Breguet Calypso  

by Dave Bailey

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Silly Week 2007

 

Soon after its introduction into service in 1966 the Breguet Atlantique was being considered for other roles. Its performance abilities suited it to numerous tasks, and the most visually different version was the AEW variant which entered service in 1975. In addition to the obvious dish, external changes included replacing the glass nose with a radar system, and deletion of the MAD boom.

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The choice of a name came from Greek mythology. Atlantic derives from the Titan Atlas, who had a daughter, the sea-nymph named Calypso, who was a solitary figure who tried to isolate and protect Odysseus. This ‘daughter’ of the Atlantique, which flew alone and protected the heroes, was well liked by its crews, but due to the prominent dish many of them nicknamed it Obelix, after the portly cartoon figure who delivered menhirs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhir in ancient Gaul.

The Aeronavale flies 5 Calypsos, and aircraft are also on strength with Germany (3), Pakistan (1), and New Zealand (2).

The kit – The basis for this project was the Heller 1/200th mold. The outline is not entirely accurate, rather a caricature in places, but from a distance I think we can tell what it’s meant to be. I had the idea while playing with a plastic spoon from some coffee shop, and that’s what was placed on top of some Evergreen sheet to form the dish. Decals were scrounged begged and borrowed as some of the originals were used on a previous project and the leftovers were crap. The gear doors are perhaps the worst part of this kit, redefining the word ‘horrible', but in this scale I wasn’t going to go too far in making them better, just some chopping and filling. Despite things like that it was fun and simple, which is about what I look for in this hobby!

Dave 

Photos and text © by Dave Bailey" aka "The Rat"