Short documentary about Kharkovchanka, huge Antarctic off-road vehicles made by the Soviets

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/07/03/short-documentary-about-kharko.html

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Since they were made in Ukraine, I dare say that a “patriotic” Russian replacement will be developed – easily done, as they were built on tank chassis.

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Fuel efficiency, I’m guessing, is not a selling point? :thinking:

Since I’m not into winter camping anyhow I’ll stick with my Honda SUV and a tent, thanks… :slightly_smiling_face:

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So the Landmaster is totally derivative?

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The first generation is pretty awesome considering that they had three months to design and build it.

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I think his repeated pronunciation of “Kharkov” is way off. He’s using a “ch” sound like in “Charlie” but it’s a lot closer to an H sound, or even closer to Hebrew chet sound, like in Hanukah. I don’t speak Russian so maybe someone who does can comment.

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I just last week learned about the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. Built in the late 1930s by/for Admiral Byrd to explore Antarctica. It failed almost immediately on arrival in Antarctica, and was abandoned in place.

It may (or may not) still be there.

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So does he, and he apologizes for it at the end. :grinning:

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Thunderbird 6? FAB comrade!

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It can get where most other things cannot, with the interior cubic space of an apartment; it is infinitely more efficient than most vehicles at the job it does =).

Doesn’t hurt that it’s likely intended for very dirty, cheap, high-sulfur diesel,

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Makes perfect sense: it’s like a spaceship for the Arctic.

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It’s already available:

Here’s a video of Vityaz used by Slovakian firefighters:

Note the rubber duck on top of the cabin :slight_smile:

Also, it’s sad how many cool Ukrainian vehicles are not manufactured anymore, especially the Dnepr motorcycles.

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That’s the real genius of the design:

It’s built to endure antarctic conditions for now; and to terraform for the future time when vehicles will no longer have to endure antarctic conditions.

Once that happens, they look ready for conversion into sandcrawlers, for use in the desolate equatorial desert sector.

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Time for a “Russian Reversal”, I think: Let’s see. Ahem:

In Russia, our tiny is your huge.

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That’s a SHADO Mobile!
https://ufoseries.com/publicity/detail.php?310

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It’s like a Snow Cat drunkenly hooked up
with a World War One era tank.

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Now I want to see the lost UFO episode where they had to team up with their Soviet counterparts.

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LEGO kit waiting to happen.

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Well, it’s a fairly long way between gas stations down there, so you’d want it to be reasonably fuel efficient.

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Yeah, I just learned about that from an article on Jalopnik. Odd that the designers didn’t seem to think that the tires would need any sort of aggressive treads to provide traction on the snow and ice. Reminds me of my last time driving up some mountain roads for a day of snow play, though. There were a LOT of idiots in big giant trucks with oversized tires who had lost traction and got stuck on the snowy road. (Those tires are dumb. More surface area isn’t always to one’s advantage when trying to get traction) Many were completely flabbergasted that I was able to drive up there without a problem in my little Honda fit, and I was repeatedly asked if it was 4-wheel-drive. Amazing what a set of snow chains can do.

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