Pinewood Derby
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Any old cub scouts out there? I did the pinewood derby 3 years in a row when i was a cub. Now I'm the father of a cub scout who is about to do his third pinewood derby. I guess I've come full circle! LOL! This year (and last) I volunteered to run the event which is tomorrow night. Things have come a long way since I was a cub- these days the track is connected to a computer via a serial connection. An electronic eye in the track provides instant feedback, and race results are fed into the computer with millisecond precision and displayed on an overhead digital projector for the crowd. I just finished scheduling all the races in the software and printing the award certificates. Good stuff. So anyway, the purpose of this thread is to hear your favorite pinewood derby stories. I'll have another one to tell tomorrow night, but for now I'll start with this one... (next post)
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In my third year of cub scouts (I was a Webelo), my father made a mistake while cutting into the pine block. We lived in the sticks, so running down to the Scout store and buying a new block was not an option, especially since this was the wknd before the race. A walnut tree had fallen in our back yard earlier that month, so my dad went out to the firewood pile and fetched a log, and then proceeded to mill it down to the right size on his table saw. We then shaped the car, sanded it, and covered it with a clear varnish (it looked like a nice piece of furniture on wheels!). We put the wheels on with liberal amounts of graphite, and off we went to the races a few days later with my "Varnished Villain"... (continued)
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Long story short: I won the Pinewood Derby that year, and that was a very sweet memory! This year, in my son's derby, we have introduced a new car classification for "vintage" cars (must be 20 yrs old or older and unmodified). I still have the Varnished Villain and it will race again tomorrow night! (wish me luck!) My son's car is good to go as well. He took 4th last year, but I stepped it up a notch this year, so I'm hoping he gets the overall win, and has a story to tell about it someday. ...that's it for now. I'll comment here tomorrow night after the races and let you know how it went. 🍻
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God, the Pinewood Derby.
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I remember my dad melting sinkers in one of my mom's pans. He melted them on the stove in our kitchen. It smelled like hell. Lmao. I remember my mom being sooooo pissed that he ruined her pan. I don't remember how I finished. I do remember that we painted it a metal flake blue. That's about it. Enjoy the time with your kid. Good for you and good luck.
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I didn't get to experience it as a kid, but I'm a Webelos leader now, and enjoy pinewood derby. I'm working on building a new track for our den, since we've been borrowing one in the past. Lots of fun!
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Good luck tomorrow KT🍀 and your son.
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Thanks for sharing this, Kilgore. What a great post.
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My dad and I spent hours Drawing up a design, till we had everything perfect.. The front was swept up and rolled over, sweet fin in the back.. Actualy reminded me of a boat... Hahaha. Anyway, we got there, and it didn't weigh quite right, so the dam judge took his stupid drill, and split the car in two when he friend to drill a hole for the lead. Man was I upset. I kinda ran off.. Dad found me rigt before the race with the car, he had used the drill and lead plugs to hook the car together..that year We ended up with fastest lap, and 3rd place overall, woukd have been first, but in the last race, it split on the track. Hahahaha
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Been working on the car with my son this week. Race on Sat. Good times.
Two years ago we built a winner. Never lost a race. Wasn't able to come close the next. Maybe this year...
Good Luck!
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My dad made one with my younger brother recently. Not really anything special, just normal.
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Man... Old memories
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Did you go old school Oakland and put Star Wires and Vogue tires on it? Drop a Hemmy and some nitrous in it, too.
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My dad and I spent almost a day making a tank. We made a moving barrel, a camouflage paint, I won best design.😺
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My dad and older brother did most of the work on mine. I sanded and painted. Won several heats and came in 7th in larger event. Car still on a shelf at home...,
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My car that I placed first with was a simple wedge shape that looked really plain next to all the other cars that you could tell the dads did most of the work on. The only thing my dad did was put the weights in the right spots, and load it with graphite. Simple was best that year. I wish I knew where that car was kt I'd let you race it tonight.
