N1 1/96 [1] - The big bad rocket that would but couldn't

Oh yes. I started building the 1/96th version of the big N-1, Soviet Russia's answer to the Saturn 5. A couple of years back I did the smaller 1/144 version of the same rocket and I was so tired after making the 1st stage, I put it away for I think it was a year or so. Let's hope this won't take that long.
Around the same time, I was not yet equipped with an A3-printer and the 1/96th version was high up on my list, so I made a good A3 copy of it in the local copy shop. 200+ gram paper, so in other words, very heavy, and a nice gloss all over.
It was in storage for years but after the Ariane I wanted to do a nice "out-of-the-box" model, although in paper modeling we hardly have any models coming in boxes.

Anyways, I am not yet finished with the first stage, or rather, Blok A, but I thought it would be a nice seasonal present to get you all up to steam with what I am doing at the moment.

For a change this is going to be another one of those looooooooong posts, with lots of photos.
So, this is how it all started. Making the tank dome of the first stage.

The Blok A stage was 17 meters at its widest point. The Saturn V 'only' measured 10 meters. And while the Saturn used almost all available space inside its hull, the N-1 actually was quite uneconomical. The fuel and oxidiser tanks were ball-shaped, which meant that there was a lot of unused room left in the insides of the stages.

The vents on top are edge glued and that all goes reasonably well, keeping in mind that the whole model is printed by a copier, so it's a toner surface we're dealing with here.

Now, more of this after the jump.