at the time:(
Then the AGM MG42 rumors came and I was ready to wait for this promising new and hopefully cheap AEG MG42!
But then the rumors of the shutdown of several chinese clone factories came and I then knew the AGM MG42 never was going to be(anytime soon anyway). A few mouths later and I noticed a guy from spain was selling a VIVA MG34 for $900, and since the AGM MG42 was canceled I decided to buy it.
After a few weeks i finally had a VIVA MG34 in my hands
The first impressions was mixed, and the pros was:
- Almost totally machined aluminum , the parts like the bipod, feed tray assembly and other small bits was made from pressed steel, just like the real deal!
- It was blacked using some kind of blueing finish, and not painted like many other airsoft guns
- Version 6 gearbox, a very good gearbox found in both the Thompson and the P90
Then the cons:
- The ugliest wood stock I have ever seen, looked like a something made by a child. There was a hole crudely carved out for a mini battery, and a simple steel butt plate screwed on the back..
- The magazine; a hi-cap M16(?) had been glued inside a stamped steel made crude copy of a german assault magazine. The design was totally rubbish, there was a little hole cut on the side of the magazine so that you could wind the hi-cap not at all suitable for a machine gun..
- The hop-up chamber was a joke; only a little screw was holding the barrel from the top, and that means that the barrel did not automatically lined up correctly like when there is a clamp on both the two small cuts made at the back end of all AEG barrels. The hole that the hop-up rubber slips over did not line up perfectly with the adjusting screw and that meant the hop-up did not work as it should. Also the whole thing moved and there was a major air leak that meant the BBs did not get very far..
- The feed tray did not lock down on the receiver like it should because there was a little spring missing..
- I had a original german sling, but of course I could not get the carabiner trough the front sling attaching hole. The hole was just drilled trough and not rounded along the edges..
- The pistol grip plates is made of white plastic and just painted with black paint, the paint comes of easy..
The gun was not usable in it`s original state and I had to fix the things mentioned above and therefore I did these alterations to the MG34:
- I ordered a reproduction walnut MG34 stock from the US, and I had to make a aluminum adapter for the new stock to connect to the gun
It was made in a lathe and a CNC milling machine one day at work, I used "Aluminum Black" to make it black. I now fitted perfectly and the MG34 was transformed totally! The stock was solid so I now had to find a new home for the battery, I did have an idea were to put it but more on that later
- I got a original german assault magazine from ebay, it had been used by the Yugoslavian army and it had a horrible lime green paint all over it. I had to sand blast it to get the paint of, and then I used cold blueing to make it like it was when it was made by the germans. It looked so much better than the crudely made VIVA one, I was very happy with how it turned out. Now I needed a electric auto winding magazine and for that I used the guts from a electric AK 2500 round drum magazine. Trough a lot of trial and error, I finally got it right and the magazine now feed the BBs perfectly ;D
To connect the new drum to the gun I also needed a real steel feed tray, I got one cheap and made minor adjustments to make it fit on the gun.
As I had hoped, there was also enough room for a Li-po battery inside the new magazine
- I threw away the crappy VIVA hop-up chamber and ordered a Classic Army metal P90 hop-up chamber. With only minor adjustments the chamber connected perfectly to the gearbox, with no play at all, complete air seal. I tested it and it was great success, the BBs flew strait and precise
- The spring I needed for the feed tray I found in a ballpoint pen, problem fixed
- I removed the front sling attachment from the gun and used again the CNC milling machine to make the edges round on each hole exit, then the "Aluminum Black" to patch up the finish. Now sling fitts perfectly
- I was thinking about making some new machined aluminum grip plates at work but for the moment I will have to wait
Now I finally have the MG34 I wanted, a very skirmishable machine gun for the next WW2 event here in Norway. Was it worth the money? For me, it sure was but I would not recommend it unless you can fix the things that had to be dealt with to make this a usable gun. Over all I`m very happy about how well the gun is made, very solid and I`m glad they used mostly aluminum instead of steel like the real one, it`s half as heavy as the real one and that is just perfect weight for skirmishing. On the second hand I`m very disappointed about the internals, the stock and the magazine, you would think a gun as expensive as this would be a lot better but it seems like they used up all their money on the externals and had to take some shortcuts to get it finished..
Hope you liked my review and I will give a full report when I have tested it out on the battlefield and also maybe a short video of the gun in action ;D
Let us start from the beginning. I had been waiting for a german machine gun all since I started with airsoft WW2 and I had seen the Shoei MG42 on a few games and I was very impressed with the loudness of it, but being gas operated and the need for external gas tank made it a little less appealing to me.
