Squashy came about by accident early 2002. We were running the ants section for the ModelWorld exhibition in Brighton. I decided that it would be a good advert to run a masterclass on how to build an ant in 10 minutes, using the left over bits from my ant-box. One of the ants I made that day came out quite well (if a bit heavy). I also held a competition to name the ant. Squashy was the result.

When Cannon Fodder was terminally damaged at the World Series, I decided that the cheapest option at the time was to use Squashy for the next one.

Drive is provided by two modified SD200 servos running on 1.5 inch foam aircraft wheels. These wheels are Dycem’d to give better grip. The arm is carbon fibre and uses the same blade as Pants held in place by a sharpened nail spike. The arm is driven by a small Hitec servo – something like an older version of the HS55. Not very powerful, but enough to hold things in place. There is also a self-righting fin (not on the pic) that is made of thin polycarb.