Dr. Zooch Vostok build thread

NJRick said:

OK....after Christmas I decided to buy Dr. Zooch's Vostok....this looks like a really neat little kit and I wanted to try a shot at her. I hope to add some additional details to her along the way. I have to give a big thanks to Mushtang for his AWESOME build thread on this kit. Mushtang's thread is attached here (I hope) and I highly recommend it. I think you will find Mushtang's threads to be very thorough, always well thought out and always helpful. Thanks Mushtang!!https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?31660-Dr-Zooch-Vostok-Build-FINISHED!

I also recommend HCMbanjo's Soyuz build thread too. Both threads will be a big help in making this rocket kit!https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?5213-Dr-Zooch-R-7-Soyuz-Build-Thread What Chris is able to do with a piece of card stock is nothing short of amazing!

OK...lets get started: here is the box with the nifty Vostok label. The completed rocket should fit back in the box.
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always a good move to open the box and make sure you have all of the required parts...as usual, this kit has everything! Being a pack rat, I save everything that I don't use. I switched the provided yellow Zooch chute with a Communist red chute that came with one of my recent Zooch Lifting Bodies....I used an Estes chute on that kit but I saved this glorious red chute knowing some day I would make his Vostok! There are also some other parts that I did not use on those Lifting Bodies that I intend to use with this kit.
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There is nothing more fun than looking at a pile of tubes, thread, uncut balsa and stuff sitting in front of you and the thought of turning these bits into a flying rocket! Its just fun!:grin: As you can see, there is a whole lot of fun packed into this $25 little package. Worth every penny!!

I hope to keep this build as current as I can....I want to start making copies of the provided wraps for the transitions and the boosters and I want to read there instructions cover to cover. I have spent the past couple of weeks looking at stuff for the R-7 booster and the Vostok. There really isn't as much out there as I would expect and of course, most of it is the same picture posted over and over. I am hoping to make this booster with the tanks frosted as if she was ready to launch and I expect that will add a layer of complexity...but I think it will be worth it! I think I know where I want to go with the Vostok capsule so that is where I will probably start out. We'll take our time with this one and see what can be done? sounds like a plan!

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luke strawwalker said:

KEWL... looking forward to your rendition here Rick!

FWIW, I've saved one of those "Macy's" plastic bags with the huge red star on it for my "glorious Soviet parachute"... LOL

Later! OL JR

PS. Ever hear the story Wes tells about those red parachutes?? He was searching around for plastic garbage bags to make parachutes-- colored ones are especially hard to get, and the white ones he had for awhile were eliciting gripes from kitbuilders who wanted a chute that was easier to see than white is... Somewhere along the line he came upon some colored trash bags and bought up a mess of them for a supply-- so much so that he started using them up around the house... one of the bags he used turned out to be RED...

Turns out the garbage men won't pick up trash in a red bag-- those are "verboten" as it turns out "red" trash bags are a color coded thing for trash guys not to mess with it, because that color is reserved for INFECTIOUS MEDICAL WASTE like used needles and stuff... he had to "rebag" the trash in a neutral color bag before the trash guys would haul it off...

Better to stick with the orange "Halloween pumpkin" bags... LOL (or checkered plastic tableclothes from the dollar store...<for parachutes, not for trash... LOL>)

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NJRick said:

I wanted to add some of the radio antennas that went on the Vostok...I can't add all of them because I don't think they will fit in...but the Vostok had two curved antennas on either side of the main hatch...so...I took the left over wire that Dr. Zooch provided in my last Saturn 1b build and decided to use that.
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I cut the antenna into one inch lengths and then used one of the cocktail toothpicks I bought at the dollar store as a guide to bend them into shape
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its just a matter of gently rolling the wire around the toothpick and it gives you a nice rounded shape. There are 2 of these antennas and I kept the left over length for a long straight antenna that will also be added..I think I will have to trim that long antenna at some point because I don't think it will fit in the fairing when its time to mount the Vostok to the upper stage...but we'll cross that bridge when we get there and have some fun with it...
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I am going to paint this capsule silver tonight and tomorrow I'll try to add the antenna and put some detail on the hatch. In all likelihood, none of this detail will show...but...for some strange reason, doing stuff like this is relaxing to me and I enjoy it.

One of the things I noticed in doing a little bit of research on this capsule, some of the pictures of the Vostok show the capsule having a silver finish and others show it having white finish with a hexagonal design covering the entire capsule. I don't know if that is the base structure and the silver coating represents a heat shield of some sort or vice versa...but...silver works for me!

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luke strawwalker said:

I'm not sure exactly how the heat shield was done on the Vostok (and the Voskhod, which was basically just an interior rework of the same basic Vostok capsule, with improved life support equipment and power systems in the aggregate compartment (roughly translated= service module). I DO know that the entire outer surface of the Vostok was covered with ablative heat shielding material. I suppose it was broadly similar to that used by the Mercury, Gemini, and later Apollo capsules (a type of epoxy resin ablator.) There were TWO hatches in the sides of the Vostok-- one for the ingress/egress ejection seat of the cosmonaut, and another on the opposite side for the parachute compartment. Naturally only the ingress/egress hatch is accessible to the outside opening in the payload shroud... (the other was closed up during the vehicle completion and testing before integrating it onto the launch vehicle).

