Can you former contestants tell us a little about what goes on during the pre-scavenging planning time? A few comments during the show made it sound like you are *required* to plan first. Do you have to spend a minimum amount of time? Or produce a camera-worthy sketch? Do you have to get somebody's approval before you actually begin? Do they try to influence you so as not to have two machines that are too similar? To what extent are you allowed to deviate from your plan? I know that in may cases I would be tempted to scope out what's around the yard *before* getting too far into the plan. In fact, during some of the British shows (I can't think of any specific examples), it seemed like they had to come up with a plan even though it would depend greatly on what was out there, so their "plan" was a lot of vague statements that meant almost nothing ("We'll need to find some kind of engine, and make some sort of frame..."). It was as if they only went through the motions because they were required to.

-- Eric (earsjohnson@usa.net), January 15, 2001

Answers

You have to be pretty silly to go against your expert, ask Bowser.

There are very few requirements, however, your assigned expert already has an idea that will work, if you follow his suggestions.

You can over rule your expert at any time, I personally made changes in our experts proposed plan, very few of which were seen on the show. Vague statements are the rule because you don't know what you will find, your expert has sent in a proposed plan with a wish list of parts, of everything Waddy asked for I only know of one thing he received, the 10 inch valve. The rest of the parts were what we could find that we were allowed to use. There are pieces you have to use depending on your particular challenge do to safety considerations, some may have had to have been tested, ie: our Air tank. Everyone has to know what you are going to try to build, before they can start gathering parts.

JustJay

-- JustJay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 15, 2001.

Wait -- are you saying that before the teams get there, the expert already has a plan?

-- Eric (earsjohnson@usa.net), January 15, 2001.

That's why he is the expert, he has built something similar in the past. Every expert on the show is selected because he has done something in the past, however, not usually in 10 hours. The young guns expert had built several Trebuchets, but, never out ot metal. Our expert had competed with air cannons, including Human Powered in the past, He currently holds the Human powered record at 1334 feet. The expert submits a plan and a wish list of parts necessary to complete the task, hopefully in the alloted 10 hours. It is up to the contestants to find the necessary pieces and the expert is not allowed to tell what they are, he can only generalize. On our show after we found one valve he kept saying we need a bigger valve, and didn't quit till we found one.

JustJay

-- JustJay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 15, 2001.