Hi, there have been a couple of good recent posts on Russian stoves. Hunterbug has produced some great photos, and our new Russian CCS member, Alex L, has provided valuable information on Russian stoves. I have had one of the "Primus Touristy", Optimus 8R Clones, for several years and have recently taken some pictures of it. I have included some photos of an Optimus 8R for comparison: Above is the "Primus Touristy" in its case. Alex L. says these stoves were made by the machine manufacturing company, im. Chernyshova, in Moscow until the 1990s: On opening the case you are confronted with a "Bubble Gum Pink" fuel funnel. I guess these would be hard to lose as there is no way they would merge into the background! Pictured above is the control Knob for regulating the burner and cleaning the jet of the stove. My daughter provided this translation: "Прочистить means 'clean thoroughly,' which is a bit odd. Зажечь, however, has the more logical meaning of "ignite" or "turn up." Make of this as you will." Here are some shots of the Russian stove in operation. It is a good stove, easy to Prime, (I use alcohol), powerful and controllable. There follows a photo of the Russian Clone, on the right, alongside the Optimus 8R Original, on the left of the picture. You will see they are of almost identical dimensions and very similar in general appearance. Best Regards, Kerophile.
I think that the instructions on the flame adjuster make sense in that the knob on the 8r I recently obtained says "off" and "clean" ( refering to the cleaning needle at the far opposite of the range) What is odd is that the words on your nob refer to the same end of the range. Oh well. Nice stoves... nice pics... Thanks for showing them side by side!
Looks like those russian 8R clones are gathering some crowed... I see more and more of them on CCS What I do feel is that they could have made the stem of the controll knob a little shorter as it tends to hit the ground or even lift the stove up a little when it is seated n the burner. Other than that I have no complains (any more) about his little critter
Might it be that the long control lever for the Russian stove is for use with larger pots? My little knowledge of things Russian is that they are very common sense people. Reminds one of the old story about NASA spending millions/billions developing a ball point pen that would work in space. The Russians used a pencil. No idea if thats true. Best, Bob
the older 8r's had a similar knob to the russian. My 8r has a long shaft with bakelite or plastic knob, and a separate wrench for the jet and fuel cap.
Just in case the question should pop up: the stoves are very similar, but not similar enough to exchange many parts or spares. This is definitively true for the filler cap, which has a different thread, so you can NOT use an Optimus pump on the Russian Clone. AFAIR also the mechanics of the valve/needle is different. Best regards, Andy
Great post and great pictures. Mother nature prevented me from using mine last weekend. My wife felt that the 2-5 feet of snow expected would make things difficult on the 3 foot tall child for us to get a Christmas tree. So I plan to use it this weekend and I should have internet at home again on Monday to post the pictures.
Hi there, sorry, I have been away some time. Dont have the Russian one any more, but I will ask the friend I gave it to. Do you already have the nipple thread measures of the Optimus 8R? BR Andy
OK, here we go. The outer diameter is 7.9 mm (which would be an 8 mm thread then), and the thread lead is 0.5 mm. Which would make it a 8x0.5 mm thread I suppose. Hope that helps - I can measure the Optimus as well, but that would take some time. BR Andy
My Russian clone (??) has a hinge that takes apart, allowing the top to be separated from the bottom, unlike the Optimus. Any others out there like that? Bob, the story of the russians taking a pencil to space is an urban legend. Pencils need sharpening and wood and graphite dust in space is absolutely verboten as it destroys not only computer equipment but any other delicate experimental equipment and you can't keep dust down in a zero-g environment. Developing a dust proof pencil sharpener would exceed the cost of developing a space pen (which was developed and sold by a private US company btw (you can get them in stores)) Stan
Hi, here is a link to the instructions and guarantee which came with this stove: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/russian-primus-touristy-1993.11445/ Best Regards, Kerophile.
For similar Optimus 8R. https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/garys-mini-silent-damper-optimus-8r.11924/ Bluewater stove restoration
@magikbus Stan, that's really interesting about the urban legend. I wonder why they didn't just take a propelling pencil to avoid the need for a sharpener? Or take several pre-sharpened pencils?
Or just mount sharpener on the end of hose which other end is outside of the module. Some valve on hose. When pencil need sharpening open the valve, sharpen the pencil and dust disappears into space.
Very interesting stove, had one recently and would like to get some spare parts for it. Anyone knows a link for an online shop that provide such spare parts please? At my location, Gasoline is not very clean and I have doubts that the yellow jets (not in simmering mode, in full power mode) the burner is generating instead of blue jets is related to quality of fuel used. What kind of fuel would burn cleanly? Btw we don't have the coleman fuel here too .......... Many thanks
@Migwar I’ll flag up @gieorgijewski He’s knowledgeable on these, and probably spares availability. John
@Migwar Depending on which spares you need - this might be of help? GENUINE ORIGINAL FULL REPAIR SERVICE KIT CAMPING Stove USSR Primus PT-1 TOURIST | eBay New jet and jet pricker also show up occasionally from the same seller as above. Having seen some of the fuel in Lebanon - I will strongly recommend, that you use af funnel with a good filter like the Coleman funnel seen here --> Coleman stove lamp fuel filter funnel 201018 76501202427 | eBay You can catch most of the dirt and water with this funnel.
Short question: why are the decals in most cases destroyed or scratched? It's difficult to find stoves with intact decals. Ciao, Bastian View attachment 240962
