Unable to paint my KV-2 as my asthma is playing up I decided to take some time out of my sickbed to build my ICM BM13-16N Katyusha.





Since I could not find a build of thie kit on the site I'll have a go at writing a Blog so others can learn from my mistakes

First impressions of the kit were good, but the problems started to appear as I unpacked the sprues. They all came in a single bag, and had really been stuffed in there, so a lot of the long pieces were bent (more of this later), and several parts were damaged.

Step 1+2 is building the engine.





two notes here, when adding part A18, make sure the distributor cap points up (see step 14 for a picture). Part A20 has locating pins, but (at least on mine) there are no holes for them, so trim them off

A couple of illustrations of the engine are shown below (posted previously on Armourama by Frenchy : edited to spell the name right, doh)





These show the wiring that can be added if you want to superdetail, plus what I think is the dipstick holder (31) that also needs adding

Steps 4+5 are putting the wheels together.

This kit has the corrected tread pattern (it was wrong in the early ICM US6 Studebaker kit) but the wheels are not perfect so either live with them, or go for resin replacements

(see the PMMS review for more details of the problem) http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/icm/icm35511.html)

I'm happy with them as they are (but plan to add valve stems later)




I also add the inner rims/brake discs (C6, C9 and C10) at this stage as the wheels will be easier to paint off the chasis

Note a pair of major ejector pin studs need removing from part C6

Stage 6, build a tool box, and glue it onto it's stand on the chasis.



Part H29 was too wide to sit into H27, and needed sanding down quite a lot. The latc

Step 7+8 assemble the axle.

I'd recommend leaving off seveal parts at the rear (A80, A54, A78) and not gluing C3 as I suspect you may need to tweak their positions when putting on the chasis and bodywork





C3 and the wheels are dry fitted in the pictures

Steps 9-14 assemble the chasis

The chasis rails (A2) were badly warped and needed a fair amount of boiling/cold water and weights in order to just about fix.



The cross braces are then fitted to further straighten them



then accessory parts were added



Note the sprue attatchment points on A6 and A62 are tricky to remove

I should then go on start to add the engine etc to the chasis but the putty on this (yes I saw I needed to do a bit of filling of join line :-)--

Oh well lets try this post again.

I'll jump onto the rocket frame (Step 26) while the engine putty drys

I found the frame sides (H34/35) had sink holes that needed putty to fill.

I also found the two H26 rods to be too long, needing cutting down to fit properly

Nice!

Next step 27 : The rocket rails

These were the nastiest part of the build, all of the rails were badly warped and at least 6 of the 'pegs' represending the poles holding the things together were snapped off.

I reglued the broken parts, did my best to straighten the rails and glued the whole lot together. (sorry no photos of this bit I was too annoyed to take any )

The rails were then attached to the frame







sadly this did not go together perfectly but it was the best I could do with the parts I had. A couple of the rails are not straight, and seen from above the a couple of the cross rods are not straight

If doing this again it MIGHT have been better to drill out the cross rods and replace them with lenghts of brass or styrene rod. That could have given a better appearance.

Or better still find a kit where the rails were not broken/warped to start with

Now for the rockets

At first glance they look good but there are 'issues'



There are a couple of walk arounds of the same Zis6 based katyusha which show the rockets

http://blog.net-maquettes.com/en/photos-2/walk-around/bm-13-walk/

http://www.primeportal.net/artillery/yuri_pasholok/bm-13_zis-6_based/

the nose fuse on the kit rockets come to a point. The walk arounds show a 'nail head' shape. This was added by trimming the tips and adding a disc of plastic rod (better done with a punch and die dics if you have then)



With the tail fins assembled there is no rocket nozzle, and some substantial gaps. A nozzle was added from a section of styrene tube (a section of ballpoint pen tube would do here), and the gaps filled with putty to give a smooth tail section

A couple more issues with the rockets is the very thick 'bands' around them (where they attach to the frame?)

I probably need to thin these down but I'm going to wait and see for the moment

And a couple of circular features (fuses?) around the middle of the rockets, visible on the single standing one beside the launcher on the first walk around link. These seem to be hidden on mounted rockets so i will miss them out, but might be seen if you show rockets standing or being loaded

Right all, lets get back to the chasis assembly step 15 and 16,

Remember you need to cut out a couple of notches on each side of the chasis (step 13) which I FORGOT

measure carefully before you cut!

We can then move on to install the engine and radiatior, as well as the exhaust.

I found the short exhaust pipe (A12) to be too short, so I patched in an extension to the long pipe (A13) to allow it to fit.

I also fitted the drive train onto the chasis.

Notice the tape, the drive train was well off to one side, to was taped in overnight while the glue dried



after the tape was removed you can see where the missing parts (A54x2 and A78) from step 7 have been fitted. I also installed part A83 from step 7 as well

Having decided I would not do anything to the engine I decided to see if I could jaz it up a bit, so added the dipstick tube (?) - white rod, plus some engine plumbing in thick wire, and spark plug leads in thin wire and insulation





Note that this is not completly accurate, as the spark plug leads would each come out individually from around the top of the magneto, whereas 've twisted them together, and take them out of the centre. Thats just the way it had to be done to get the superglue to hold. I've also added a clamp holding the wire bundle onto the engine for added strength

Back to working on the rocket platform, I put together the baseplate step 25

Step 29: Next I attatched the baseplate to mudguard frame, and the rocket rails to the baseplate.

when installing the height adjustment screw H6 (transport/low angle firing) or H7 (high firing angle) I found H6 was actually to short to engage with the baseplate, so had to trim down H7 to fit.

If your going for a high firing angle version you'll need to try and find out where they would have put the travel locks H38/39

I then went on to add the adjustment screw handle and supports, and the sight mechanism.

I also noticed that the spare wheel attaches to it's bracket by 4 bolts, so there should be 2 holes where the other bolts would be on the wheel, so I drilled them out from the rear



But I'll leave it off to be glued on after painting

Next was assembly of the gas tank, and some sort of storage box







IMPORTANT

also pictured above is the complete traverse mechanism for the rocket platform. DO NOT fit this, just part H50 by itself, as if you fit the lot you'll not be able to fit the platform, as the rod H10 fits through the hole in part H24 on the nose of the platform

The storage box and gas tank seem to form a set of steps, (probably) used to access the top of the rocket rails.

Other BM-13N Katyusha's have a platform/frame seating area behind the cab in place of this, and have the gas tank fitted to the side of the chasis, such as the one below.

http://www.primeportal.net/artillery/yuri_pasholok/bm-13n_katyusha/

I'm GUESSING this is a later version of the katyusha as the US6 Studebaker does not have a badge on the radiatior (a sign of an early truck). It also has additional armour on the cab as we will see later

Next I added tyre valve stems to all the wheels

Now onto some repair work.

When building the chasis I ommitted 4x A80 (rods with eyes at each end) as they had all snapped in the box and proved too fragile to repair, so insteas I replaced them with copper wire, forming the first eye round a drill bit, and the second on the chasis pin itself.



These were super glued in place (a bit of a mess but it will paint up as dirt OK, and I'd rather have them well stuck!)

Now the part that I've been avoiding, BUILDING THE CAB

Usually where in the past softskin kits have turned nasty and failed to fit



But surprisingly the front section went together fine

EDIT: The bonnet (Hood) is useful to help hold the parts in the correct shape while the glue drys.

EDIT: another armourama blogger built the US6 and chose to use a resin bonet, so presumably there may be dimensional issues with the kit part so if you are going for super accuracy make sure to find out!

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/188424