I recently uncovered this piece from my parent's attic. Outside of swapping Joe body parts, this was my very first custom project. For those of you who did not grow up in the 80's Joe era like I did, this is suppose to be the GI Joe Hovercraft assault vehicle otherwise known as the WHALE .... the acronym stood for something cool, but I don't remember it.

I still remember this project fondly. I was watching an episode of GI Joe when Marvel ran a commercial ad. In the commercial, the Whale battled the Cobra Rattler (A-10 Thunderbolt). Maybe it was the fact that I had never seen an amphibious vehicle, but from that very moment, I knew I had to have this vehicle in my collection.

However Hasbro was 3 months away from releasing the Whale and it came at a hefty price tag of $30. $30 might not be much these days, but back in the early 80's I was lucky to get a $1 a week for allowance. Since I couldn't afford the official release, I decided to make my own. The hull was a shoe box .... Converse, if my memory is correct. The inflatable tubing (black parts) was made from sheets household plastic wrapped around the hull. I reinforced it by lining the inside with 3 layers of 3 x5 cards .. hey I had limited resources as a kid. The turrets can rotate, elevate and swivel. They were Lego pieces. The main cannons were made from a wooden dowel with masking tape wrapped around the end to simulate the barrel. The missiles were casings from bottle rockets .... ahhhh the good old days when projectile fireworks were still legal :-). It too can elevate, swivel and rotate. There's a hatch on the front for the escape sled, but I didn't have a means to make it shoot out like the Hasbro version. The top opened so the troop can debark during beach landings. There are also two hatches below the missile rack that can open and close. The Hasbro version revealed the engine, but mine was a storage place for weapons. There are depth charges behind the missile racks and a fully functional propellers. My dad carved the propellers for me. It wasn't like Hasbro's version where you press down on a lever to make it spin. You have to twist knobs behind the captain's deck to make it spin ... hey I was 12 or so at the time :-). The one advantage my Whale had over the Hasbro version was that the top was removable. This allowed for more space to carry vehicles and troops.

Here's a side-by-side picture with the official Hasbro release. As you see, mine is smaller (couldn't find a larger shoe box) and rougher around the edges. It wasn't anywhere near as sturdy as Hasbro, but you can still drop it and play ruggedly without any damages. This still remains one of my favorite custom eventhough it's over 18 years old.