That old Revell Cousteau CALYPSO kit

This is indeed a rare kit these days and one of Revell´s finest hours. Full hull,  finely detailed decks and separate sidewalls, a detailed helicopter, a tiny submarine, divers and even sharks are included! Except for the railing it even rivals the Billing Boats 1/50 wooden model IMO. I had to sell mine on eBay a few years ago and it went for an unexpectedly high sum, but now I wish I had kept it. If you are into big scale survey ships I guess this is a good buy even for over 50 USD. Personally I wouldn´t bid higher than around 70, there´s always a chance for a reissue.   

The Calypso is definitely a very good kit and if you can find it at a reasonable price is well worth buying. Revell also issued a PBY Catalina flying boat as Cousteau's aircraft, complete with figures and motorboats, though this is 1/72 scale (the ship is 1/125)

I originally wanted to buy this kit to convert (or "de-convert"?) it back to its original WW2 minesweeper configuration. However after seeing the high prices it routinely goes for, I've given up - I'm hoping either Revell will re-issue it, or maybe I'll find a cheap built, broken example on eBay to restore (this is how I got the Glencoe WW1 subchaser, Revell USCG Burton Island, and Lindberg Landing Ship Dock, amongst others)

If Revell reissued this kit at a reasonable price (around £15/$25 seems about right based on the prices of their other ship kits), I'd probably buy 2 - one to build as the Calypso and another to convert to the original minesweeper.

It's surprising the prices this kit fetches on eBay and elsewhere (even recent 1990s Revell AG issues, which indicates that the demand is from builders as well as kit collectors), but there's a depressingly long list of ship kits which are highly sought-after due to being the only representation of their subject and being out of production for many years. Mostly larger-scale kits, but there are quite a few smaller ones (Hasegawa 1/450 HMS Vanguard, Otaki 1/400 Nagato, Airfix 1/600 HMS Victorious, etc.)
This is one of the reasons I'm increasingly drawn to scratchbuilding!

There was a thread on this subject last summer.

http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/638294/ShowPost.aspx

Fred

I'd completely forgotten that thread! There's some interesting information about the ship's minesweeper origins in it, also a link to a news story about the sad state of the real Calypso (rotting away in a dockyard).
If you want a really large and detailed model of the Calypso, Billing Boats produce a wood and metal kit in 1/45 scale, designed for radio control. It's pricey at about $350, but I've heard Billing kits are fairly good (they're definitely one of the "HECEPOB" group of manufacturers)

http://www.modelshipwrights.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6350

Revell Germany reissued this kit in spring 2010, but not under the Calypso Society name.

The last entry in this thread was in 2006, pretty sure most folks know about the reissue.

I have seen one of the re-issues in my LHS in the past few months.

Mike T.

The PBY is a good one too. It's a -6, the only one I've ever seen of that mark, with the big tail and smooth turtle deck with no front turret. Grab it if that kind of thing rocks your boat.

I remember being in St. Augustine, Florida, as a young man for spring break.  Me and my friend crossed this bridge over some water and I remember looking at this boat docked down there and thinking, "man, that looks familiar.

 

Later in the day we were in town and this huge throng of people were leaving this building.   We asked someone what was going on and they said Jacques Cousteau had just finished giving a talk and the group of people were following him back to Calypso.  Cool!   I remember following the crowd trying to see Jacques, we were maybe 15 feet from him yelling "hey Jacques, hey Jacques."

 

A model of Calypso?  Never heard of it til now.  May be interesting to build.

 

Chris

Calypso guy, I built one years back maybe in the '80's as a novice builder. It was scary taping off the waterline, but it turned out very nice with very little touch up. The rest of the model was easy I guess because all I remember was a nice straight model with a good waterline and some neat detaill bits included which I think get painted yellow. I gave it to a friend who was a professional boat builder. So I guess it's a normal kit unlike for example Revell's Micky Thompson Challenger where the body doesn't fit over the motors. Grrrrr. Good luck, Paul V Bangkok/Los Angeles

There is supposed to be a PE set for it coming, not date yet since the maker is currently doing stuff for assorted  Moebius model kits.

Hi ! I have the reissue and thanks to my years R.V.ing I still have ALL the parts from the original except for the hull (Gee , I wonder where it went ?) that pair of parts was definitely to big for the rug monster ! I am going to build her as I saw her in FRANCE before she sank. The reason you don,t hear to much is financial probs between the COUSTEAU CORP (the MISSUS) and the ITALIAN yard contracted for the job . I don,t have all the details but I did pick another one up yesterday so I can modify it into a NUMA boat . (read CLIVE CUSSLER,S NUMA FILES) This was the quintessential oceanographic research vessel with the exception of HELLER,S "LE-SUROIT) (she of TITANIC fame )By the way on that note there was a sister to the "LE-SUROIT, known as "LE-NUROIT" the two vessels CAN be built from the same kit . carry on.      tankerbuilder

I think about half the guy's that bought the re-issue plan to do a NUMA vessel myself included.

If they had gone with licensing the kit(s) it would have been more income for them to rebuild her.

Oh, that's great news, 6!  Who is the maker, so I can keep an eye out.

m@

Paragrafix

Same guy doing the PE for a lot of Sci Fi kits like BSG LiS, Trek, VttbotS  and 2001.

 

I missed the reissue from Revell. Currently on a list for when it comes out again.

Not really too bothered about the nameplate, etc.

It's out right now.