Get To Know Your Nukes – It’s Fun And Easy With The 2013 Monogram USA/USSR Missile Set

Monogram USA/USSR Missile Model Set Box Cover – 2013 reissue of the 1985 Cold War Edition

They’re out-of-sight and out-of-mind these days but they’re still ready to do business when called. Yes, those Cold War classics, the U.S.A./U.S.S.R. nuclear missile collections, are still as relevant today as they were in the 20th century. Perhaps you’re part of the younger set who have no Cold War experience – the olden days of paranoia, crazy ideas like bomb shelters, and all that laughable stuff like ‘duck and cover.’ Yep, today we know that there’s not much to do in ‘the event’ and who would want to survive that stuff anyway? When we hear the clarion call of enemy missiles on the way, we’ll just climb up the highest hill, get a little drunk or high or both, and watch the freaky show as we evaporate into the All.

But wouldn’t it be fun to impress your friends and/or family during those last couple of hours or minutes? You can by knowing your nukes! Learning is fun and easy with the Monogram U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Missile set! The 2013 U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Missile Set is a reissue of the 1985 Cold War edition released shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The name may have changed, but those missile classics remain in the attentive care of the Russian Federation.

1985 Monogram U.S. and U.S.S.R. Missile Display Kit Box Cover

As you build each model you’ll become familiar with the different size, shape, and look of each explosive missile. For the U.S. you get the mighty Titan II, the stylish Minuteman III, and the awesomely ironic Peacemaker, as well as the Pershing II. But that’s not all! There’s the sea-launched Polaris A3, Poseidon, and Trident. A pair of cruise missiles are also included – the ALCM (Air Launched Cruise Missile) and the sea-launched Tomahawk.

The U.S.A. Collection of Nine Nuclear Missiles

The Soviet set name classifications are a hoot. They include the US Department of Defense designations, consisting of ‘SS’ and a NATO codename. You get the massive SS-18 Satan, SS-4 Sandal, the stylish SS-13 Savage, the SS-17 Spanker, the SS-19 Stiletto, and the stubby SS-20 Saber. The sea-launched missiles include the SS-N-8 Sawfly, the SS-N-17 Snipe, and the SS-N-18 Stingray. And finally, you also get the classically designed air-launched AS-6 Kingfish.

The U.S.S.R. Collection Of Eleven Nuclear Missiles

If you’ve never worked with models before you’ll find that these missiles are fairly easy to construct with most consisting of only two halves and 45 pieces in all. Included with your kit you get a decal sheet to give those missiles an authentic touch, and a display base to show off your handiwork – this also makes for a nice quick-glance study guide.

The 2013 Monogram U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Missile Display Set Components

So there you have it! The 2013 Monogram U.S.A./U.S.S.R. Missile Display Set – The Fun Way To Get To Know Your Nukes!

The Complete 2013 Monogram USA/USSR Missile Display

Images via Scale Model News. H/T to Luis Cesar at Atompunk brasil on Facebook.

The Short Life Of A Beautiful Idea: The Soviet ‘Sormovich’ Passenger Hovercraft

‘Sormovich’ was built in 1965. During the tests she reached the speed of 120 km/h (75 miles/hr), and went above the surface at a height of 0.25-0.3 m (approx. 1 ft), – she had easily overcome the shallow water and landed gently on the beach.

It looks like an airplane’s fuselage zipping on the water…

The Soviet Sormovich: A gas-turbine passenger hovercraft that operated on an experimental passenger line along the Volga River (Gorky – Cheboksary) in 1971-1972, which was 274 km (170 miles). A round trip from Gorky to Cheboksary took one day.

The ship had a crew of 3 people and could carry up to 50 passengers. The passenger lounge was placed at the bow. Operation was complicated by problems with the dispensing gear that failed. According to the statistics the Sormovich served about 6,000 passengers.

The Sormovich In A More Pastoral Scene

1971 Sormovich winter conditions test.

In 1971, tests were conducted with the Sormovich to determine the feasibility of passenger traffic in the winter.

The tests were successful, but the idea of ​​passenger traffic in the winter was refused.

This decision was unclear, because the ship was designed to operate in the winter months. Perhaps it was connected with almost completely absent infrastructure for winter navigation on the Volga river.  (English Russia)

The Sormovich decommissioned, abandoned, and in disrepair.

The gas-turbine hovercraft was decommissioned in 1974. The Sormovich met her end on a base in the Gorky Region. There it fell into a complete state of disrepair. It was cut into pieces of lifeless metal.

(Source material and photos: English Russia)

In Which Italy’s Kirlian Camera Splashes The ‘Queen Of Blood’ With A Dark Wave

Italian dark wave ensemble, Kirlian Camera, pays tribute to the 1966 sci-fi horror classic, Queen of Blood.

 

Song: ‘The Path Of Flowers’ – From the 2005 album release, Invisible Front).

