Museum of Military Equipment (Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Russia)

Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Autumn 2024.

This year I have already visited Yekaterinburg 6 times, but these were transit visits: train station – airport and in reverse order.

So, in order to keep the tradition of visiting the museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma every year, I had to go there specially.

On each such visit, I not only admire the available exhibits, but also notice the changes that have occurred since the previous visit.

I was immediately interested in the construction work behind the fence and the openwork structure, which was clearly not for industrial purposes.

Expansion of the exhibition? We’ll wait and see.
In the meantime, let’s go along the pavilions.

From the main entrance, the pavilions are numbered in reverse order. The sixth pavilion is still closed, but interesting things can be seen through the glass.


In the fourth pavilion, everything seems to be in place, only a couple of newcomers are hiding in the corner.

Now it turns out that you need to look not only into the pavilions, but also between them. If I hadn’t looked back, I would have passed by.

They even started using the ends of the pavilions!

I exit this alley into the open space and see a BelAZ. Well, I’m thinking, they’re not too lazy to carry it back and forth.

I took a closer look but it was another BelAZ. Much bigger than the previous one!



This thing cannot even be called a machine. This is some kind of mobile factory. Like in the movie “Dune”. I googled it – the height is 8 meters and a quarter!

And the previous one is in place, there it is behind the monument, in its place. Baby.

The Soviet space shuttle Buran even appeared here. This is the third one built and it never actually flew.


Yes, for now it is behind a fence and in this condition. But the condition of the exhibits here has a tendency to improve. The almost finished An-12 is a witness to that.

Only the chassis is in shoe covers. They are probably finishing painting it.

There is still plenty to repaint there.

Thank God, the steam locomotives have finished being painted.

Although, that one in the distance needs to be updated again. Especially since it is the original from Trumpeter’s model,

which I have.

And it turns out that they don’t always do a major paint job. They can also just tint it cosmetically.

Further, in the tanks columns, there seems to be no change.

And it’s good that I took a different route back. There in the exclusively cannon zone


two historically significant tanks were added.

Damn, I’ll have to go again next year to see for myself and tell you.

That’s excellent!

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I am staggered, just staggered!

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That is one awesome display and collection- the Buran is spectacular- I had no idea there was one in a museum. Also nice to see a Yak-38 in such a good condition!

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The first flight vehicle of the program, Buran (product 1.01), made its only flight on November 15, 1988. In 2002, it was completely destroyed when a hangar collapsed at the cosmodrome. The second flight vehicle, Burya (product 1.02), did not participate in flights and was placed in storage at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The third spacecraft was delivered to Verkhnyaya Pyshma on August 5, 2024. This is the only flying example preserved in Russia.

In 1994, it was supposed to fly in a manned mode with a crew of two cosmonauts and stay in space for 24 hours. But, unfortunately, the Energia-Buran space program was shut down. In 1993, the ship’s readiness was estimated at 50%.

The shuttle made most of the way from the Moscow region by river, and then by roads. The length of the spacecraft is 36.4 meters, the wingspan is about 24 meters, the height of the ship on the chassis is more than 16 meters. The weight of the fuselage and wing consoles is 56 tons.

In the future, a special pavilion will be built for it and a unique exhibition dedicated to the Soviet space program “Energia-Buran” will be opened.

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Thanks for the extra info :+1:.

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Thanks for the report and all your work with it, Yuri! Much appreciated to see inside this huge museum! :+1:

Karl, there’s a Buran in the Speyer Technical Museum in Germany. I’ve seen it quite a few times already and had even a model show below it. The museum is not far away from my door. Just click the thumbnails to open the photos …
Spaceshuttle Buran | Technik Museum Speyer | Germany (technik-museum.de)

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Well that is pretty cool- it is in such pristine condition as well!

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So can we expect photos from this years’ show (Saturday 16 and Sunday, 17 November 2024 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) then?
:drooling_face:
Cheers,

M

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Another one Buran is in the Technikmusem Speyer. A really huge spacecraft!

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I have to disappoint you, Tom … :disappointed:
The model show is every year over the Easter Days (Sat to Mon) but I haven’t there in the last years …

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I have repeatedly witnessed heated verbal battles over the issues of soiling (weathering) equipment and causing realistic signs of wear. I recently encountered this again: the color of the tracks of tanks from the First World War.

I will not duplicate the arguments of the parties, I will only note that they are numerous and from various fields of knowledge. I will do the opposite: I will tell almost nothing, but simply show.

The museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma is a place where original equipment from the period of the WWII, as well as, possibly, their copies, replicas and other products with reduced, but not zero, historicity, march several kilometers once a year on Victory Day

(photo below – 2022. Photos from the 2021 parade at the beginning of this epic.).

Sometimes more than once a year – also on Tanker’s Day (the second Sunday in September). The mileage can be even more – running-in, checking and other preparatory work remain outside the scope of observations. The key: tanks are not repainted before and after the race.

Of course, it is necessary to take into account that it is located in a covered and heated hangar.

Tanks drive on asphalt, not on the ground, and at the same time the lugs are leveled (that’s why I took less pictures of the outer side). Otherwise the asphalt will be damaged. Plus: I’m a mediocre photographer, the camera is so-so. The lighting in the hangar is bad, and the flash distorts the colors.

After such an optimistic introduction, you can look at the photos






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