
	‘Thing’
	Costs: £80 on specialist gears and about £10 on other bits and bobs A total of about 30 hours to build. Thing- “The ultimate creepy crawlie”	The concept is based on the ‘Addams Family’ Thing, but the precise size and shape matches the designers left hand. Built out of polycarbonate sheet from an old safety screen + bits of brass rod and a kitchen cupboard door hinge which allows the engine to be disengaged for easier starting. The engine was recovered from a model aeroplane in the loft PTFE furniture gliders were used to make the skids slide, and a rubber non-slip mat was sacrificed to get grip on the moving fingers Designed on the way to and from work, made in the loft in the evenings and weekends, with a bit done at lunchtimes in the engineering workshop at RHM Technology. Thing is also able to swim with the aid of a life belt and extra large finger nails which act as paddles. It was converted from C0₂ power to Glow plug power only weeks before filming as C0₂ power was deemed ‘not to be an internal combustion engine’ by the judges As a swimmer it was too slow to get past the qualifying rounds, and troubles starting the engine on the day of filming meant that it never left the start line- never mind!