Gagarin's re-entry in 1/72

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi everybody. I just finished my build of Yuri Gagarin's re-entry which went a bit hazardous, as we probably all know now.
For those of you who don't: Upon using his retrofire rockets the Vostok should have split in two parts: the Sharik, which is the capsule, and the instrument module that was supposed to remain in orbit and eventually burn up.
The Sharik was connected to the instrument module with a big plug outside the spacecraft that was meant to break loose when the craft would split. It didn't.
Now Gagarin was thundering down the denser layers of the atmosphere, dragging the dead weight of the instrument module along, which kept on banging into the capsule that was wildly gyrating due to the extra ballast. The sharik couldn't straighten itself for a good clean re-entry and without the well-protected right side down, the craft was about to burn up.
Gagrin could do nothing but wait and hope.


As I kinda like diorama's I thought it might be a nice one to try and render in paper.
I used Leo Cherkashyn's Vostok model and downscaled it to 66% for a 1/72nd scale print. The build was pretty straightforward with a perfect fit. Leo has designed his model very well! After a coat of silver acrylic spraypaint at the sharik (as the Russians call the capsule) I tackled the diamond shaped engine compartment. Part one of the pics:

 

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Next was the diamond, as I call it. Also a good fit, straightforward build and no nasty surprises here. Only thing was the teeny tinyness of some parts. I made the antennae from thin metal wire. The "paperclips" at the bottom were bant to resemble the damage they might have had while banging into the capsule during the descent. After that, I attached the gas balls onto the collar at the top section of the diamond. I glued the Sharik and the diamond together in a bit of a twisted angle to show the wild gyrations that the spacecraft was making while returning through the atmosphere.

 

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Now the tricky part: making the diorama.
David Hanners' beautiful experiments with toilet paper made me think and inspired me to the following: I ripped a tissue in irregular shaped, one-layered shreds. With a 50-50 mix of white glue and water I carefully sprayed the shreds. I also mixed some red through the mixture to give it a kind of base. In themeantime I also airbrushed the tumbling spacecraft. It got a nice charred part on one side.

 

[Paper Kosmonaut]

And so we come to the end result of three days work. Or, at least the result for now. Maybe I need to do some finetuning here and there. A bit more orange, perhaps, a bit more charring, I don't know yet. Here's what I have now.
Thanks for watching!

 

[ovation]

Very clever as usual :thumb:

I used a golf ball for my capsule (if sprayed enough the dimples arn't that deep)

JJ-UK