Beyond Macaroni Art
My ten-year-old 3D-printed me a car for my birthday. He downloaded the plans from the Internet, he said.
I was still making macaroni art at that age.
“You like it?”
“Yeah. It’s . . . something.” His eyes are shining and I’m wondering if this green monstrosity actually runs, what kind of inspections it needs, how much for insurance.
He hands me the keys. “You want to go for a drive?”
I thought I was supposed to say that to him, in about seven or eight years.
“Sure,” I said. “Thanks. Just curious, have you ever heard of macaroni art?”
The Green-Walled Treehouse 
First off, love the green car, and yes…being Italian for a while now have certainly heard of macaroni art. It’s called, the poor man’s paint.
Love the line…He hands me the keys. “You want to go for a drive?” Yeah, but I gather I better hold on. Hey, where are the seat belts? There’s nothing like good, clipped, clean flash fiction and you, my friend, are the master. 🙂
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Hopefully they didn’t skimp on the details, like seatbelts 🙂 Glad you liked it.
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I did, and happy to see that green car on Instagram. It popped right off the page. 🙂
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Perhaps he can make himself a car with macaroni
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Dear David,
I remember macaroni art…and macaroni jewelry. Pretty when it was spray painted gold.
I must admit I’m a bit unnerved by 3D printing. Not sure I’d want to go for a ride in a printed car. Love this story from cover to cover.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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yeah, I’d want to be sure all the parts inside were made right. It’s crazy what they can make these days. I take guests on tours of the university and if we find people in the design labs they show us what they’re working on. It’s a whole new world.
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These kids are certainly light years beyond what we were up to! Was the macaroni safer, or is their ingenuity going to save us all in the end?
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I hope so. That might be the only hope we have.
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Ha, I remember doing macaroni art as well. How times have changed!
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Yeah, really. Kids today can’t even imagine not having the internet.
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If someone happens upon this story in 50 years time they’ll have a right old laugh!
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Yes, we’ll see. 🙂 It’s always fun to see how science fiction ages, like reading sci-fi from the sixties where they live on the moon but still read paper newspapers.
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“The times, they are a-changing.”
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I remember my own macaroni art projects (or photos), and I had fun doing them with my kids, but do kids do macaroni art anymore? It’s not sophisticated enough now-a-days I think. I had a hard time envisioning how the fax machine worked. It’s impossible for me and 3D printing. 🙂 A very nice slice of life story, David!
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I enjoyed the reversal of roles here 🙂
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Yeah, it’s a whole new world, where kids are teaching adults about technology (of course sometimes the kids only assume the adults don’t know anything too 🙂 ).
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Interesting story, David. I suppose anything is possible. Macaroni art is new to me, unless I just forgot. 🙂
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Hilarious! My son-in-law would make this with his 3D printer!
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I still don’t understand 3d printing, but the macaroni art is fantastic!
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It’s pretty amazing what they can make these days, although I’m sure a car is (so far) out of reach. Give them a few years. 🙂
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