Comrades:

Big Progress (pun intended).

The picture shows the now almost complete Vostok. The embossed wrap is from a 12 x 12" scrapbooking sheet my wife "gave" me. The conduit and small wood details are extra 1/12 dowel sanded to half-round or 3/32 sq. spruce. The other details are cardstock, including the rocket nozzle and the bonnet that will enclose the capsule. Of course, I have the Ping-Pong ball for the capsule. It will need a cardstock shim or two inside the BT-60.

The reason for the bonnet indented into the fairing was because in the event of an emergency, Yuri, Valentina and the rest of the gang were in ejection seats and the capsule hatch would be the only thing needed to blow for them to get out. This seat was not zero-zero like a Gemini seat, in the event of a pad abort, the seat would shoot the cosmonaut into a net across the flame pit without deploying the parachute. Sounds kind of exciting . . . .

Note the little mounting stubs on the lattice. These turned out to be a little tricky. They are 3/32 sq. spruce with the grain running vertically; if you orient the grain horizontally, the spruce will delaminate.

Finally, I've started to hollow out the nose cone - - I'm gonna need a couple of ounces of nose weight at least.

92 days until April 12; I think I'm gonna make it.

As for the Soyuz, 1/16 dowels are darn near impossible to find. I finally located some 12" lengths in a discard box at my local hobby shop. I also found some Plastruct sheets to simulate the airbrakes on the fairing. I'm going to focus on finishing the Vostok for the next few days, but Soyuz (and the second R-7) will be right behind.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7