Cynically Optimistic

One of my birthday presents this year (thanks Wendy) was a Wooden Trebuchet kit from the Sunward Aerospace Group Limited. What's that? It's a medieval siege weapon. We sat down to assemble the kit last Thursday afternoon, mocking the advertised "Skill Level 3" indication. The instructions insisted we wear safety glasses at all times - aaahahahahahahaha!. It goes together with classic peg-in-hole construction, stabilized by white or yellow glue. Nuts to that! We're using Gorilla Glue here people - nothing but the best. The instructions leave a bit to be desired, so we ended up using them like suggestions and interpreting their intended meaning. There was a lot of inuendo if you asked me. "Around the side and through this hole." "Put glue on member." "Adjust the length of the sling."

Instructions are boring, let's get building.

Here we go! Not too many pieces to be intimidating, but not enough to figure out on your own. We ignored the "TAKE YOUR TIME" statements everywhere. Let the gluing begin.

As you see, I had to enlist the best tool of all when building things - beer. Conveniently, it stabilized the pieces while the glue dried. Time for more beer.

Due to Canadian craftsmanship issues, the pieces didn't align correctly. In a pinch, rubberbands work great to hold things together. Note: spangly gold uber-gay rubberband in the background.

Later in the evening, I had to enlist power tools to finish the job. Those wheels didn't spin smoothly. Blame Canada! Blame Canada! Wendy tied on the bucket, and the sling was all set.

Tomorrow - Have fun stormin' the castle.