Useful around the household

Scarecrow windmill & glass shelf: DIY from bottles and tiles

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…

Water skis: another option

Skis-boats: how to move on water

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…

Cow manger

Cow feed rack (hay manger): frame construction

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…

An arsenal of sweet berries

Knife and cultivator for wild strawberries: DIY ideas

Strawberry, wild strawberry… They are often confused with one another, but the best of berries, by right, are considered to be strawberries. Bright, juicy, fragrant. With sugar and cream they make an excellent dessert. Jam, jelly, and medicinal pick-ups are also wonderful—especially from strawberries. Strawberries have an almost rounded-conical shape, a whitish coloring over more Read more…

“Boat”-snowmobile

Homemade tracked snowmobile: wood body and variator

I was born and raised in a region where the ground stays under a thick snow cover for most of the year — so it’s no surprise that people consider this place the homeland of Ded Moroz. Probably, that’s why, alongside my general interest in technology, snowmobile machines have always drawn my special attention. Owning Read more…

Motorcycle trailer

Motorcycle side trailer: leaf-spring without shock absorbers

Many owners of motorized equipment strive to use their available vehicles as effectively as possible. When building various structures, improving garden plots, and doing other household work, it becomes necessary to move various loads over short distances. In a number of cases, this task is within the power of a motorcycle with a sidecar trailer. Read more…

Snowkart for sports and recreation

Snowkart with T-200 engine: wheel-ski build guide

During the winter season, motor-sport enthusiasts experience a period of relative calm. The reason is the poor conditions in which the rider finds himself: once he rides his two-wheeled “friend” onto a snow-covered road, sometimes with ice patches. And off-road you can go only on a specially prepared motorcycle (with studded tires). Using the idea Read more…

Pedal surfer

Rowing attachment for a windsurfer with a pedal drive

A windsurfer, like any sailboat, needs wind. Meanwhile, on its hull-float it is possible to swim even in calm weather if necessary. In the magazine “Modelist-Konstruktor” there was once a mention of using the hull in a rowing version — with a two-blade kayak oar, or with an ordinary pair of oars (though in the Read more…

Bee house

Cassette Beehive: Construction, Assembly and Care

Today we introduce readers to two such works, interesting above all because they address an area of home farming that is still only weakly covered by technical creativity: beekeeping. For it, club members of the Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren of the Bauman District in Moscow have created a very convenient original hive for use, Read more…

Micro motorcarts

Micromotosleds with the D-4 engine: design

Before introducing the material below, we’d like to recall a short note in issue No. 2 of our journal for 1979 — “Folding sleds.” The reason is that the author of both designs is the same — our reader from Kazan, E. Zakharov. His technical creativity was prompted by a little son who every morning Read more…