This is my modified version of the Hasegawa Hughes 300 Egg Plane helicopter.
I have always admired Couesteau's Calypse exploration ship and the little Hughes 300 they flew for observation.
The similarities between the prototype and the Hasegawa kit looked feasable and I jumped into building it.
I gathered as many photos as I could find on the 300 and got started. I bashed several kits in the process of making this one.
I made pontoons from the drop tanks of two 1/72 F-16 kits. After a few modifications, I had the pontoons done.
Next I found a set of decals from the old Revell Calypso kit for the helicopter, except the decal on the nose which I had to print larger to look closer to scale.
The engine is plain on this kit so I used solder to form intake and exhaust pipes.
I built a small intake box below the cab with PE screen for the intake. The muffler was also a scratch build from plastic tubing.
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I removed the head rests from the kit seats and ordered some old WWII PE seatbelts to use inside the cockpit.
Those are tricky wickets. I wanted the doors to be open the same as the prototype and had to figure out how to do that.
After messing up my first model and scrapping it, I figured out how to do it; I completed the interior and set it aside after painting.
After masking off the canopy and painting it, I used my Dremel and sanding files to open the doors.
The interior was then inserted without any trouble. By the way, to avoid marring the clear canopy, I used Future Floor Polish to attach the interior and other parts on the model.
It works as good as glue! I used a spot light from an old police cruiser for a landing light and stretched clear red sprue for the light on the tail boom.
After adding scrap plastic details here and there, I used a piece of brass wire to form a guard for the tail rotor, applied the decals, coated them, and it was done.
The Hasegawa Egg Planes are suitable for some extra detailing and a lot of fun to build when you need a break from those tedious scale builds.
I hope this inspires you to take a crack at these fun kits. They're fun and relaxing too.
Keith Chambers
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