Queen Of Blood was released in 1966 by American International Pictures. The film is considered one of ‘the best of the “Corman Cut-Ups” – the spate of films produced during the sixties by cobbling together footage pirated from Russian science fiction films and new material shot by [any one] of Roger Corman’s stable of up-and-coming film-makers, in this case Curtis Harrington.’*  In Queen Of Blood, Harrington uses footage from the Russian film Meshte Nastreshu, ‘A Dream Comes True’.

The Plot: (Set in the year, 1990) After aliens contact Earth via radio to inform humans of an impending visit, their ambassador spaceship crashes on Mars. Astronaut rescuers recover only one green-skinned survivor – a female with insatiably vampire-like appetites.*

The film features John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, and Czech actor Florence Marly as the Alien Queen.

The Mysterious Number Stations – Espionage Communications?

Numbers stations are mysterious shortwave radio channels of indiscernible origin that exist in countries all across the world and have been reported since World War 1. They are identifiable by the unusual contents of their broadcasts: seemingly random sequences of numbers, words, letters, tunes, and Morse code, usually spoken by artificially generated voices of women and children.

The most common theory regarding the purpose of these bizarre stations is that they’re used by governments the world over to secretly transmit encrypted commands and messages to spies. That said, even though numbers stations have been discovered all over the globe and in any number of different languages, no government has ever officially acknowledged their existence. While the espionage theory is a logical one, with no official confirmation of their purpose the jury is still out.

One particularly odd station, UVB-76, has existed since the late 1970s and has broadcast a simple, repetitive buzzing tone 24 hours a day ever since. On very rare occasions, however, listeners have reported a Russian voice interrupting the buzz to read out sequences of numbers and words, always in a consistent format — this happened once in 1997, once in 2002, once in 2006, 56 times in 2010, and 14 in 2011. As with all numbers stations, its true purpose is and will probably remain unknown, but the increase in frequency of whatever it’s doing is certainly odd.

You can listen to well over 100 recordings of numbers stations for free on archive.org but be forewarned that they’re all kind of, well, eerie. They feel like something you shouldn’t be listening to, which stands to reason since apparently you’re not supposed to know they exist.

(Source: horrorfixxx.com)

Valentina Tereshkova – One Cool Cosmonaut

Valentina Tereshkova – First Woman To Enter Space In 1963 (Photo via The Appendix

On June 16, 1963 Valentina Tereshkova was launched aboard Vostok 6 and became the first woman to fly in space. During the 70.8 hour flight, Vostok 6 made 48 orbits of Earth.  Tereshkova never flew again, but she did become a spokesperson for the Soviet Union. While fulfilling this role, she received the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace.*  She went on to earn a Ph.d. (Tech.) and become a professor authoring more than fifty research papers. Today she remains a Russian national hero.

Cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova – First Man And First Woman In Space (photo:© RIA Novosti. Alexander Mokletsov)

Valentina Tereshkova received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal under the June 22, 1963 Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (Parliament) for her successful space flight and for the courage and heroism displayed during the [three day] mission. – RIA Novosti

Way Before There Was Devo, There Were The Spotnicks (For Your Viewing & Listening Pleasure)

Swedish guitar-group The Spotnicks with The Rocket Man (1962). This song with its inspiring melody, which is restlessly driving on was adapted by Bo Winberg from (the) Russian folksong “Polyushka Polye” or “Polyushko-Pole” (Cossack Patrol/Meadowland/Song Of The Plains/Oh My Fields/Cavalry of the Steppes).

(via yellowitom61)

 

Super Music Video From Hungary – ‘Cpt. Space Wolf’ by Kerekes Band

Space folk music from Hungary featuring the one and only Hungarian astronaut, Cpt. Farkas Bertalan! Soviet and American posters and stamps from the space era were used in the music video.

‘Cpt. Space Wolf’ is taken from the album, ‘Folklore Man’.

via Kerekes Band

Get your intercosmic vibe on.

Russian Firefighter Headgear – 1932

Inspection of Moscow’s firefighter brigades in the Red Square, 1932.

via Nec Spe Nec Metu on Facebook

Inspection of Moscow’s firefighter brigades in the Red Square, 1932.

Soviet Russian Magazine Depicts Classic Futurism

Tested features an interesting gallery curated by Wesley Fenlon entitled, The Art of Tekhnika Molodezhi. His description:

Tekhnika Molodezhi, or Technology for the Youth, was first published in Russia in 1933. Throughout World War II, its covers would often depict the weapons and technologies of war. After the war, it featured visions of deep sea exploration, gyrocopters and rocket cars, space capsules and lunar missions. This art offers a rare and fascinating insight into the pop culture depiction of futurism in mid 20th century Russia.

The gallery includes 201 classic illustrations. Below are just a few. Click here to view them all if you’d like. Viewing them is an interesting walk down Soviet Russia’s memory lane.

The Art of Tekhnika Molodezhi

The Art of Tekhnika Molodezhi

The Art of Tekhnika Molodezhi