This was a lockdown project to create some fun dinosaur resources for primary schoolers. The idea was triggered when a little parcel arrived from my wonderful Aunt with some (real) ammonite and Orthoceras fossils from her teaching days. The kids were enthralled so we looked at photos of T-rex claws and Megalodon teeth. Then I discovered that some museums, private collectors and research organisations had very generously made 3d scans of their fossils available online for free. I decided to make a mini-dinosaur museum in a box that the kids could share with their classmates when they returned to school (since excursions and museums were off limits for the indefinite future).
I have always wanted to build a boat - so when a colleague suggested we team up and build one together I was very keen. We both have small children and limited time, so we needed something that would be fast and easy to build. It also needed to be car-toppable, fit two adults (in a pinch) and fun. After some research, we settled on the “hot rat” design by Gavin Atkins, which he has very generously made available freely online.