Been a while since I posted anything new. This is because I’ve been very busy prototyping new ideas, and manufacturing items for Cotswold Collectibles.

Let’s review some of what I’ve been up to. You recently saw my Centrifuge, which I’m calling REACT: Remote Electromagnetic Analyzing Centrifugal Tester.

And SPIDER, the Surface-Penetrating Imaging and Dimensional Electromagnetic Radar.

Since then, I was tasked with making a blue and white version of my Underwater Sea Sled that I made a few years back to complete a Cotswold set, Catastrophe in the Gulf.

Greg wanted a blue/white set to go with an orange SCUBA suit but reflected the design aesthetics of an original GI Joe Sea Sled in blue and white.

Trust me, there’s white underneath!

With that, we wanted a shark or a dolphin to make a new set involving undersea exploration. We were trying to source a reasonably scaled and reasonably priced shark, but the only ones that seemed to be available were too small.

I did find a nice hammerhead shark (because hammerheads are my favorite!) which is large enough:

But in the end, we decided to go with a dolphin instead, because I managed to find a nice Dolphin at about 10 or so inches long, and we went with that. (We can save the shark for later.)

In the resurgence of GI Joe in the 2000s, Hasbro made a Dolphin Handler set, and man, that would have been ideal, but that’s impossible. (I have one, but I don’t know where. It’s in a bin somewhere. Fun figure. If you pinch the two pectoral fins together, the dolphin squeaks quite realistically!)

So along with the sea sled in blue/white, I created a dolphin gear pack that in some way is meant to resemble Darwin’s pack from Seaquest DSV.

So let’s start there:

Dolphin Equipment Pack

This dolphin backpack uses elements of the Sea Sled, bent and fitted to a backpack for a dolphin that has a hole for its dorsal fin, and a strap to hold it in place. I was toying with the idea of making a rebreather for the dolphin that covered its breathing hole but opted against it.

I went with prototyping in blue/yellow as Darwin’s pack was blue/yellow. In the set, we will use blue/white.

The strap, you might think, should go straight down under the dolphin’s belly, but no. That is more awkward to fit on. This way, you slip the strap under its chin, and pull the pack down over the dorsal fin and the tension holds it perfectly in place.

This is one of those things I’ve wanted to do for along time, and now it’s done. Coming to a set near you soon.