Pinewood Derby Cars
Anybody ever do one when they were in Cub Scouts? I'm starting one with my son. I have fond memories of working on Pinewood Derby cars with my dad when I was little. My son picked a police car theme, since I'm a cop. Think we're going to design one of the new, black & white Dodge Chargers. Wish us luck!
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Make sure you weigh it, if it is underweighted, it will hurt the "performance"...So see what the scale is and see where you are at..nambu 0 -
Good luck, lets see some pics too!
Maybe you can buy one of those mini lights, you know the 50 cent ones out of the machine, i have one if you dont i tihnk0 -
I remember the days. 0 -
My Son would make weight by putting shot in a grove cut in the bottom of the car, sealing it with a thin piece of plastic superglued on and having the local grocery store weigh it on an electronic scale. Never one the race, but made "prettiest" car.
I miss being around these contests.
D.0 -
my cousin did when we were kids. but back then he wasn't very heavy like he is now. we had to weigh it down with bricks... 0 -
I still have the one my son and I made. Don 0 -
Pinewood Derby? That brings back some memories. Although my father worked as a plumber after he and my mother arrived here in the States, Pop held a graduate degree in mechanical engineering and was very good working with his hands. The two of us (I should say him) built a fine looking red rocket on four plastic wheels which looked very much like an old front engine Offenhauser Indy car from the early 1960's. The car won it's first heat, lost the next and that was the end of it's Pinewood Derby career. 0 -
My dad and I built one.
Good luck with yours.0 -
make sure your SON designs it.
biggest farse is the part where DADS design and engineer its production. dont barge in on your SONS ideas.
let him ask YOU if he gets stumpt. then you help. and dont let him kick back and MAKE YOU do it for him. its about HIS SKILLS tested first, then father son bonding second.
THAT....is what the derby is all about.
oh...by the way, make sure the majority of weight is on the front axles and the rear is higher than the front. it will go faster. it has to do with geometry and the angle of the ramp to the car. trust me. i learned that when i use to derby in the BSA.
otherwise, good luck. and remember, if your son doesnt want to do it your way, let him do it HIS WAY.0 -
get it close to weight, but under weight just a little bit. when you to to weigh-in take a cordless drill and some muzzleloader balls, and some pliers and hot glue-thats how we dialed the weight just right
............im not going to divulge the racing secrets.....0 -
when i help my kids make them for church, they tell me what kind of design they want and i tell them that is too difficult for me then i come up with something and cut it out for then and they do all of the sanding and painting. since they are only 6 and 8 the cars usually don't look very fancy. 0 -
sorry folks, derby rules....you can take off but you cant add ANYTHING to the car that didnt come with the kit. get caught and youre nixed.
say the kit gross weight minus box is 8oz. if your car weighs in at 10oz, the judges just smile and boot ya out.0 -
quote:Originally posted by aramisvi
my cousin did when we were kids. but back then he wasn't very heavy like he is now. we had to weigh it down with bricks...
I think you're thinking of soapbox cars where the kid actually rides in and steers them. Pinewood derby cars are the small cars carved out of a block of wood with plastic wheels. They are about six inches long and run down a track.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
sorry folks, derby rules....you can take off but you cant add ANYTHING to the car that didnt come with the kit. get caught and youre nixed.
say the kit gross weight minus box is 8oz. if your car weighs in at 10oz, the judges just smile and boot ya out.
If thats correct now then its a fairly new rule. When my sons were racing them there was a set weight limit and you could add whatever weight necessary to get to the allowable weight. Just don't go over it. We used to drill two holes in the center of the car underneath and glue in a couple 210gr 41 cal bullet. Then weigh it at the post office on the electronic scale and add or remove weight to get it right. One year we had it 1/2 oz under the max. Youngest son won the county regionals with it that year. Older son made it to the county twice and came in 3rd once. We used to spin sand the wheels to get them smooth and flat and all 4 the exact same diameter.0 -
quote:Originally posted by 41 nut
quote:Originally posted by bobski
sorry folks, derby rules....you can take off but you cant add ANYTHING to the car that didnt come with the kit. get caught and youre nixed.
say the kit gross weight minus box is 8oz. if your car weighs in at 10oz, the judges just smile and boot ya out.
If thats correct now then its a fairly new rule. When my sons were racing them there was a set weight limit and you could add whatever weight necessary to get to the allowable weight. Just don't go over it. We used to drill two holes in the center of the car underneath and glue in a couple 210gr 41 cal bullet. Then weigh it at the post office on the electronic scale and add or remove weight to get it right. One year we had it 1/2 oz under the max. Youngest son won the county regionals with it that year. Older son made it to the county twice and came in 3rd once. We used to spin sand the wheels to get them smooth and flat and all 4 the exact same diameter.
