By experience, we know that the appearance of the “Beetle-42” delta wing aircraft evokes many emotions and, naturally, questions. Let’s set aside the emotions and focus on the most significant question: why does it have a four-wheel chassis instead of a three-wheel one? Before answering, let’s recall that ground vehicles with three-wheel chassis and front-wheel Read more…
My technical creativity began as far back as I can remember. Of course, it all started with models and various useful things. My simple crafts were born at the end of the common yard, in the storage room. I had to be happy with such a place: after all, others didn’t even have a roof Read more…
In my amateur boatbuilding practice, it turned out that the small two-seater leisure catamaran “Ryba” is far from the first; I built it even later than the large four-seater tourist sea-faring one (also sail-powered). In some aspects, the small boat replicates the large one—for example, the two-hull (or more precisely, two-float) single-masted scheme, the set Read more…
The history of creating our autogyro, later named DAS-2M, spans over two decades. The first flight of the DAS autogyro took place in May 1980 in an unpowered version, towed by a “Zhiguli” car. It happened at one of the agricultural aviation airfields near Tula. After the first flight, we realized that the aircraft was Read more…
According to today’s classification, micro motorcycles designed for city use are called this way (their dimensions allow storing the vehicle in an apartment and transporting it in a passenger car). And “family” because the design turned out to be suitable for both me and my son. We built two minibikes: they differ only in headlights Read more…
There are many enthusiasts for whom a velomobile has become not just a hobby but a passionate obsession. And then there are people for whom a velomobile is literally life itself. More accurately, it’s about the ability to move around, which, in essence, is interconnected. For such a means of transportation, speed and load capacity Read more…
In the snowmobile “Blizzard,” which I designed based on many developments published in “M-K,” elements of the schemes of classic snowmobiles, “amfitrak,” snowcat, pneumatic sleds, and aero skis have come together, combining almost all known snowmobile mechanisms. However, my vehicle cannot be attributed to any of these groups – it is a combination of a Read more…
Attempts to combine a bicycle with skis have been made before. However, the resulting snowcat designs could only be used to ride down hills. Our reader and engineer L. Gurfinsky, along with his friends, managed to construct a simple reciprocating mechanism that transforms the snowcat into a ski-bicycle: now it can be ridden both downhill Read more…
Several minutes before the opening of the amateur car design show of 1966 in Moscow, an unusual microcar with an equally unusual trailer attached rolled up to the starting line. Both the car and the trailer were completely flat: the height of the body did not exceed the diameter of the wheel from the early Read more…
It is not in vain that they say, “The bath steams, the bath heats, the bath fixes everything.” Unfortunately, for many, the meaning of this folk wisdom becomes apparent too late, when the list of illnesses begins to approach a critical point. And yet, it seems so simple, as the old folks taught: a hot Read more…
