IMPROVISATION: TV SHOW ON TLC!!!!

[Plainsman]

There was a run of two episodes of a British television show on TLC tonight, entitled JUNKYARD WARS! They had teams of people who had 10 hours to scavenge in a junk yard, design, and build a WORKING OBJECT. Two teams went at one time and were competing.

The first show required an aircraft to hold a person in the air. One team built a HANGGLIDER, the other a pseudo-glider, actually using a plane's wings. The GLIDER won, I think, I missed the last flights!

The second show required a CANNON! They either had to hit a target or if both missed, the one with the highest velocity won. ONe team built one to use BLACKPOWDER the other used CORDITE!

The blackpowder team used IRON BEDSTAND KNOBS for projectiles and actually HIT the target TWICE!!! One shot was just off the bulleye!

The cordite crew had TWO STUCK projectiles! They tried to use CYLINDER shapes with rope tails for stabilization. They started with a 24' barrel and had to cut it twice, ending with a 6' barrel. Their last shot they used nuts and bolts for "grapeshot" and managed to get it to go supersonic (over 1100 fps.)
Since the other team hit the target they still lost however, as not a single nut hit their 6' by 6' target!!

You may have a chance to check it out if they run them again tonight, or next week if they have it again!

It's definitely a fun series to watch!




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Plainsman
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise!

 

[ste]

I actually know the team leader from the winning cannon team.
It`s called Scrapheap Challenge over here and I think it`s fab!! You should see the final. They had to make a walking machine tht would carry the whole team and a safe. I won`t spoil it, but it was great.
I wanna know what they do with the things afterwards.

 

[DonL]

I saw the shows as well, and enjoyed the heck out of them. The hang glider "won", simply by not dropping to the ground quicker than the canard-style glider. The cannon episode was great as well, gives me a better appreciation of the old phrase "bedknobs and broomsticks".

In a survival role, we need to be able to think "outside the box", and some of the ingenuity shown on these shows should be commended. Do we know where the closest scrapyards are, should we need to improvise something? If we are in a survival situation away from home, and stumble across a scrapyard, could we improvise our way home, or make our lives a bit more comfortable? For example, using the seat covers stripped off of a bucket seat, and attaching cut-down seat belts, we can improvise a crude backpack, but what do we then fill it with? A great mental exercise.

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Don LeHue

The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.