Alright, so let me tell you about this thing I tried recently, I called it “tail racing.” Sounds a bit daft, doesn’t it? But hey, sometimes you just gotta try weird stuff to see what happens.
Getting the Idea
It all started one lazy afternoon. I was just staring at some bits and bobs on my desk, you know, random junk. And I thought, what if I tried to make little things that could, like, race, but their main feature was a tail? Not sure why “tail,” it just popped into my head. Maybe I saw a cat swish its tail or something, who knows?
First Awful Attempts
So, first thing I did was grab some really basic stuff. Seriously basic.
- Old cardboard from a cereal box.
- Some string I found in a drawer.
- A bit of sticky tape that was probably past its best.
My first “racer” looked like a squashed bug with a piece of limp string hanging off it. It didn’t race. It didn’t even move unless I poked it really hard. Total disaster, honestly. I made a few more like that, each one somehow worse than the last. My bin was getting full pretty quick.
Trying to Get a Bit More Serious
After a while, I figured, okay, maybe I need a plan. Or at least, better materials. I wasn’t aiming for anything professional, just something that wouldn’t fall apart if you looked at it funny. I rummaged around and found some old plastic bottle caps – those looked like they could be wheels, or at least a base. For the bodies, I thought maybe some thicker card, or even some light wood scraps I had from another project.
The “tail” was still the tricky bit. What makes a good racing tail? Does it help it go straight? Does it just look cool? I decided it mostly needed to look cool and not weigh the whole thing down.
Building and Fiddling
So I spent a good few hours cutting, sticking, and generally making a mess. I tried different body shapes. Some long and thin, some a bit more chunky. For the tails, I experimented with strips of felt, some stiff plastic packaging, even a few feathers I found. Getting them to attach properly without making the racer topple over was a real pain. Lots of glue, lots of waiting for glue to dry, lots of things falling off.
There was this one moment where I attached a really long, flowy tail, and the whole thing just spun in circles. Looked ridiculous, but kinda funny. That one definitely wasn’t winning any races.
Testing, Testing, More Testing
Once I had a few that looked vaguely like they might work, it was time for testing. My hallway became the race track. The first few attempts were… underwhelming. One just veered off sharply and crashed into the wall. Another one’s tail got tangled in its own “wheels” (which were just skids at that point, really).
I had to keep tweaking. Lots of tiny adjustments. Shorten a tail here, add a bit of weight to the front there. It was all trial and error. Mostly error, if I’m being honest. But slowly, very slowly, I got a couple that would actually go in a reasonably straight line for a foot or two when I gave them a good push.
The Grand “Race” (Sort Of)
Did I hold a big championship? Nah. It was mostly me, pushing these little contraptions across the floor, seeing which one went furthest or straightest. I guess you could call it a race against my own expectations. The winner was probably the one that looked the least like it was about to fall apart. It had a short, stiff plastic tail and a surprisingly stable body made from an old soap box.
What I Got Out of It
So, yeah, tail racing. It wasn’t exactly gonna change the world. But it was a fun way to spend some time, messing about with my hands, trying to solve little problems. It’s kinda satisfying to take a dumb idea and actually make something out of it, even if that something is a bit rubbish. Would I do it again? Maybe. If I find some better materials for tails, perhaps. For now, my champion tail racer sits on my shelf, a reminder of a weirdly entertaining afternoon.
