Zil 4906 - The Soyuz Capsule [3]

Some more progress. The capsule itself is finished, I just need to do the shield below.
It has text and pictures on it and lots of holes too. And it has a couple of hard curves. Combining those is a challenge. The first trial is there but I still have some way to go.
Here's how the capsule looks now:

I'll show you how I made this if you read further.




Standard measurements, Parachute hatch has the same diameter as the top hatch. Nice. I made a ring out of sturdy card. The ring is just a guide to get the diameter right.

I sanded off the edge of the ring, it'll be painted later. This way the outside won't have a too pronounced cutting line.
 

For the hatch itself I used a tank dome of Leonid Charkshyn's Proton rocket. I had to cut off a few millimetres around the edge to make it fit inside the capsule's top part.

The ring, made from metallic paper, like the parachute hatch ring,  and with all kinds of holes for connectors and latches to keep the orbital module connected while in space. 

A little famiy portrait before assembly. The ring attaches to the hatch itself and the hatch is not directly glued to the 'ceiling' of the capsule itself. So since the whole surface of all parts was smooth and more or less coated in a layer that doesn't let PVA glue dry quicky enough, I decided to do it a little different.

I first got mt CA out and spot-welded the hatch to the inner rim of the hatch ring. Then, I put glue on the inside of the outer ring and lowered the hatch into the hole on top of the capsule and the ring onto the top of the capsule. There I left it to set with a little weight on top.

After is was almost dry, I added a reasonable big amount of PVA around the outside of the hatch, inside the capsule to make the connection with the hatch and the capsule's walls.

That worked perfectly. 
Now it is time for the past part: the bottom. During the descent on the parachute, the outer heat shield is no longer needed and jettisoned. Inside, there is an inner shield with an altimeter, sets of braking rockets which fire a fraction of a second before impact to soften the crunch and the shock for the occupants, a coupl eof hatches that house homing beacons and instructions on how to open the darn thing when the rescue teams are not there and the people inside need to get out quickly.
The first trial is there, but I am not yer satisfied. The location of the elements and the placing of the cutting lines are not good. Maybe I need more rings for a smoother transition and maybe I need to add the instructions later on loose pieces of paper. We'll see, this is it for now.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
--PK