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LmAO! How ironic! I was cleaning out my basement Friday and I found my first pinewood derby car from 30yrs ago.......great story's guys! Unfortunately I never got to enter the pinewood derby because the day of the race, cub scouts kicked me out for eating brownies! 😜
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Fond memories. My son did the royal ranger (church based scouting program) derby every year and took grand champion for California and Nevada in his last year. Learned lots in that project. If rules allow, move your wheels closer to the front and back of the car. Pack all the weight you can to the rear and still keep the front wheels on the ground. Lift one front wheel so it does not have to spin. TRUE UP the car. It should roll straight on the floor at least 15 feet without any perceived turning.
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... Use tungsten for weights since it is denser than lead. You can move it farther back that way. POLISH those axels and the wheel bores. put them under a microscope. They should look like a mirror even under magnification. We stripped the zinc coating off the axels since zinc is a soft metal and therefore hard to polish and electroplated them in nickel.
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Nickel takes longer to polish bu it is worth it. Once polished, store the axels in 90% isopropyl alcohol (not the drugstore 72%) to keep oxygen away from the surface. Oxygen will cause the surface to corrode and you can see it happening under magnification. Assemble te axels and lube with freshly ground graphite immediately before check in.
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Graphite is hydroscopic so grinding it just before use will guarantee that it is as dry as possible. Proper amout I graphite will be so little that you can't even see it on the axels. I can't overstate how portent the polishing of the axels is. My done spent 5 solid DAYS just polishing axels after they were plated.
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... My son spent ... Darn autocorrect.
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And lastly: have fun. It's a blast watching the kids get creative.
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Oh. Take as much mass out of the wheels as you can. Royal ranger wheels are solid discs and the rules allow you to shave them. My son turned them down to razor thin discs and he drilled out all around the disc to leave just a spiderweb of material supporting the outer tread. He made three sets of wheels cause they were so fragile. One set had the hub replaced with a delrin core (highly polishable plastic) but he couldn't use that set since the judges determined (rightly so) that would consistute a sleeve.
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$#^* my kid is screwed!
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Hey Everyone, thanks for all the great replies! Hey, guess what...? We KILLED IT tonight! My son's car (which he named the "Blue Demon") went undefeated, winning every heat in his Den race, semi-finals, and eventually the final races. That earned him a Blue Ribbon for winning his Den (14 cars total), and a 1st place trophy for winning the entire Pack (89 cars total!!).
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In addition to that, my daughter participated in the "sibling race" and she didn't do half bad either, getting a Red Ribbon for second place out of 9 cars. My "Varnished Villain" got the blue ribbon for first place in the vintage race (only 4 cars so it's not that big of a deal). Not bad for what would have otherwise been a fireplace log though! :)
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I've got some photos from the evening; both of the event and of some of the cars. Hit me up on pal. I'd be happy to send them around! Cheers and long live the Pinewood Derby! 🍻
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vinnie the deal wrote:
That's a great story! Reminds me of something that happened a couple of days ago. One of the dad's hosted the weigh-in in his garage on Monday night. Somehow powdered graphite got carried into the house, and spilled on the (white) carpet.... The dad is still in the doghouse and will be renting a carpet cleaner this weekend... hahaha better him than me! :DI remember my dad melting sinkers in one of my mom's pans. He melted them on the stove in our kitchen. It smelled like hell. Lmao. I remember my mom being sooooo pissed that he ruined her pan. I don't remember how I finished. I do remember that we painted it a metal flake blue. That's about it. Enjoy the time with your kid. Good for you and good luck.
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Taurus45 wrote:
That's cool man. You're boy will remember this when he's older. Good job. BTW, I know a bit about tracks after running out pack derby 2 years in a row. Hit me up if you have questions. I'd be happy to share whatever I can.I didn't get to experience it as a kid, but I'm a Webelos leader now, and enjoy pinewood derby. I'm working on building a new track for our den, since we've been borrowing one in the past. Lots of fun!
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DonVitoCorleone wrote:
Thx DVC. Sorry for the slow reply!Good luck tomorrow KT🍀 and your son.
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