Pimped Our Duck

This is our entry to the Spinningfields duck race on Easter Friday. It’s one of those things that sort of snowballed out of control. Unfortunately I think we are probably disqualified from winning the race now, hopefully they will still let us into the best dressed category. Here’s how I lost the plot over a duck…

So we sponsored a duck (the race is in aid of local children’s charity, Brainwave) and then found out we had to decorate it. Not a great deal of hands went up to take this on, so I figured I’d bring it home to have a go with my son Sam. When I explained the Duck race concept to Sam his immediate response was that we should put an engine in it and make a remote control duck to ensure it won. At this point I could (and probably should) have explained the concept of duck racing but

a) I thought it would be funny
b) The 5yr old in me was quite excited by the idea of building it and could see his point
c) We already had the concept drawings to work from…

What I hadn’t thought through was, although I wasn’t bothered about whether we would be able to win the race or not, he is.  I’ve tried explaining that in duck race terms this is kind of cheating but he can’t quite follow the concept that because we put an engine in our duck we aren’t allowed to win the race. In fact he is convinced we’ve got it nailed.

So here is how I started… Note the lack of Sam at this point, there should be a word for those moments when as a parent you look up and find your kids have left you to play on your own. By this stage I had already dismantled an old remote control boat so there was no turning back.

Here it is assembled.  Mounting the engine and propeller shaft was particularly tricky as I had to get it at the right angle – nothing some old lego and a glue gun couldn’t sort out.

Here it is all done…

and what lies beneath!

So at this point I was quite happy, I was a genius in the eyes of my son and all was looking good. Then I spotted what the prize for best dressed duck was on the flyer for the event, “The winning company gets to take over the Spinningfields auditorium for a private outdoor screening.” Suddenly my piece of engineering genius was looking a little under dressed. This lead to me giving it a paint job to match the raw power that lurked beneath that calm exterior…

and then I added a few bits of chrome to finish it off.

I was all for putting a sound system in, but there was a general consensus that this was going too far.

Now all he needs is a name, if you want to see him in action join us at the duck race on Friday, there is a family race as well as a company one. I will be the idiot holding the remote control, ignored by his friends and family who are too embarrassed to go near him.

~ Tony F