Chris Redfield's toughest challenge yet

Chris Redfield has had some bad experiences in his time.  Fighting zombies, fighting things that aren't zombies but, really, *are* zombies and, going by his appearance in Resident Evil 5, some serious steroid abuse.

What he hadn't done - until now - was jump out of a first (second, if you're American) floor window, with only a parachute made from a  child's t-shirt and 8 strands of wool.

Yesterday, I bought this book - 

An alternative title could have been 'Excuses for Dad to act like a kid'

One of which's  chapters explains how to make a parachute from some cloth, thread and some sort of action figure.  A challenge  that my daughter and I picked up yesterday afternoon (after first having made a 'cloud' in a plastic bottle, with just hot water and a lit match - this book rocks).

I was given a 4" figurine (not, as my daughter would have it, a 'doll') of Chris Redfield when I bought Resident Evil 5 (I'm not sure why - I hadn't pre-ordered, or bought a limited edition but I did buy the game on the day of its release). It is in an ideal pose, unluckily for him, for being tied to a parachute, as its arms are raised up and holding a pistol. Unlike when Chris is in this pose in-game, however, this Chris would not be immobile...        

Little does he know what is to come

We then cut out a circle (well, it's roundish) from a promo t-shirt for Monkey Bizness (motto - I kid you not - "Where kids can be kidz".  No, I don't know what it means either) given to my daughter a while ago.  Together with some evenly-cut lengths of wool, we now had the makings of a parachute.   

This must be what it's like to be a Blue Peter presenter

We then poked the thread through the cloth and tied the ends to Chris. 

With MoD cuts, this may well be how the Parachute Regiment equips itself in future

A short trip upstairs to scope out the dropzone later....

Please ignore the dirty windowsill

Jill !!!!!!!!!!!

One small step for man, one giant leap for a hand-painted action figure later...

The parachute worked quite well but Chris was probably a bit too heavy for complete success (an action figure of Chris based on his appearance in the first Resident Evil would have been fine).  Unfortunately, Chris did not survive the experience unscathed - he lost part of his foot (see photo above).  Fortunately, I had a green herb (aka polystyrene cement) to hand and, as you can see, he is now fully recovered (and presumably wanting to get back to the zombie hordes for an easy life).