I'm feeling pretty down regarding my feeling of continual failure this semester.
A flicker of a light at the end of the tunnel came from speaking to Kit today.
She suggested that Lego might be worth investigating. I must admit that I had considered Lego, particularly when I saw some Mechano at Dick Smith in Tuggeranong the other day but I'd convinced myself that the Mechano would be too flimsy and that Lego was too expensive to build what I needed starting from scratch.
Kit suggested obtaining my old Lego from back home (Coffs Harbour)... this has been my new mission.
Kit also said that she had a contact in Sydney who uses some site to construct such Lego things... I'm feeling a little better now.