I’ve always considered doing this kit. Box art/photos were great. Fun following along on your build. I love the little helo that comes with the kit.
Yes, it was Philippe, a regular on the show.
“Philippe teks zee zodiac to look at zee wells”.
Caught a wingtip landing on the Tagus River in Lisbon.
Bill
Today there was only small progress, very small progress, but than again, it was a complete model on itself.
It took me the better part of the day to construct and paint the 1/125 Schweizer S300 helicopter that came with the kit.
Mind you : those squares are centimeters, not inches !
Decals are for tomorrow [S]
Thats a cool little bird. Did you add the cyclic, collective, wire the dash, detail the rotor head [:P][6][:)]
Well of course John, how else would I control it.[8-|]
Another day, another small update, the helicopter is now complete, unfortunately I could not safe the original Calypso decals for its floats, so at the moment Cousteau’s own Schweizer is at the shop for maintenance and has gotten a replacement from the Neptun [H]
The funnel has been installed as well, en the underside colors on the helipad are drying, the continuation will be on my next day off, next friday, however the next steps won’t be that easy at all. Namely installing the deck in the hull, and I already know there will be gaps and issues…
But the dryfit for the moment :
That is turnng out great! I can’t wait to see the finished build.
TJS
A friend flew the helicopter for the Calypso. It was originally a Hughes 269 B replaced by a Hughes 269 C model which is also called a Hughes 300C. In 1980 They traded in the original B for the C with a Helicopter Dealer in Kingston Ontario when the Cylypso did a tour of the St. Lawrence river and Great Lakes. When the new one was painted in Calypso colours and ready he flew it up to The Saguenay River which is downstream past Quebec and landed aboard. He spent months on board and has some hilarious stories of life aboard.
I have a very nice photo of the Calypso in the seaway in Montreal but can not post it here.
Schweizer did not get involved with the 269/300 series until 1986.
If anyone wants to host the photo here send me a PM with an email address and I’ll send it to you.
Well, here we are again with a little update.
The ship itself is now almost complete and today I tried to complete the most difficult part of the kit : the masts and antennas.
I suppose it wasn’t even a very easy task when the molds for the kit were fresh and new, and parts fit well together… and now time hasn’t made it a much easier task.
I’m only slightly satisfied with the result since I have the feeling that the masts are leaning just a tad backwards while I think the alumnium antenna is leaning a little forward, but hey, that’s how I got it together and I’ve never come this far on this kit before.
Looking good! Keep plugging away with it.
TJS
That’s a great subject you got there! It brings back memories of watching “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” on Sunday evenings while we ate dinner. It planted a firm desire to learn how to scuba dive, although it took me until college to do so. But I recall one calm summer day in ideal diving conditions, I felt that same thrill of watching Cousteau on TV as I rounded a coral head which revealed a sprawling sandbar. A most magic moment for me.
Oh, and a friend had the Revell Calypso model back in the day. We endlessly played with it on his living room floor. The mini subs and shark were my favorite!
This looks great!
knox
+1 looks good! That mast assembly does look complicated
Hey Dan Cooper:
Did you get the photo of the Calypso I emailed you?
Cheers
Sharkbait
PS: My friend told me that the first thing people would say when coming aboard was: “It’s a lot smaller than I thought it would be!”
Nope, I’m afraid I haven’t received any photos Sharkbait [:^)]
I sent it to dany.talloen@gmail.com
This is the email listed in your profile.
Please send an email with correct email to concampbell@hotmail.com
I tried to send you a PM on finescale but that didn’t work.
Perhaps the photos are in your junkmail folder? Sender is concampbell, subject is Calypso photo.
Almost there now, ship is about 99.8% ready, just a few more bits.
Today however, I spent most of the time emproving the boring empty stand on which she’s going to rest :
Can you read what it says ?
If you have a guy in the cage, you should have a “diver down” flag or buoy (I am a scuba diver).
Looks fabulous. Very original. Much better than just a nameplate.
Bob
Great improvement! It either says ocean or cuban exploration lol I can’t quite make it out
I just used the signal flags in their alphabetical meaning, it spells C A L Y P S O… or rather, it does if my information is correct [:D]
I am aware that there should be a flag for “diver in the water” and/or a buoy, but it’s still a work in progress…
Looks great! I like the shark/diver adition