I wanted an AEG machine gun, but only the even more expensive ULTIMA was available a few years later
There were a few rumors about a AEG version of both a MG34 and a MG42 for a while, and one day I finally found some pictures of fully machined metal MG34 on the net and the rumors said $700, it was almost to good to be true
And it was, it was only sold in Spain, Portugal and Ireland I believe, and it seems it was never officially released, and the price was now around €790! I was tempted but I just did not have the cash at the time:(
Then the AGM MG42 rumors came and I was ready to wait for this promising new and hopefully cheap AEG MG42!
But then the rumors of the shutdown of several chinese clone factories came and I then knew the AGM MG42 never was going to be(anytime soon anyway). A few mouths later and I noticed a guy from spain was selling a VIVA MG34 for $900, and since the AGM MG42 was canceled I decided to buy it.
After a few weeks i finally had a VIVA MG34 in my hands
The first impressions was mixed, and the pros was:
- Almost totally machined aluminum , the parts like the bipod, feed tray assembly and other small bits was made from pressed steel, just like the real deal!
- It was blacked using some kind of blueing finish, and not painted like many other airsoft guns
- Version 6 gearbox, a very good gearbox found in both the Thompson and the P90
Then the cons:
- The ugliest wood stock I have ever seen, looked like a something made by a child. There was a hole crudely carved out for a mini battery, and a simple steel butt plate screwed on the back..
- The magazine; a hi-cap M16(?) had been glued inside a stamped steel made crude copy of a german assault magazine. The design was totally rubbish, there was a little hole cut on the side of the magazine so that you could wind the hi-cap not at all suitable for a machine gun..
- The hop-up chamber was a joke; only a little screw was holding the barrel from the top, and that means that the barrel did not automatically lined up correctly like when there is a clamp on both the two small cuts made at the back end of all AEG barrels. The hole that the hop-up rubber slips over did not line up perfectly with the adjusting screw and that meant the hop-up did not work as it should. Also the whole thing moved and there was a major air leak that meant the BBs did not get very far..
- The feed tray did not lock down on the receiver like it should because there was a little spring missing..
- I had a original german sling, but of course I could not get the carabiner trough the front sling attaching hole. The hole was just drilled trough and not rounded along the edges..
- The pistol grip plates is made of white plastic and just painted with black paint, the paint comes of easy..
The gun was not usable in it`s original state and I had to fix the things mentioned above and therefore I did these alterations to the MG34:
- I ordered a reproduction walnut MG34 stock from the US, and I had to make a aluminum adapter for the new stock to connect to the gun
It was made in a lathe and a CNC milling machine one day at work, I used "Aluminum Black" to make it black. I now fitted perfectly and the MG34 was transformed totally! The stock was solid so I now had to find a new home for the battery, I did have an idea were to put it but more on that later
- I got a original german assault magazine from ebay, it had been used by the Yugoslavian army and it had a horrible lime green paint all over it. I had to sand blast it to get the paint of, and then I used cold blueing to make it like it was when it was made by the germans. It looked so much better than the crudely made VIVA one, I was very happy with how it turned out. Now I needed a electric auto winding magazine and for that I used the guts from a electric AK 2500 round drum magazine. Trough a lot of trial and error, I finally got it right and the magazine now feed the BBs perfectly ;D
To connect the new drum to the gun I also needed a real steel feed tray, I got one cheap and made minor adjustments to make it fit on the gun.
As I had hoped, there was also enough room for a Li-po battery inside the new magazine
- I threw away the crappy VIVA hop-up chamber and ordered a Classic Army metal P90 hop-up chamber. With only minor adjustments the chamber connected perfectly to the gearbox, with no play at all, complete air seal. I tested it and it was great success, the BBs flew strait and precise
- The spring I needed for the feed tray I found in a ballpoint pen, problem fixed
- I removed the front sling attachment from the gun and used again the CNC milling machine to make the edges round on each hole exit, then the "Aluminum Black" to patch up the finish. Now sling fitts perfectly
- I was thinking about making some new machined aluminum grip plates at work but for the moment I will have to wait
Now I finally have the MG34 I wanted, a very skirmishable machine gun for the next WW2 event here in Norway. Was it worth the money? For me, it sure was but I would not recommend it unless you can fix the things that had to be dealt with to make this a usable gun. Over all I`m very happy about how well the gun is made, very solid and I`m glad they used mostly aluminum instead of steel like the real one, it`s half as heavy as the real one and that is just perfect weight for skirmishing. On the second hand I`m very disappointed about the internals, the stock and the magazine, you would think a gun as expensive as this would be a lot better but it seems like they used up all their money on the externals and had to take some shortcuts to get it finished..
Hope you liked my review and I will give a full report when I have tested it out on the battlefield and also maybe a short video of the gun in action ;D