The hexagonal pattern might be a result of the application of the ablator, I don't know. If there's photographic evidence of the exterior of the completed capsule showing it, then that's probably what it is. If it's a graphic of the capsule someone has made, then it's quite probably 'imaginary' or COULD refer to the actual construction, but which is not visible in photographs...

Interestingly enough, I remember reading that the USSR's first "ablative" heat shield (for experiments to protect ICBM warheads during reentry) was constructed from PLYWOOD.... that's right... plywood... (course we used cork on the outside of the Apollo BPC and in strategic areas of various rockets as an ablator-- it chars slowly and is an excellent insulator, and is lightweight... I suppose the Russians used plywood for the same reasons).

Later! OL JR

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Mushtang said:

Hey Rick! Glad you're building this one, I'll definitely be following along. You've already surpassed me and my build with the details you're going for. I can't wait to see what else you do to it.

Great job so far. And as Luke would almost say, Keep Up The Good Work!

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NJRick said:

OK....there really aren't a lot of pictures out on the Vostok...but I thought this one was helpful and it shows what appear to be some sort of black strap that wrap around the capsule so I thought I would start with those.
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at first I tried to cut small strips of black decal to make these straps..but that didn't work that well so I went back to my small pin strip tape and used a 2" strip of 1/32 black pin stripe
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I wrapped 2 strips of tape to try to replicate these straps...I then tried to put some hatch detail on as well. next I wanted to attach my antennas so this blurred photograph is a tiny drill bit that I have up here...I used these back in the day to hollow out the machine gun barrels on my WWII fighters
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its a simple process of slowly turning the bit between your fingers to drill a small hole in which to place the antennas
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NJRick said:

and here is my humble attempt to make a Dr. Zooch Vostok capsule....I still have some touch up to do with her and I have to burnish a little of the hatch tape down...but I think it looks neat...what do you guys think?
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luke strawwalker said:

Looks great, Rick... VERY cool... I thought they had four of those small "hook" antennas... every thing I've seen of them always seemed to have those... maybe I'm mistaken... anyway, it's VERY cool looking...

I thought it had a porthole too on the hatch, but I don't have any pics to reference it...

Later! OL JR

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NJRick said:

Hey Luke..I appreciate the info....I have looked a few line drawings of the Vostok..some showed 4 hooked antenna but most showed two....I would actually appreciate any info you might have on that. From a purely modellers viewpoint...I think it would look better with 4 actually. How much of this will actually be visible remains to be seen with the kit.
I don't think there was a port hole on the hatch....of course the info I have is kinda sketchy....but many pictures of the Vostok that show a few windows on the hatch were believed to have been used when they launched animals in the Vostok prior to launching Gagarin...again...I don't have access to a good book like you do, so any info would be appreciated!

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luke strawwalker said:

Well, I'm down to the last 40 pages or so of the Siddiqi books, and then I'm not sure which book I'll go to next... someone on YORF was kind enough to send me all three of Chertok's "Rockets and People" books, but I have a ton of others and I might take a little break from the Russian program for awhile... Siddiqi's books are absolute gems-- I mean he even tells who all was at the state commission meetings for each flight-- it's virtually a day-by-day account of the Soviet space program, and all the intrigues and stuff going on behind the scenes... the politics and stuff involved, designers coming into favor and out of favor, and their projects along with them... changing priorities, all of that... and of course quite a bit of technical details-- BUT, pretty light on the photographs... There's only a TINY FRACTION of the amount of photography available on the Soviet space program compared to the US space program... heck MOST of this stuff was secret up til the collapse of the Soviet Union, and lots of still is... the archives opened for a time, and then gradually closed up again like a clam... Siddiqi and others have done a HUGE service to history by recording as much of the Soviet program as they can... while many of the principals were still alive, though geriatric, and could tell their stories, whether accurate or jaded by failing memory or various conflicts of personality or opinion... heck even the "official records" are sometimes contradictory, and either missing facts or incomplete, or had been "cleansed" or whitewashed for political purposes sometimes decades ago... so in some cases the truth will NEVER really be known... it's an interesting way of seeing how things work... but then even in the US program, like just about everything no matter what country or era, there's fact, opinion, recorded history, official history, unofficial history of those involved or who were there, and then there's the TRUTH... mishmash in the politics and motivations and rivalries and competition and cooperation and personalities involved, and it REALLY becomes quite the stew...

Only EXTREMELY rarely are things as "simple and straightforward" as they appear at first blush... that goes for the space program and just about everything else people are involved in, anything anywhere at any time...

