[QUOTE=MarkB.
...the book of rocket drawings by Minakov. ...
If anyone knows where I could get one . . . well, there might be a finder's fee involved.
Oh, and Gus probably wants one, too.[/QUOTE]
Mark,
I was extremely lucky to be gifted a set of the physical three volume set by a Russian friend at my very first internats in Serbia 9 years ago. I was subsequently given a CD version of the books (the second CD edition) by Mr. Minakov himself.
Through a very bizarre set of circumstances I actually had the opportunity to sit and chat with Mr. Minakov as we were each waiting to testify in a Bulgarian court 5 years ago. I convinced my English to Bulgarian interpreter and his Russian to Bulgarian interpreter to co-translate for us.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am eternally grateful to those interpreters for accomodating us. It turns out Minakov was really excited that Peter Alway is my friend and we spent most of our time discussing their almost identical difficulties in self-publishing their rocketry books. Minakov had exactly the same problem with his physical books, expensive to produce, then they sit in your basement for years as you slowly try to earn back what you spent.
By the time we talked he had already stopped producing the physical books and had started putting his works on CD. For those who don't know his work, he is the combination G. Harry Stine and Peter Alway of Russia. He was also the world's leading scale judge for international competition. His books detail all one needs to know, both theory and practice, to fly competition rockets, as well as providing truly amazing scale drawings for competitors. Just incredible stuff.
During our talk Vladimir was flabergasted that Peter suffered the same problems. It was just at that point that Pete entered his arrangement with the NAR and I suggested to Mr. Minakov that I would love to talk to them about doing the same for him. Unfortunately that never happened as the Russians did not come to Ukraine and Mr. Minakov's health began to fail.
Since his death two years ago, sales of his CD's, now into a final 3rd edition, have been taken over by the Russian team photographer. Oddly, we just corresponded about 3 weeks ago about trying to get permission from Minakov's family to allow NAR to sell copies of his CD.
I will let you know what I find out.
In the meantime, here is a link to a Russian website with a number of digital copies of Mr. Minakov's drawings.
http://www.frms.ru/models/13
Photo below is of Vladimir Minakov examining my daughter's Little Joe 1A model in Slovakia in 2012. A truly remarkable man. May he rest in peace.