The mast is the foundation of the rig of any sailing tourist or sports craft, its most important unit. Its design and position determine sail area, configuration and aerodynamics, the ability to adjust sail thrust, and the design of the centerboard and the “ship” as a whole. When building a small sailboat, you have to Read more…
When designing and building the “Shmel,” the creative team “Vzlet” took as a basis the micro autogyro designed by V. Barkovsky, V. Vinitsky, and Yu. Rysyuk, described in detail in “M-K” (see: 1969, No. 6; 1970, Nos. 3 and 10; and 1971, No. 6). This very well-made machine, the first in our country of its Read more…
I decided to make this boat specifically for fishing in quiet lake backwaters — small and maneuverable. And, of course, lightweight, so I could handle it alone. The right material was already available: for several years, under the garage roof, there had been a large duralumin sheet 2700x1800x2 mm stored there, and cutting it into Read more…
The 12th–9th centuries BC are referred to by historians as the “dark ages”. During this period, the tribes living on the northern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, meeting face to face, sparked numerous clashes between peoples. Some states dissolved into the mass of others; in free lands, new colonies arose. Art and knowledge Read more…
I suggest motorists equip themselves with a shallow inspection pit that lets you repair a car while seated. It takes far less effort and material than building any “full-depth” equivalent — and it is comfortable to work in. The mini pit has two parts: a ramp pit with a sloped end (you slide under the Read more…
This mini-tractor was built in the Pavlov family’s amateur design bureau: under the head of the family, Valery Vasilyevich, it was assembled by his sons Sergey and Andrei. All three are long-time regular readers of «Modelist-Konstruktor» magazine. The compact tractor, named SAP (S. and A. Pavlov) by its makers, was developed as a universal agricultural Read more…
This is not about dancing in the garden beds, but about an original garden-and-vegetable tool that makes labor-intensive work—performed for ages with a spade (at best—with special forks)—possible even for elderly people (the author and test person of this design is already over seventy). Despite the “tortured” “formula of invention” by the patent office—“A device Read more…
The magazine “Modelist-Konstruktor” has published many thematic selections about simple but effective homemade devices that no smallholding can do without (see, for example, issues 7’92, 5’95, 6’97, 6’99). However, interest in such designs has not faded even today, as shown by the editorial mail. V. Solonin — inventor and rationalizer, one of our magazine’s active Read more…
In “M-K” No. 4 for 1989, an article devoted to skis-boats… was published. I read it and regretted that I hadn’t written to the editors earlier, nor shared my developments with the readers of “M-K”. Of course, the idea of float-skis is not new. But enthusiasts of this “vehicle” constantly repeat the mistakes of their Read more…
Many rural residents who previously did not keep cows on their farm are forced to get them now. After all, the cow has always helped a person survive difficult times by providing milk. But the owner also needs to take care of the animal so that the cow is well-fed both in the stall period. Read more…
