Scooter or city bike?

The initial stage of city bike layout using flat models.

Less and less often you’ll see nimble mopeds on our roads. And this is not surprising: the main manufacturers, by the will of fate, ended up abroad — in Latvia and Ukraine. So everything that is still sold from this range in specialized stores today are foreign-made models. Accordingly, the price… Moreover, fickle motorcycle fashion Read more…

MOTORCYCLE OF THE WATERWAYS

MOTORCYCLE OF THE WATERWAYS

In the mid-80s, television screens in many countries widely advertised small, fast, exceptionally maneuverable motorized vessels under the general name “water motorcycle”: “jet ski”, “waterbot”, “hydrocycle”. They immediately won the hearts of water sports enthusiasts, displacing windsurfers, water skiers, and representatives of some types of water-motor sports. However, reproducing a hydrocycle design at home is Read more…

MOTORBOAT “MIRAGE”

MOTORBOAT “MIRAGE”

In my time, I had the opportunity to build and test many motorboats. The first to hit the water was the motorboat “Zvezdochka”, whose drawings were published in the October 1966 issue of the “Modelist-Konstruktor” magazine. It is known that in rural areas, DIY enthusiasts are not spoiled by the wide range of construction materials Read more…

THE FIRST SNOWMOBILE, BUT A SUCCESSFUL ONE

THE FIRST SNOWMOBILE, BUT A SUCCESSFUL ONE

The author of this material is a schoolboy from a distant Siberian city. When the editorial office received his letter describing the ski-track snowmobile he had built, he was 15 years old and studying in the tenth grade of secondary school. Now Yevgeny has grown older, more experienced, and would probably design some components of Read more…

LET THE WIND WORK

LET THE WIND WORK

Wind has always been considered a symbol of inconstancy, and attempts to convert its energy into electrical energy most often led to results that were not very encouraging. Indeed, everyone expects stability from a source of electrical energy: flip a switch — and the light bulb lights up. But wind, alas, is changeable. However, it Read more…

SNOW GO-KART

SNOW GO-KART

It’s easiest to say: “When I grow up, I’ll get behind the wheel of a car, take a plane into the sky, build what I dreamed of…” But it turns out that many dreams can come true even at the age of fifteen, if you don’t sit idle, but boldly take on their realization. We Read more…

NO GASOLINE NEEDED

Most of the vehicles I built were based on mass-produced noisy and “fuel-guzzling” motorcycle or bicycle internal combustion engines. This was convenient on one hand, but very troublesome on the other, as the quality of the engines rarely satisfied and I had to spend a lot of effort, and most importantly, time on their refinement Read more…

TRAILER “COMPROMISE”

TRAILER “COMPROMISE”

As the vacation period approaches, many auto tourists (especially families) begin to think about where and how they will rest on the road: living in a campground or on wheels, equipping the car with devices for overnight stays, or simply in a tent. There are other, so to speak, accompanying problems. For example, supplies of Read more…

HOMESTEAD LITTLE TRUCK

HOMESTEAD LITTLE TRUCK

I am a long-time reader and regular subscriber to the magazine “Modelist-Konstruktor”. Over almost forty years, I have not only familiarized myself with machines and mechanisms of amateur designers, but also created my own. Therefore, I can count myself among the cohort of experienced “DIYers”. I mainly built agricultural and transport equipment (from walk-behind tractors Read more…

FISHERMAN’S “AEROCRAFT”

FISHERMAN’S “AEROCRAFT”

At the time I decided to build an aerosled, I didn’t plan any particularly original design solutions for it — the machine was needed as a regular winter vehicle. However, when I selected the necessary units, materials, and got down to work, ideas for various design solutions for some components began to emerge. I even Read more…