About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

C is for a Constellation of Capsules

No, not gum-Ball machine capsules, but at ten cents definitely prizes! If you can handle the rest of your childhood being plagued by junk mail and further demands to subscribe to other shite! I have these in the archive; offers involving Revell kits, hoping to get kids signed-up to Science Programe, whatever that was; something American! And the collective noun for capsules SHOULD be 'constellation'!
 
The 'white heat' of technology . . . all those years ago . . . what hopes man had then (whispers - in conflict with the Soviet Union!).




This is both sides of two direct-marketing, mail-order, insert cards from a magazine or periodical of some kind I think, and from the dates of the Gemini programme, actually flying missions, must date them to between 1964 and 1966, so around the time I was born!

This is a fascinating and quick little read, I'm glad he made it to the moon after his near death!

Anyway, finding the above caused me to dig-out that Wilton Gemini-craft we looked at the other day, and compare it to Marx's Mercury looking thing!

It's actually fascinating to see the evolution of the capsules over time, I must find a decent 1:72nd, 1:48th or larger Apollo capsule to show how it got broader still to fit a three-man crew, yet visually looks the shortest/squattest of the three. But here the Marx is definitely modelling the Mercury, with three flat windows rather than the Wilton Gemini's two 'bus-drivers' windows!
 
As you can see, the Marx is made from eye-blinding red, or flowing-lava orange, and is almost impossible to photograph! I used to think it was a reissue thing, but David Schafer showed one on a vintage card and it really is that colour!
 
Also, I'm now wondering if the Wilton cake-craft is a direct copy of the old Revell kit, as practically given-away by the Science Programme, although I should probably write 'program' so's to avoid charges of racism from you-know-who! Anyone seen the Revell kit?

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