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.

[mandolinut]

On 1/3/2025 at 4:45 PM, Paul Le Wol said:

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 “ .

I received my shipment of basswood today to plank the outer hull of Calypso. These are 1/4" x 1/16" x 24".  I ordered 80 strips so there should be plenty. Excited to start this part of the build. Needless to say, I would not be doing this if I was going to use the Calypso as an R/C model on the water.

[yvesvidal]

I am glad that you decided to plank the hull. Calypso is an old minesweeper and as such the hull was made of wood.

The bow is made of metal, so be careful to not plank it entirely.

 

 

Yves

[mandolinut]

17 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

I am glad that you decided to plank the hull. Calypso is an old minesweeper and as such the hull was made of wood.

The bow is made of metal, so be careful to not plank it entirely.

 

 

Yves

 

[mandolinut]

Thank you for that wonderful photo Yves, I glued the first two planks on the stern last night with Tight bond wood glue. This morning when I removed the clamps the wood came off as if never glued. Have to do some research for wood to ABS bonding.  Superglue would work ,but I would like a little more working time to make minor adjustments. I saw a post where another member, Luekutus,  planked his Calypso and left the bow unplanked. Here is a copy paste of his Calypso. 

 

[yvesvidal]

Titebond will not work for ABS to Wood bonding. Instead, use Testors Green tube or even a glue such as UHU Hart if you can find it.

Also, make sure the ABS has been sanded and cleaned to remove any de-molding agents and offer some grips for the wood.

 

Yves

[mandolinut]

Made some progress over the past few days. Installed the rudder hardware housing.

After adding wooden support strips running along the sides, forward bulkhead and stern, I installed the main deck. This really stiffened up the previously flexible ABS hull. 

Fine sanding the ABS hull along with Gorilla super glue is working well for my wood to plastic joints. I then added the second forward bulkhead which required a little fitting. 

With the hull stiffened and stable, I am looking forward to planking the hull.

[yvesvidal]

Great progress. You are ready for planking.

 

Yves

[mandolinut]

I began the planking of Calypso a few days ago. I find this part of the build to be very satisfying. She is starting to look like a ship. 

I picked up a few organizing trays to separate the various brass fittings into categories. I found it a bit overwhelming to see all of those brass parts mixed together in three plastic bags. 

This should really help when it comes time to find various parts.

I am thoroughly happy building this historic ship with the exception of the lack of written instruction. I am also very grateful for all of the wonderful previous Calypso build posts on this site. 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

1 hour ago, mandolinut said:

You are doing a good job with the planking. It is going to look great.

 

Yves

[Ryland Craze]

Your workmanship and organization look great.  Your model is going to turn out great.

[mandolinut]

Thankyou Yves and Ryland.

It is cold, damp and foggy here in Daytona Beach this morning so it should be another good day to add more planking. I am thankful for many things, most recently acetone to get the super glue off of my fingers :0)

Like others that have built Calypso, I was inspired by Cousteau as a high school student in the 60's leading me to pursue a life of diving and ocean sailing. On my way sailing to the Florida Keys years ago, Iwas fortunate to see Calypso docked in Miami. Building this model will be a tribute to many fond memories. Here is an old photo of Calypso in Key West from a Google search.

[mandolinut]

 

More progress today. The port side is also planked at the same level.

I am an artist. The wave in the background is one of my ocean paintings.

Edited Saturday at 09:43 PM by mandolinut

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Patrick, your planking looks great and I’m following your build with interest. One suggestion, I think that there was a passageway between the fore and aft main cabins that is closed if you follow the instructions, which is what I did. I think one of the other builds on here shows it opened up that may be more accurate. 
 

Don

Edited 11 hours ago by Nunnehi (Don)

[yvesvidal]

4 hours ago, Nunnehi (Don) said:

Patrick, your planking looks great and I’m following your build with interest. One suggestion, I think that there was a passageway between the fore and aft main cabins that is closed if you follow the instructions, which is what I did. I think one of the other builds on here shows it opened up that may be more accurate. 
 

Don

That is correct. Billing Boats decided to link the two main cabins since the kit was designed to be R/C and thus required a good access to the inside of the hull. For a more precise model, the two cabins should be separated with a passage in between.

 

Yves