the proper way to aproach a patch model ?

Hi, as i am new here ill just start with a short introduction.
I'm a student residing in Belgrade, Serbia.
Currently i am attending a course in modeling in Maya at the Chiron school for 3d.

at the moment we are working with sub-d's and have already finished nurbs.
but still i still have some pieces to finish and i am very keen on completing them properly.
i am stuck on the planing phase of a nurbs model. we are spoused to make a soda can
and i cant figure out how to approach the top part of the can. i started by doing a revolve of the profile curve and then adding geometry and pushing the cv's into place so i could form the details, however i keep getting a abnormal amount of geometry and an unusable can. i tried detaching the top surface and then trying to start a patch model but again i cant get a effective solution because i cant fit it into the base and attain any kind of continuity with the patches and i dont even want to talk about the amount of 5 patches this has got me stuck with (massive head ache ), i hope i will be able to get a screenshot up soon. but i also hope someone could maybe help me out with how to get around this puzzle.

if anyone has any ideas i would be vary grateful , and a thanks in advance would be in place

so thanks in advanced for the input.


oh and sorry bout the English. not the best, but getting there.