Back to the technical question-- I'll look in the books, but I'm not sure that there's anything in there substantially better than what you've got access to... The Soviets did surprisingly little photography of their space program-- unlike the US where virtually EVERYTHING was filmed, photographed, sketched, diagrammed, or otherwise documented, which preserves a rich archive of images and documentation of the vehicles and missions, the Russian program was far more austere in this regard... what "stock footage" and diagrams and stuff have come out, is pretty much the sum total of what we have access to... and while more MAY exist in dusty, sealed archives, getting access to it is problematical at best, if not outright impossible. Whereas NASA has lost volumes of information, granted mostly minutea, but certainly some gems amongst the stones, due to the simple voluminous mass of data and photographs and documents NASA and its contractor base have accumulated related to the space program, the Russians have lost volumes of the history of their program to lack of photography, lack of documentation, and "cleansing" or burial in secret archives due to paranoia and secrecy, and a lack of resources to historically document and preserve it...

One also has to be careful of sources, especially WRT the Russian/Soviet space program... many individuals color their "recollections" with historical inaccuracies due to their long-running rivalries or competitions, or their own predilections or disappointments or displeasure with how things turned out, decisions made, sleights real or perceived, etc... Basically EVERYTHING in Russia nowdays is something to be exploited for gain, and that includes folks exploiting an interest in the history of the Soviet and Russian space programs for gain, even if they have to "manufacture" facts or information without regard for historical accuracy... Then there's the "speculation" (whether well or poorly informed) in the traditional "western" space specialists, some of which is grossly incorrect, and with a new crop of amateur "space experts" popping up, some of these misconceptions or mistakes are expanded upon or propagated to the point of becoming "dogma"... a truth unto themselves, as the old axiom says-- "tell a lie often enough, and people will come to believe it". SO, you can't always take every diagram or graphic that pops up as "accurate" either...

I'll see what I can dig up... Later! OL JR

PS. If you're REALLY interested in a "display piece", you should look at the paper modeler's forum, especially in the "PASA-- Paper Aeronautics and Space Administration" section of the forum... there's a guy over there called Paper Cosmonaut that does some absolutely AMAZING work, as well "closet astronaut" on here, whom I came to know over there... REALLY a great forum! Most of the paper models are available for download free or very cheap... Paper Cosmonaut did a Soyuz awhile back, with a seperable payload fairing over the Soyuz, which can be removed (or half-removed, just like the real thing) to show the completed Soyuz spacecraft inside the launch fairing... VERY cool... he even lined the fairing with drywall tape to simulate the structure of the stringers and stiffening rings inside the fairing, supporting the outer skin...

I'd be a shame to hide all your wonderful details inside a body tube with an oblong hole in the side (which is what Vostok and Voskhod used for access to the capsule-- Soyuz uses a door in the fairing). Maybe build a paper model of the fairing for display, with the detailed Vostok capsule visible inside?? Swap out the Zooch components for flight, though... ???

Later! OL JR

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hcmbanjo said:

Hi Rick!
I just got back home (to a computer that works) and can finally get in on this thread.
This is one of my favorite Zooch kits. I'm looking forward to your build.

My Soyuz is a shelf queen, probably won't launch that one.
Just make a scan and copies of the tanks and witches hats. I had to make a few to get them smooth. I used the best four in the build.
Oh boy! 16 leetle nozzles on the back of those tanks!

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NJRick said:

as you can see, I didn't get the best fit with my transition....I was off just a tad when I glued the transition together.
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I will play around with this gap up here today although I don't think there is a lot I'll be able to do with it. I'll probably just fill it with white glue...as the rocket takes shape, I don't think it will be that noticeable and I am afraid I'll do more damage than good trying to fill it and sand it down...looks like a good place to put the launch lug!

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luke strawwalker said:

And a few more...

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Another view of a landed Vostok... Note the Vsor "periscope" in the circular hatch just below the cosmonauts feet, in this view of the capsule basically "upside down" (the "bottom" of the capsule is pointing up and to the left in this picture, as the capsule has rolled over after landing-- the hottest part of the reentry has burned the capsule white and exposed the hexagonal pattern in the heat shielding... I'm wondering if the capsules in the museums have had the heat shielding materials completely stripped off the steel pressure vessels before being sent to the museums...
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A viewgraphic of the Vostok with some of the details listed-- note the three portholes near the cosmonaut's head area, one in the hatch and one to either side in the capsule pressure vessel walls, and the Vsor "periscope" between his feet...
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Another diagram of the Vostok-- note the "umbilical" between the reentry capsule and instrument module... the long gray thing with the big round "patch" on the upper side of the capsule...
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Another view of a Vostok in a museum... notice on the lower capsule, the large round "patch" on the side with all the wiring connectors-- this is where the umbilical connects up to the reentry vehicle...
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Another inforgraphic of the Vostok... notice the conical bottom of the instrument module... these were tapered "shutters" which were opened to expose the heat rejection radiators of the spacecraft for thermal control in orbit... also note the small retro rocket motor in the very apex (base) of the conical instrument section...

More to come! OL JR

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