Calypso by mandolinut - Billing Boats - 1:45

[mandolinut]

Hello all. Let me introduce myself.  I have built a number of wood ship models over the years and have always wanted to build Calypso, a boat that helped mold my life. As a young man watching "The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau I was led to a life of diving and sailing and great respect for the ocean.

I just opened the box and looking through the non-written pictorial directions am a bit overwhelmed. I was hoping for some form of written guide to go along with the instructions. I will be posting photos as I go and will be asking questions along the way. I have looked over a number of finished Calypso builds and am quite excited and inspired to begin.  I am considering planking the hull as I saw another member do to make the model appear more authentic.  Is there a glue other than super glue that would work better to bond wood planks to the ABS hull?  Lastly, I have not been able to figure out how to make comments or ask questions on others builds. Thanks in advance for any feedback going forward.

[yvesvidal]

This is a great kit and a very nice navigating model. I built mine 40 years ago and the model has been sailing on the Mediterranean sea (inside a harbor) and on many lakes of Europe and the USA. You will enjoy building it.

 

Yves

[mandolinut]

Yves, Nice to hear from

you. I had no idea the model had been produced for so many years.  My Calypso will be a living room model, but I would like to add some led lighting.

Patrick

[mandolinut]

I am going through the kit and familiarizing and identifying parts the best I can. The instructions are entirely printed illustrations showings parts and where they should go.  No text.  It would be most helpful if there was an English PDF online guide.

There is a very impressive collection of beautiful brass parts.

I began cutting out the molded ABS plastic parts and will glue the pairs together. 

Next step will be setting the keel and forward bulkhead.

I am awaiting a shipment of 1/4" x 1/16" basswood strips to plank the outer ABS hull.

This will be challenging and fun.

Patrick

[Paul Le Wol]

Hi Patrick, welcome to MSW. Good luck with your Calypso. It looks like a very nice kit. If you want to comment on someone’s post, go to the bottom of their post and click on “Reply to this post “ .

[mandolinut]

The hull of the Billing  Calypso is intentionally oversized for strength in shipping and requires  cutting through the ABS hull to get to the correct shape. The pictorial directions indicate the use of an exacto knife. With new blade in hand I tried and I tried but even after 6 passes could not cut through the ABS material.  It is said that "necessity is the mother of invention".  I left some material above the cut line and ended up using my box knife heated up on the gas range to make the cuts and it worked quite well. Eventually when my deck is installed, the rough-cut upper edge will be sanded down to the deck planking.