need some help with modelling for a project...

I am trying to recreate something like the first two pics in 3dmax... so far what i have is in the third pic. So far, what i did is extrude a curve, convert it to polygon, and create horizontal subdivitions to scale. Later i added shell and several displace modifiers. I am a beginner to 3Dmax, so i want to know if there's any easier way to have control over the whole form and keep the connections at a scale (so far the horizontal segments are, but not the vertical)... and also, what is the easiest way to connect the top segments? in other words, create something like the first two pics

pic 1: http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9854/s1tx3.jpg
pic 2: http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/1599/s2gw7.jpg
pic 3: http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/6092/61lk7.jpg

p.s. thanks in advance