I started work on Italeri's 1/35 scale BM-13 Katyusha MLRS two weeks ago with the intention of getting away from German armor trend. Since I generally like ugly vehicles I picked the Katyusha. I've only completed the chassis so far. I'm using tamiya acrylics and brushes (no cash for an airbrush). The drive-train and all the lovely bits under the carriage is painted with chrome silver and then with a layer of gun metal. The effect I was going for was a beaten up metal look. I'm sure those parts were painted in real life but I was just testing out the technique.

Anyway, constructive criticism is more then welcome. Be as brutally honest as you want, I'm relatively new to modelling so its the only way I'll learn.

Thanks

Edit: the yellowish tinge in some of the pictures is just the lighting.

Ola Thiazi

Well it looks like you are well on your way to a very interesting model. I kinda like the Katiusha myself although I have never built one during my modelling life.
The Built itself looks very clean and the Green you choose to paint the vehicle in is quite good too. I`m not too fond of the Underside of the chassis. I believe those parts were painted in the same color as the Vehicle. Even if the paint was scuffed/scratched off the metal color underneath would be darker and not that shiny. Testing techniques is something I really support and it is good you learn your way around with different painttechniques. Looking forward to see the Finished result.

Actually, the chassis and rims were painted black, not body color. The technique looks interesting, but I agree that it should be darker and less shiny. Perhaps you should have painted everything black and then added scratches with silver or gunmetal?

Is this a rebox of the Zvezda kit? I remember seeing a Katyusha by Zvezda on my LHS. How was the fit of the parts?

I'm not certain but I think it is a rebox of the Zvezda kit. The fit is decent, not the best but in no way a pain. A little extra effort and it stops being an issue.

In case you or anyone else is looking to build this kit let me point out a trouble spot I had so that no one else has the same problem. The issue I had was that the cab comes in essentially 4 pieces: the roof and hood (# 3 on diagram), two side panels(#2 on diagram) and the grill (#1 on diagram). Now I've seen truck cabs with the same parts setup but with this one the door frame on parts 2 and 3 have a tendency to slip out of alignment once you glue the parts. Its ever so slight and hardly noticable but it will make fitting the doors a little bit of a hassle. To solve this I would imagine that using a faster curing glue would work and just make sure the joint is solid before moving on. Alternatively you could throw it together and then just trim the overhang until it fits.

.


Other then that the kit so far has been great. Good detail, good number of parts and only a bit of flash.

Try getting some Tenax and a Touch and flow needle. Tenax works supurb for literally melting the plastic and rebonding the two parts together so the fit is as strong as the plastic and not the glue medium. The Touch n' Flow needle allows for precision. Very little Tenax is needed (a drop is too much).

Depending on the size of the part, the parts are fimly in place in about 10 seconds and rock solid from half an hour to an hour tops. For parts like those you show, I'd give it about 30 seconds and it is set.

Looks like you are well on your way to a great model. One thing that leapt out to me was the wheels. You may want to sand them some more as the seam line in the center sticks out. If you sand a little bit more, you get a worn tread. Best of luck in finishing.

Jeff

Nice looking build so far, I agree with Jeff about the wheels though.






This is not a rebox of a Zvezda kit, infact the Zvezda is a rebox of the Italeri kit. I have a 1982 Italeri cataloge and this kit is in there - long before Zvezda was known in the west!

Hi nice job , but the chassis and wheel hubs are painted a semi gloss black that is very hard wearing and it takes some real effort to remove it . I would repaint them and forget about silver highlights as they are far too bright. cheers ian

I've had the same problem with cab parts shifting while the glue set so now I tape the doors in place while assembling the cab.

The Italeri Katyusha originally dates back to the mid-70s and is a very good model for the time. The only downside is that Italeri modelled a post WW2 version on a ZIL chassis, so there is no chance of putting it in a Great Patriotic War scene.

So instead of weathering, you might consider going to the other extreme and polish it up and add whitewalls for a parade vehicle.

I remember building this kit (by Italeri) back in the mid 1980's. It melted in my parents attic over the years, but recently I built the ALAN Katyusha on Zis-5 chassis. Horrible kit, I'll leave it at that. I remember the Italeri kit going together much better.