Pinewood cars

[mikeschn]

Does anyone else here (besides Jim in Savanna) build Pinewood Derby cars, or is it just me?

Mike...

[mikeschn]

Here's the car I built last weekend, which they won't let me race, because it didn't come from the block of wood they furnished.







Mike...

[planovet]

I haven't built one since I was a Boy Scout back in grade school. It was a lot of fun to build with my dad.

[mikeschn]

I though I'd experiment with Turbocad and see if I could cut out a pinewood car on my cnc machine.

But my first experiment didn't turn out well...

My first attempt was with station curves. I can see I have a long way to go...

Here are my results...









Mike...

[mikeschn]

So this weekend I manually whittled down a block of wood that they gave me...

Now I need to make a few decals...



Mike...

[mikeschn]

I haven't built one since I was a Boy Scout back in grade school. It was a lot of fun to build with my dad.

It still is a lot of fun!

Were you a cub scout or a boy scout?

Mike...

P.s. I never did that growing up...

[conbrio]

i havent done pinewood for a bit. Not since I was in cub scouts. (I did get my Eagle rank) In my family the pinewood cars were always the boys designs. The cars tended to be very square. Some of the cars you could tell were dad made and boy approved that we raced against.

[grant whipp]

i havent done pinewood for a bit. Not since I was in cub scouts. (I did get my Eagle rank) In my family the pinewood cars were always the boys designs. The cars tended to be very square. Some of the cars you could tell were dad made and boy approved that we raced against.

This somehow sorta relates to another topic on this forum ... work ethic, doing the work necessary, etc., etc., and yada, yada, yada ...

Fortunately for me, the cars I built (and, I built a bunch of 'em way back then), I built! Dad was pretty insistent: had to be my design, had to be my handiwork ... if I didn't know how (or wasn't doing it right), he'd show me on a small part, then say "Now ... you finish it!" I usually ended kicking the crap outta the competition, too ... but that just added to the reward of a bitchin' lookin' car and a "job well done" ...

Hey, Mike! Here's an idea ... combine teardrops & pinewood derby cars, and race them! Cut a pinewood kit in half and build a teardrop out of it, hook it to your racer, & haul tail down the track! OOooooo, the possibilities ... ... ...

(If you think it's too nuts, just blame it on my meds ...)

CHEERS!

Grant

[Sparksalot]

Nope, never built any here. The WorkingStiff and I built these when he was in Cub Scouts.

[mikeschn]

Very nice Sparks!!!

I just finished mine...



Mike...

[Sparksalot]

Wow Mike, it's so fast it blew it's own wheels off!

[mikeschn]

I always thought the pinewood derby started in the 1930's, hence the reason for the body being in between the wheels...



Now I find out the first year was 1953...



Of course, here is how some cars looked in 1953



Mike...

[Sparksalot]

In 1979, some Italian born guy from Pennsylvania had the coolest race car ever built. It featured no fenders either.

[elmo]

The son and I just started building our first one this week and I have been having blast.

We decided on a Dodge Magnum Police Car!! Here is what we have so far!! Not sure why it took such a crappy picture...this camera usually takes good ones. I am sure it is user error.



Secrets and hints would be appreciated.

[PanelDeland]

Graphite the axles.Smooth the wheels with fine emory or sandpaper by chucking in a drill.Check the weight with a good scale or the one the pack uses.
When I was in Scouts we used a high tech track with a gate that lifted for both cars at once.The first car to finish flipped a flag.The last one I watched was on a track with electronic start/Finish and computer printout classes and stats.