Today was the Pinewood Derby, Charles had a car this year that we actually finished on time because we started back last weekend and the design was somewhat simpler.
I suggested the theme “more dakka” to Charles, which he liked. “Dakka” is the Orc word for the sound an automatic weapon makes while firing. Not being good shots (like troopers in Star Wars) Orcs take the view that the solution isn’t better training but “more dakka”. It’s also a theme that runs through many of Charles’ drawings so I thought he might like doing it with a car.
Charles helped quite a bit with the car, with both the design and some of the attachements. Chares and I both worked on the the base green coat and Charles did the camouflage bits by himself. We cooperated on most of the rest of the car, although Charles did the front turret and a side turret on the far side.
We were limited by weight to how much dakka we could put on the car. It was so close that just the six little bars on the back right put the car at the weight limit. We also had fun shopping for the pieces we used to build the dakka. I wanted to show the boys how you could take random bits of things and put them together in to more interesting constructions. I got a little carried away and had to have the boys tell me “that’s enough Dad, don’t get more stuff!”. It was a good bonding experience assembling the bits in to cool looking dakka.
I was hoping the car would run fast as well, but that was not to be. It was solidly in the middle of the pack, although he did get second in show. I think he should have gotten first but that’s the way it goes. Charles was personally was very thrilled with his win, carrying around the trophy as his friend for the rest of the day.