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Rocking Dragon

 

peel-off tab from Tunnock's Tea Cakes

In late 1993 Rob was putting the finishing touches to his thesis. While taking a break from word processing he was drinking a cup of tea and fiddling with the tear-off strip from a packet of a biscuits (Carol had just bought a box of Tunnock's Tea Cakes from the village shop). Suddenly the strip began to resembled a rather neat looking rocking horse.

 

 

initial sketch for rocking horse

 

 

Rob, who had never shown any interest in building children's toys before, now felt strangely compelled to sketch his rocking horse idea.

 

 

component parts

 

 

It was only when Alex arrived on the scene in 1996 that construction of the rocking horse (now renamed "Rocking Dragon") actually commenced.

 

 

assembly of parts commences

 

 

Finding a material to build it from was a difficult task. In those days pineboard was not readily available, so in the end it was constructed from MDF.

 

 

completed rocking dragon

 

 

All components were pegged and glued with either PVA or epoxy and the whole thing was finished off with household gloss paint. With no suitable power tools to create the angled joints, construction took months. It is still a source of amazement (and pride) that the components turned out to be so well aligned.

 

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www.nysi.org.uk - Carol, Alex, Rob and Toffee