122 mm Multiple Rocket Launcher BM-21 “Grad”
Modelism 1:72 Scale Vehicle Review
122 mm Multiple Rocket Launcher BM-21 “Grad” on Truck 4,5 t URAL-375D, 1:72 Modelism 72001
Contents
- Multiple Rocket Launcher BM-21 “Grad” on Truck 4,5 t URAL-375D
- Decal Sheet
Evaluation
Good choice of subject, BM-21 “Grad” is the most widely used multiple rocket launcher world-wide. Introduced in the Soviet Army in 1963, BM-21 “Grad” was originally mounted on the URAL-375D 4,5 t truck which is the subject of this kit.
The Modelism kit has 82 parts, compared to 50 parts of the Hobbyboss BM-21 “Grad” and 127 parts of the ICM BM-21 “Grad”. The clear plastic windshield and side windows are packaged in a separate plastic bag together with the soft vinyl tires. In our sample, stray plasticisers migrating from the tires had begun to dissolve one of the side windows. The tires need to be painted inside and out to slow the migration of plasticisers, protect the wheel rims, and prevent the tires from brittling or dissolving into gooey slime.
The locating pins on the axles are quite short and noticeably thinner than the holes in the wheel rims. They need to be superglued to ensure a good bond.
The drive shaft #24 has 0.8 mm locating pins, but there are no corresponding sockets in the differentials on either rear axle. In addition, the drive shaft is too long. It needs to be shorted to fit between the axles. Drill a 1 mm socket into the rear differential to fit the shortened end of the drive shaft which is now without its locating pin. The bolster #25 needs to be mounted flush with the outside of each leaf spring to ensure that the leaf springs will be exactly 17 mm apart.
In section 4 of the instructions, the winch #34 is numbered #27 by mistake. Section 4 would have you glue the winch to the left side of the frame, but section 5 shows it attached to the right side, which is probably correct.
Three of the six wheels broke in the process of slipping the soft vinyl tires onto the rims. This kind of damaged can be fixed by drilling the axle and inserting a section of 0.6 mm piano wire as a new axle stub to which the broken wheel may be attached securely.
Many critical parts and assemblies do not actually key into a particular position on the vehicle, they have to be eyeballed, based on rather vague and sometimes contradictory illustrations in the assembly instruction.
This BM-21 “Grad” is an interesting challenge for the serious modeller. Wargamers will get acceptable results even if they do not improve the model with scratchbuilt parts.
Compatible with ESCI, Hasegawa, and Revell.
Modelism‘s BM-21 “Grad” requires more patience and modelling experience than one would expect from a typical plastic kit.