The rules say the car can't weigh over 5 ounces.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
sorry folks, derby rules....you can take off but you cant add ANYTHING to the car that didnt come with the kit. get caught and youre nixed.
say the kit gross weight minus box is 8oz. if your car weighs in at 10oz, the judges just smile and boot ya out.
Rules must have changed then. The only thing you must use is the wood blank and the kit wheels and nail "axles". The official weight used to be 5 oz. and you could add anything such as weights and decorations.
The fastest cars are part luck but parrallel axles, sanded smooth axles and lots of graphite go a long way to adding speed. This is a great time to introduce your kid to hand tools. Like someone said...let him build and you only "help" and advise. You can tell the kid cars from the dad cars on race day.
Race days were always very fun days, especially if things move quickly and are organized. The prime focus should be boys having fun. Some packs give out many awards for all kinds of catagories, ie; best paint job, wildest looking, etc. Enjoy.0 -
My sons love them, BUT it pisses me off to no end when you show up and see some of these other cars that were built by dad only-you know the ones that are protective of the car so much that they dont want to let there own sons handle it 0 -
When I built mine, we used the metal plate from an old HO scale train car - works great. Don't forget to use graphite on the axles! Add some before you get there, they sometimes won't allow it after you've checked in. Good Luck!
Also not all lanes are created equal - watch and see which is fastest and if you can, request that lane.0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
sorry folks, derby rules....you can take off but you cant add ANYTHING to the car that didnt come with the kit. get caught and youre nixed.
say the kit gross weight minus box is 8oz. if your car weighs in at 10oz, the judges just smile and boot ya out.
if you make it 4.75oz the offical will add wieght to the car, if it ends up to light then take a drill and bore some holes the just a little smaller than a BB. then jam as many bb's as needed into the hole or holes if its really light. better that then them taping a stack of lead where ever then can to get the car up to wieght0 -
I did many of these cars in my youth, and we figured out the fastest possible design. If you want to make these cars obscenely fast: work the wheels. put the wheels in a drill mounted horizontly, spin them so they are smooth, and exactly the same diameter. Now here is the key to the perfect pinecar. Get a piece of felt, apply a thick quantity of powdered graphite lubricant to it. Get the wheels spinning on the drill. Apply the graphite laden pad to the spinning wheel. Continue this process until the wheel has a mirror finish. (also apply this to the inside of the wheel where the wheel meets the axel) This will make your car into a DOMINATING force in the pine car world! If you want any other advice lemme know... 0 -
OH i forgot one thing. For weight, use a router to make a hollow in the bottom of the car, then pour molten lead into it. Molten lead is the way to go! If it is overweight you can drill it out. 0 -
Strictly from an engineering standpoint; try to make you design so that the car's center of mass as far back as stability allows (you don't want the front wheels bouncing as the car rolls), while keeping it's center of mass as low as possible (that will be tougher to do with the automotive design- cop car- you selected). Also make sure that the car tracks as straight as possible. With those three items your car will carry the maxium amount of energy along with it as it rolls it's way to (hopefully) victory! 0 -
I never did the pinewood derby car where you put it on the track and let it go downhill - but I did the C02 balsa car races. Where wind resistence, car strength, weight, and overall engineering are very important. No knocks against pinewood derby. Our cars were just more bass-a$$. 0 -
From what I saw in 8 years of building\racing a wedge with max wood in front is the fastest shape. Put the center of at about 1/3 back from front. 0 -
Now thats a fun memory! Back when I was in the Boy scouts we helped the cub scouts do the pine wood derby. For the weight I used 1oz round fishing weight centered about 1/8-1/4" from the middle of the car. The car that won the most was the design of the 240z.
If I recall it was a little slow off the line but when the inertia kicked in, that thing haled A$$! good luck![^][^][^][:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by PATBUZZARD
From what I saw in 8 years of building\racing a wedge with max wood in front is the fastest shape. Put the center of at about 1/3 back from front.
Thats about the same design and it works![^]0 -
Bobski, rules must have changed concerning weight. I am a former Cubmaster, ran 8 pinewood derby's during my time. Now you can add weight up to the 5 oz limit. And, if you want a FAST car, raise one rear axle-wheel off the ground, just so it doesn't touch the track. Reduces drag! You only have contact at 3 points, not 4. Also, I have always found that weight worked better in the REAR of the car, and LOW, as long as the front wasn't bouncing. One idea for your troop...if you have a lot of dads doing the work on the kids car ( BIG NO NO! imho), give the dads their own division. Let them race each other with cars they designed. We did that several times and had a good time. 0 -
we had an outlaw division (unlimited weight) for the older scouts and dads. one guy showed up with a steel block bolted to his car 0 -
quote:Originally posted by dano
Way back in 1981,
LMFAO - "way back in '81" ??0 -
Yea good times. I still have mine. My dad and I had a ton of fun building it. We used 158g semi wad cutter bullets for the weight since we had just got done casting some. We put them right down the center from the back and left the last one halfway out for a tail pipe. Black with silver stripes. 0
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