From the 1960s to the early 80s, the aquatic expeditions of Jacques Cousteau brought the deep sea into millions of homes. I fell under the Frenchman’s ocean spell watching reruns on public television as a kid, and a big part of that enchantment was thanks to the aptly named Calypso, the British minesweeper boat adapted for scientific use. Fellow 80s kid turned LEGO legend Alex “Orion Pax” Jones also fell in love with Cousteau’s undersea world and decades after trying to build the Calypso as a child, he returns with a masterful LEGO rendition built at 1/50 scale.

Alex includes a functioning version of the crane used to lift the Denise mini-sub, as well as a midi-scale helicopter on the rear deck landing pad.

See more of the Calypso and Orion Pax’s other creations after the jump