I stumbled across and ad for the Deboer Hulls 80" Seaview in an issue of Seaview Soundings. I had longed for a large model of the Seaview to fill a bookcase. Following a brief phone conversation with Dennis Deboer, I promptly plunked down my $880.00 for the basic kit. I have never been disappointed with my purchase.

My Seaview arrived in a box big enough to double as a casket. In fact, we hauled her to the 1999 Subregatta in Groton packed in a cremation carton for the trip. The effort was worth it...the Seaview won first place in her class that year. The kit, even in its raw, unbuilt, Gel coat form was gorgeous.

The Flying Sub bay doors were cast in the closed position. I cut them out, allowing me to scratch build a Flying Sub bay interior. Watching tapes of the show revealed little detail in this area of the production models. I choose to wing it, building an aircraft hangar where the vehicle could be both stored and serviced.

Dozens of pumps and fittings from my spare parts drawers were used, many of them pieces from an AMT fire truck. Girders, a docking collar, hatches and thrust deflectors were all logically added. Scrap decals placed as signage flushed out the bulkheads.

At the stern, the rudders and sickle blade screws required scratch building. The screws were pieced together from props cut down from two GI Joe backpack helicopters and emitter heads from two Dr. Who sonic screwdrivers. Grates taken from a toy hovercraft sealed them inside their cowlings.

I turned my attention to the deck casing, opening up the limber holes with my Dremel and a flat file. The Seaview looks great on television, sailing past for maybe five seconds. Sitting still on a shelf, it's pretty plain. I "gadgetized" the deck with a no-skid surface, then added cleats, line locker hatches, exhaust vents and oil fittings. The hand holds along the missile hatches that Captain Crane uses in the movie were added by hand bending eighty-four pieces of small brass rod. On the sail I added lights, a motorized radar screen, flag mast, compass, and a hatch for extra detail.

The observation deck for the bow was built using blue prints found in an issue of Seaview Soundings. I moved the Flying Sub hatch back to where it should be, and filled in the void with Admiral Nelson's desk from the eight window version. A map table, spiral staircase, and even a tiny Seaview for the bookcase in the bow were built.

A gentle weathering of the boat with pastels finished her off. I built the Flying Sub almost straight from the box, adding only detailed hatches. The Deboer Hulls diving bell, cast fiberglass the size of a ping pong ball, went together with only a few hours work. The 6' long seabed diorama over which the Seaview sails, was pieced together with gessoed Styrofoam, cedar chips and plastic aquarium cave formations. Plastic aquarium plants, sea turtle charms, sharks, a diver, and a moray eel sculpted by hand at my wife's request, detailed it out. It took only a week to build, to the surprise of many, including my wife.

There are actually three models on display in this diorama: the Deboer Hulls Seaview and diving bell kits, and the Monogram Flying Sub. Counting these, however, I calculate that there are parts of seventeen models kit bashed together into this project, including the 1700's era schooner embedded in the reef. The man hours, I can't even guess on.

If you are seriously considering purchasing a large scale Seaview kit, I highly recommend the Deboer Hulls boat. Although several people are now making large Seaview kits, the Deboer Hulls kit is still, in my opinion, the nicest kit on the market. For the money, you will not be disappointed.

I pieced together this 1/32 scale version of the Seaview's diving bell from scratch, intending it to be the focal point of a small diorama. Plans from Blueprinting The Science Fiction Universe and still shots of the bell on an old Viewmaster™ disk were used for reference.

An interior was built inside the halves of a plastic Christmas ornament, then the halves glued and puttied together. A trip to Zettler's Hardware produced nearly every other part needed to finish the exterior of the hull. Machine bushings made excellent port holes, and Zettler's had plenty of tiny nuts and bolts to ring each one. The hand holds along the side are office staples. The round handrail was built using an old hoop earing from my wife's assortment of mateless pairs.

Someday I will finish my diorama, featuring an assault on the diving bell by a giant octopus. The stumbling block thus far has been the octopus. I bought a "fairly nice" rubber octopi, but bringing it to the detail level needed to match the bell has been daunting. Perhaps that's a project for another day.