DISCO VOLANTE

From the 1965 James Bond adventure film ‘THUNDERBALL’ directed by TERENCE YOUNG

Thunderball was the fourth James Bond film, following ‘Goldfinger’ and each film was more successful than the previous one. The film and was massively successful.

The #Disco Volante’ is the private yacht of Emilio Largo, a SPECTRE operative who oversees the theft of two atomic bombs! The ship is featured prominently In the film and at the climax, Largo makes his escape by separating the front half of the boat into a hydroafoil and the rear, heavily armed  ‘cocoon’ section. I remember the first time I saw and this left a great impression on me. This would make for a fun kit. At 1/72nd scale This spectcular scene was accomplished with the full-size yacht!

The film won an Accademy Award for best visual effects (a controversial choice given the underwhelming miniature and optical work seen elsewhere in the film).

This would make for a terrific kit - at 1/72nd it would be approximately 19” in length, with the Hydrofoil section approximately 12 “ long. It would be lovely in the pristine white plastic like other civilian ship kits.

Designed by KEN ADAM (using a prototype Hydrofoil).

Special Effects by JOHN STEARS