Pinewood Derby

metalspinner · March 06, 2008, 11:06:34 PM

It's that time again. 8) Time for all the dad's,...errr, I mean Cub Scouts in Pack 87 to prepare their race cars for the big race. :D This weekend my shop was crowded with dad's cutting out their cars. It was a tight squeeze, but all twelve of us got in there and took care business.

Tonight we had practice runs on the race track and our car stunk it up. :-[ So I've got another one started down in the shop. I am waiting for the epoxy to set up before I can go any farther.

Last year's car rocked! We came in second over all. Only loosing out to a veteran...he was in the fourth grade. But, we took best of show. 8) This year we want to take it all. ;D

WDH · March 06, 2008, 11:44:17 PM

The "secret weapon" car. I can't wait to see how it turns out ;D.

Furby · March 07, 2008, 12:35:51 AM

Graphite on the axels. ;) ;)

metalspinner · March 07, 2008, 08:07:03 AM

The problem with this car was the balancing point was to far back, as we were popping wheelies on the way down the ramp. So I started another car last night with a better distribution of weight.

Furb,
Yeh, the graphite on the wheels is important. I also chuck the axels and wheels up on the lathe and true them up and remove any burrs. ;)

The fella that owns the track has been running the show around here for about 25 years. He has a car that is incredibly fast. He takes it out on test night just to show it off and has become the bench mark by which all others are judged. It seems to have a turbo charger in it. Our car from last year would have his beat for 3/4 of the track, then...WHOOSH!...his would kick in at the last little bit and take the lead. :-\

Fla._Deadheader · March 07, 2008, 08:09:33 AM

AIR BEARINGS 8) 8)

MemphisLogger · March 07, 2008, 10:11:09 AM

We got a new fancy aluminum track this year that was more consistent lane to lane.

That, combined with my having all the boys over to my shop for wheel lathing and axles polishing made everyone's cars much more competititive.

We had a dad's race this year, too 8)

metalspinner · March 07, 2008, 01:05:19 PM

Yes,
Everyone here jocky's for the left hand lane. It is considerably faster than the center or right. Do you have a picture of that track? I would sure like to see it.

We have a Dad's race, too. But I am just now finishing up the boy's car. I don't think I have time to get mine done. :'(

Piston · March 07, 2008, 01:13:56 PM

I can't wait to be "helping" my kids build they're cars, that was one of the best things about boy scouts...I remember one year "i" (my dad) took the body of the car, ripped it in half the long way on the table saw (seperating the bottom half from the top half) then hollowed out the insides of the two pieces and glued it back together...there was a 'tunnel' going right through the center of the car, from front to back, you could look right through it....it didn't win the speed race, but i got first in creativity, i loved that car, boy i wish i had a pic for you...

metalspinner · March 07, 2008, 04:18:45 PM

That does sound like a cool car. Last year one of our dad's pulled out his car from when he was a kid. It looked like Austin Powers' car. :D

I just got back from the church. I had to sneak in to do a little test run. This car beat last years car by 2 lenghth's! 8) We'll see how it stacks up to the competition tonight.

beenthere · March 07, 2008, 04:22:40 PM

Quote from: metalspinner on March 07, 2008, 01:05:19 PM
............. But I am just now finishing up the boy's car. I don't think I have time to get mine done. :'(

I thought the boys made the cars....at least, mine did, but with my assistance. Talked our way through it. I sure didn't want the car to be slow and have the boys turn to look at me as if to say "what did you do??" ;D ;D

I did make a test track near like the scouts track, but just a ramp to get the car rolling and out onto a flat floor. Then we tweaked the steering so it would run straight across the untracked floor. The idea being it wouldn't ride a wheel along the center rail so hard as to slow it down. Amazing how crooked the nails could be, and how much difference having the car run true made on the times.

ely · March 07, 2008, 04:29:24 PM

good luck and keep us posted. ms if you want i could lend you a car from last year to run in the dads division. i love tricking out those cars myself.
as of now my youngest has 2nd place in the tigers and my oldest has 6 place in the bears. the oldest one is out this year but that ok because he won it all last year.only one more race on the 12 april.

they limit us here as to what we can do to the wheels but we can really tweak the axles.

last year i helped my boys and no ones car would touch theirs, this year i stayed late and worked on all the cars they wanted me too. it was a very close race this year. bad deal is 3 of the cars i worked on beat my boy out at the last race.

enjoy them while they still like to be around you, i know i live life with the kids to the fullest.

metalspinner · March 07, 2008, 04:38:46 PM

He helped with the first car. He even drilled holes on the drill press and mixed the epoxy to hold the lead shot in the holes. It was so unbalanced (my fault) that we had to try again. Of course, if I hadn't of procrastinated until the last minute he could have helped with this one. :(

Besides, there is this one dad that just has it in his head that their car is the best. Actions speak louder than words. Let's see what happens tonight. ;D

Ely,
All of our dens compete against one another. That is what makes it so tough for the young ones. It's also pretty clear that lots of help from the parents are in each car. We have tight restrictions on altering the wheels, also. But deburring the wheels and the axels really goes a long way to helping the car run its best.

It's a tough spot to be in helping all the other kids. I am their den leader and certainly don't want anyone left out. But I do my best to encourage their parents help out. That is what this is supposed to be, anyway. We have a great group of parents that have as much fun with the Scouts as the kids do.

Make sure you save their cars so that twenty five years from now they can show their kids how granddad used to do it.

ely · March 07, 2008, 05:17:27 PM

oh yeah, i hear what you are saying. they way it works aint they way it should be.
the folks here seem to always screw up the brackets and once you get them out of whack once they are messed up all the way through, but hey i can only correct them so much.
my point is have fun with the kids.

metalspinner · March 08, 2008, 12:40:59 PM

The Derby was great this year. However, our car didn't win. :( It was a double elimination tournament and we ended up running 6 races and made it into the final round. There were many fast cars this year. A big improvement from last years crowd. It seems everyone is stepping up their game. :D There were a few tears shed throughout the evenings activities, but those dads were handed tissues and consoled. :D Maybe next year we can end up in the winners circle.

Fla._Deadheader · March 08, 2008, 01:57:35 PM

And not 1 photo :

:

metalspinner · March 08, 2008, 04:02:05 PM

FDH... Give a guy some time, ehh. :D

Here is my son with his two cars. Last year we ran Shark Car. This year we went with the wedge...

And here is all the competition...

Here is the track. As each car was put in the starting gate, the track would be covered with kids. It looked like a tunnel. :D

The left lane was considerably faster than the other two. We ran just two cars at a time. This year a Tiger Cub won the whole thing. BTW, Tigers are the youngest scouts. His car never lost a race and it was never even close. His was an impressive car.