Capsule Wardrobe

I always loved a trip to the shops as a kid and always managed to come home clutching something while my mum missed out something off the household shopping list to cover it. When there were no new toys to be had in various shops, there was always the old standby of the gumball machines chock full of plastic capsules with little charms, toys and other goodies in. I loved em and besides the contents, I was always glad to have the container as it was just a nice size to drop a golden astronaut into and pretend it was an escape pod or min spaceship. I recall when Persil first made washing up liquid and the bottles came with a top with a flip out nozzle. The top fitted one of the transparent capsules perfectly and the little green nozzle folded in and out of the lid neatly like a little engine. It was probably the first and simplest thing I ever scratch built.

Since then i've always loved plastic domes and pods and colelcted all manner of junk over the years to make moon bases and space stations. Nowadays its much easier as there are countless construction toys to meet this need and one of my all time favourites is Capsela.

Originally patented in the mid seventies by Mitsubushi Pencil Co, its been around essentially unchanged till today where its now marketed in bright gaudy colours by Bandai in Japan. I have collected tons of the damn stuff now in an effort to try and attain all the different types of connectors, parts and various gizmos that the various sets include. The main staple of the set is the essential sphere, a two piece shell into which is crammed motors, gears, drive chains, lights and in the Spacelink sets, small cockpit elements for tiny figures.

Just last night I thought it would be a good idea to fetch out my box of Capsela and see how many parts I had. In my enthusiasm for building I fished out literally hundreds of parts to make the spheres and fitted them together in sections of nine. After a couple of hours I still hadn't connected them all up and had a tower of about 3' feet tall and decided to call it a night. Great fun and very theraputic!