Ya know...I noticed that error on the Nike booster too! I even asked Peter about it and he just shrugged his shoulders.

I'm interpolating dimensions from both the picture and the model, since the Sky model looks basically similar to the picture.

So I'm using both.

__________________
"I'm a sandman. I've never killed anyone. I terminate runners when their time is up." Logan from "Logan's Run"

http://sandmandecals.com/

Guys,

I gotta tell you I think the Sky kit is wrong. I looked at the Real Space 1/144 Shenzhou moldings and the capsule is most certainly not shaped like Sandman's drawings. I think the taper, like the Soyuz, is all under the stabilizers. I'll post some more pictures including the one I enlarged specifically for the aeroshroud tonight.

__________________
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

Not sure it makes much difference to the discussion, but are you sure picture 2 is an actual picture? It looks more like an artist's concept to me, or a model superimposed over a background. Far as the spacecraft is concerned, I'd be willing to bet it's a direct duplicate of the Soyuz .... attached is an Expedition 13 pre-launch shot, just for reference.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
Tim Wilson

Not sure as to the accuracy of any of the Sky kits. As for the tube size, they are completely unique to Sky. The tubes are pre-printed and parallel wound on a mandrel - most being around 22mm diameter. As for the Taikonauts spacecraft I imagine that copying the Soyuz superficially was plausible, with differences from their own design bureau. As for the aeroshell: copying Soyuz dimensions would be the most logical solution - pretty close to certain that is what the Chinese did.

Attached Thumbnails

       

__________________
Gravity is a harsh mistress
SAM 002
NAR 91005
"The complexity of living is eminently favored to the simplicity of not."

OK Guys,

Attached is the picture (actually two taped together) I used to develop my aeroshroud. Theoretically, if you print it out it should be "full size" in that the tube segment at the very bottom is a hair over 2". I had to cut off the tower as my scanner only handles 8.5 x 11.

Without getting too nuts about the history, the Chinese went to the Russians and exchanged engineers and designers in the early 90's. Shenhzou is an "upscale" to take advantage of the greater lifting power of the Long March and to be a true three person spacecraft. The whole spacecraft has greater volume and the orbital module is now self-contained. Think of it as the Soyuz the Russians would build if they would ever get around to upgrading the R-7.

jharding's first picture is the best, it shows the Shenhzou shroud does indeed resemble the Soyuz but in slightly different proportions. The others are good too; see what I mean about the inside of the VAB?

Look on the bright side, no lattice frame work.

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

Cool stuff! And the reason I don't place bets. (Ref my previous post)

I'm surprised they got the Russian design to "scale up." That approach usually doesn't work well in the real world ... issues with load paths, materials, and etc abound.

__________________
Tim Wilson

Guys,

SWMBO informs me that the corrugated sheets which I apparently "stole" were two sheets out of a 25 pack of various embossed designs called:

Background Basics Embossed Elegance, item #4764, Making Memories, P.O. Box 1188, Centerville, Utah 84014, 1.800.286.5263. She got them at Target about two years ago but has not seen them since.

Since I don't build to win NATS, anytime a project calls for corrugations, I cut a strip of this stuff. The two 12 x 12 sheets I have should last a while, although I note that the Shenzhou is going to use some as it has a number of sections on both the core and the strap-ons.

__________________
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

It would appear there the aeroshroud confgures from the double conic immediately below the LES, cylindrical to the segment line immediately above the stabilisers, opening conic underlying them, cylindrical to below the national flag (which appears to be vertically centered in the cylindrical section), then a reducing conic to the adapter.

I suppose you could blow up the images until they pixilate and out a rule on them. But possibly there is more to follow - Dragon was supposedly releasing a CZ-2F in 1/48th scale; about 48" tall. That's Glenn' 1/144th on the right.

http://www.scalemodelnews.com/2009/...rom-dragon.html

__________________
Gravity is a harsh mistress
SAM 002
NAR 91005
"The complexity of living is eminently favored to the simplicity of not."

I've looked for the Dragon kit and it is now out of production (if anybody has Dragon CZ-2F, kit #1999 and wants to part with it, let me know). I haven't even seen it on eBay since this idea bubbled up in my brain a couple of months ago. I emailed Glenn at Real Space and he used the Dragon kit as a source for his 1/144 kit.

If you ever want to build a super display model, I highly recommend Glenn's Real Space Models. I've built all his 1/48 kits or sets and they are fantastic. He has detail parts to fix up the old Revell plastic space kits. He also sells the awesome David Weeks drawings of U.S. Manned Spacecraft; don't build one without them.

I broke down the aeroshroud the same way jharding did. One of the problems I have had is I have not been able to find super high resolution pictures on the Net which helps alot when you're blowing them up with Photoshop. As you can see from the pictures I posted, the views I have are pretty rough at that level of enlargement.

I also had my doubts about picture 2 as the background looked retouched to me, but I'm not good enough at this sort of thing to know for sure . . . .

__________________
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

In the event what you have does not work out for you, I can send a sample of something I have been developing which may meet the need.


Bill