The Alexeyev KM was the first and largest of the ekranoplans designed by Rostislasv Alexeyev. It was a test vehicle for development of these ground effect riding vehicles, ‘flying’ for fifteen years before sinking in 1980.

Rostislav Alexeyev was a designer of Soviet era high speed ships. His research led to the development of vehicles that used the ground effect of wings at very low level to fly on the cushion of air they generated, called ekranoplans.

The first, and largest was the KM which was designed in 1964-65 and made its first flight on 16 October 1966.

At that time it wore the initials ’KM’ which means in Russian ‘Prototype ship’ but the CIA intellivence offeres suggested that it meant ‘Kaspian Monster’ and so it commonly became known as the ‘Caspian Sea Monster’.

It was used in a wider tange of tests with several modifications for fiftene years until it sank during take-off in 1980 and broke down during attempts to raise it.

This model represents the sole Alexeyev KM during the 1970s.

Anigrand 1/144 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in May 2012