The Red Army's BM-13 series mobile launchers (more popularly known as 'Katyusha') became a widespread Soviet weapon and one of the main symbols of The Great Patriotic War, as WW2 is known in Russia. The BM-13 mounted lethal 132-mm high-explosive rockets on rudimentary launch rails and proved to be a devastating and greatly feared weapon against German Army forces. The decision to produce the Katyusha had only been made at the time of the German invasion in June of 1941, the weapon first being used against the Wehrmacht in the Belorussian city of Orsha on 14 July 1941 where it decimated an enemy force that had taken control of the huge transportation hub located about 500 km west of Moscow. The Germans were stunned by this previously unknown Soviet weapon which they came to know as 'Stalin's Organ' based on the arrangement of launch rails that mimicked the pipes of an organ and the noise the rockets made when launched. Although the Katyusha's rocket launching system was largely inaccurate for direct fire, there was no second-guessing the psychological effect delivered from the release of large, high-explosive rockets against an enemy-held position. Properly amassed in number, a force of such vehicles could lay waste to large swathes of enemy-occupied territory and, as such, accuracy proved of little importance in the long run. The end result was usually a dead (or badly shaken) enemy and a wasteland of debris where trees and structures once stood. The Russians quickly ramped up production of the Katyusha and the BM-13 soon became an important force on virtually every battlefield in the East with almost 10,000 units produced by war's end.

While photography of these little gems is a challenge for our equipment and limited skills, check out the well proportioned model including the rocket launch rails complete with a bevy of 16 Rs-132 rockets mounted on a nicely detailed ZiS-6 utility truck!

Although the surfaces are not perfectly smooth (3D printing is done in layers), the plastic used can be sanded and painted much the same way you would handle resin or styrene.

NOTE: While we currently maintain limited inventories of most items, some items may be "printed on demand", which usually requires 10-15 business days from order to shipment.