Well, my son and I got to participate in his first Pinewood Derby this past Saturday with the Cub Scouts.
Prior to racing, you obviously need to make your car out of a block of wood. I let him design but I had to run the saw (for safety reasons).
We got the car all shaped, sanded... and then I weighed it. Uh oh... We're waaayyyyy light. So I had to start drilling holes in it and fill them with BB's. Uh oh (#2). It's going to take about 16, 3/8" holes to get all these BB's in there. Solved by switching to #8 lead shot. More weight and less air between the BB's. I only needed 6 holes. Get the BB's in and weigh car. Phew, we're close(er). Better save a few grams for paint, polyurethane...
I put the first coat of paint on. My son is going to do the 2nd (finish) coat. He watches my technique (standard stuff) so it's now his turn. He starts. Uh Oh (#3). He didn't quite get the technique down. Big puddle of paint on the hood of the car, running down the sides... Oh well. Wipe, sand... and start over.
Let it dry. Then stickers/decals, markers... Apply coat of polyurethane and let sit for a day. Uh oh (#4). It doesn't seem to be drying quite right. Fixed by moving to a cooler room.
OK,
Paint the car, decals, polyurethane... The car is done.
Go to the pre-race for weigh-in, inspection, test run and car impound. Uh-oh (#5). The car didn't gain any real weight from the paint, stickers, polyurethane... I'm 3 grams short of max weight. Oh well, it's only 3 grams (of 141 max). That should be OK (not...).
Saturday... Time for racing.
His car is drawn in the 2nd heat. It flies down beating the other 2 cars without problem.
I wasn't timing any cars but could tell there were some really fast ones in the other heats
Draws again in the 5th heat. Wins again. Cool, we may have a chance at placing.
Cars are starting to fall out, even with double elimination
OK, 6 cars left (out of 15 that started).
He gets knocked out of placing by double elimination
I guess those 3 grams probably mattered. I'll know for next year.
Below a pic someone took. His is the blue car. The red ended up winning this heat and took 3rd overall. It was the closest race of the day.
I wish they had a timer to see the difference in times crossing the finish line. When my daughter ran soapbox derby (the cars you ride in), they would cover 1/2 mile and the winner normally won by a tenth of a second. I'll bet these were in the hundredth of a second.
Prior to racing, you obviously need to make your car out of a block of wood. I let him design but I had to run the saw (for safety reasons).
We got the car all shaped, sanded... and then I weighed it. Uh oh... We're waaayyyyy light. So I had to start drilling holes in it and fill them with BB's. Uh oh (#2). It's going to take about 16, 3/8" holes to get all these BB's in there. Solved by switching to #8 lead shot. More weight and less air between the BB's. I only needed 6 holes. Get the BB's in and weigh car. Phew, we're close(er). Better save a few grams for paint, polyurethane...
I put the first coat of paint on. My son is going to do the 2nd (finish) coat. He watches my technique (standard stuff) so it's now his turn. He starts. Uh Oh (#3). He didn't quite get the technique down. Big puddle of paint on the hood of the car, running down the sides... Oh well. Wipe, sand... and start over.
Let it dry. Then stickers/decals, markers... Apply coat of polyurethane and let sit for a day. Uh oh (#4). It doesn't seem to be drying quite right. Fixed by moving to a cooler room.
OK,
Paint the car, decals, polyurethane... The car is done.
Go to the pre-race for weigh-in, inspection, test run and car impound. Uh-oh (#5). The car didn't gain any real weight from the paint, stickers, polyurethane... I'm 3 grams short of max weight. Oh well, it's only 3 grams (of 141 max). That should be OK (not...).
Saturday... Time for racing.
His car is drawn in the 2nd heat. It flies down beating the other 2 cars without problem.
I wasn't timing any cars but could tell there were some really fast ones in the other heats
Draws again in the 5th heat. Wins again. Cool, we may have a chance at placing.
Cars are starting to fall out, even with double elimination
OK, 6 cars left (out of 15 that started).
He gets knocked out of placing by double elimination
I guess those 3 grams probably mattered. I'll know for next year.
Below a pic someone took. His is the blue car. The red ended up winning this heat and took 3rd overall. It was the closest race of the day.
I wish they had a timer to see the difference in times crossing the finish line. When my daughter ran soapbox derby (the cars you ride in), they would cover 1/2 mile and the winner normally won by a tenth of a second. I'll bet these were in the hundredth of a second.