Pinewood derby coming up. Any pics/design ideas?

[bull]

I'm kind of looking for some design ideas for a pinewood derby car. My 7-year-old daughter is in Awana and one of the activities there is this Grand Prix race on April 3rd so between now and then I have to turn a block of wood into a lean, mean, speed machine. I drew a few lines on the block and so far it kind of looks like a Superbird in the front and a '69 Torino in the back.

Back when I was about 10 I did the same thing but I was in Cub Scouts and my brother did most (if not all) the work on my car. I got a little trophy for best looking car but got something like 3rd place in the race itself.

Do you guys have any pics of yours or your kids' cars and/or design ideas?

Here's my old car and the new one in the rough...

[moparsons]

We did my little brother a general lee. It was really cool. He got pretty far and hadf his and the car's picture  in the news paper. I'll see if I can get pics of it.

[moparstuart]

ian just made this one 2 months ago   

  also check out our thread       http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,52742.0.html

[Mike DC]

If you do too good a job, people just think you fitted a plastic model car body onto the wood block.  I ran into that assumption when I built a similar wooden car for a high school physics project. 




 

[WingCharger]

I did that a long time ago in scouts. Won one year too.
The key is to make sure three wheels touch the track, and one doesn't. Preferably, the front passenger.

The one I won with was long, and low. The front was rounded, and 1/2 inch thick, and 4.25 inches long to the tip. It then sloped up like a windshield at 45 degrees, to about 1.25 inches thick for 2 inches. It then went down at 90 degrees back to 1/2 inch for about 1/2 inch and rounded like the front.

The axles were positioned 7/8 of an inch from the front, and 7/8 of an inch from the back. Total car length was 7 inches from tip to tip.
Something like this:

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[chargerkid01]

Oh yes I remember cub scouts and doing pine wood derby. I took second one time and the next year I built a general lee It flew better than it raced Long story shrt I lost some of my races but at the end  we built a jump at the end of the track and man did fly!!

[Todd Wilson]

ian just made this one 2 months ago   

  also check out our thread       http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,52742.0.html

That turned out very good! How the heck did you get it shaped like that?


Todd

[moparstuart]

ian just made this one 2 months ago   

  also check out our thread       http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,52742.0.html

That turned out very good! How the heck did you get it shaped like that?


Todd

the wing and fender scoops are modeling clay , you form it and bake it hard.
then we drilled hole for sewing pins as dow rods to pin the wing on.  The best secret is elmers glue and a little water.  We put 15 coats of that on before painting , it makes a great finish and fills all the gaps and imperfections .

[Neal_J]

I did a Charger for myself.  I will look for a pic.  T3 with a black vinyl roof.   

For the kids, I have them conceive the design concept and have them sketch it out.  Then we work together to make it.  A big chunk of PWD is teaching them how to build the cars. 

Key tips for speed:

Make it 5 ounces exactly (the heaviest possible)
Make the body as low and small as possible
File off the flashing off the axels
Use powered graphite to lube the wheels/axels
Cant the wheels slighly inward at the top so it rides on less of the tread
Epoxy the axels into final position

As to finishing, I've had the kids use water-based paints from the craft stores (1 oz bottle = $1).  They dry fast and errors can be "erased" with a rag.  Once done, I give it 3-4 coats of spray gloss. 

Cubmaster Neal

[bull]

I'm getting some cheats too. Thanks!

[Mike DC]

         

It's fun, but don't get too bent on winning the contest for speed. 


There's always some kid/dad that goes totally overboard with it.  They do the entire design around winning so it looks boring.  They've mocked up the entire track at their house for testing.  They go through 15 kits and assemble 5 copies of their car, all just to pick the one example that turns out slightly faster than the others, etc.

[bull]

         

It's fun, but don't get too bent on winning the contest for speed. 


There's always some kid/dad that goes totally overboard with it.  They do the entire design around winning so it looks boring.  They've mocked up the entire track at their house for testing.  They go through 15 kits and assemble 5 copies of their car, all just to pick the one example that turns out slightly faster than the others, etc.

Wow, that's pretty messed up.

[Todd Wilson]

My ability to shape anything is no good. I would end up with a GreyHound Bus out of it all.  Or make 2 cuts and have a A100 Dodge! 

I do still have my Derby car from way back when.

Todd

[69bronzeT5]

I'm making 2 right now for Woodwork class racing. I'm making a Daytona and a C500. The Daytona isn't completley correct looking...solid wing and I accidentley forgot to seperate the 2 front scoops....it's one big scoop across the front end!!! DOH!

[moparstuart]

I'm making 2 right now for Woodwork class racing. I'm making a Daytona and a C500. The Daytona isn't completley correct looking...solid wing and I accidentley forgot to seperate the 2 front scoops....it's one big scoop across the front end!!! DOH!

picture ?   

[69bronzeT5]

I'll post some when they're done. The C500 will be painted tonight and then the stripe will go on. The Daytona is painted but I have to put another coat on it and then paint the wing and stripe. I'm also gonna be painting my friend's race car. I'm painting his '69 Charger (which I drew out for him) like the General Lee

[69bronzeT5]

I present...Angrier

[mikepmcs]

I was kicked out of scouts for stabbing a kid.  oops wrong thread.

Ian did a heck of a job on that birdable replica.

Really neat stuff. Good luck

[bull]

We didn't win any races but Carly got 1st place for best design.

[mikepmcs]

congratulations to Carly!!! 

[69_500]

Figured I'd give this one a bump as my son is currently in the process of building his first pine wood derby car tonight. Started with drawing out what he wanted. Sadly he wanted a Superbird and not a Daytona. Oh well such is life. He is thinking of painting it Petty Blue though so that is a plus.

[nvrbdn]

i had the enjoyment of making 4 of these with my grandson. we made car looking bodies. one guy maid a hershey bar for his car cuz thinner was faster. well we actually had 3 years of 1st and 1 year (his last year) of 3rd. i told all the dads how to make them faster. it was all in the axles and wheels.neal has some good tips. on the axles by the head of the nail there are 2 small pieces of crud from the casting. clean that up with a small fine file. then buff the axles lightly with 2000 paper.also check the tread area of the tire. there will be a cast bump on the tire from the mold. the outside of the tire should be sanded around the tire to remove the bump. the bumps will slow the car down. then i let my grandson pic the shape he wanted,we cut it out,he sanded the body and painted it himself. we had fun and he did alot of the work good luck

[nvrbdn]

here is the second year car we built.

[hemigeno]

An older thread link showing what a couple of my kids did:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22592.0.html

[nvrbdn]

those are pretty cool, or is it petty cool.

[PocketThunder]

Here is my sons car, the black one was this year, the yellow one was last year.  We got our butt kicked this year.  worse than last year.  I guess i didnt spend enough time polishing the nails.  Next year we'll get better at it.  Those are 68 Charger lug nuts recessed in black car for weight.  One in the back and two underneath in the back.  And one drywall screw (last minute) to weigh in at 4.995 oz.

Paul

[moparstuart]

 

[69_500]

Well the boys car was not very fast at all but he did win first place with the best design. Will resize pics and post later. I am thinking that 99% of the other cars were built entirely by the dads. I helped him start to cut out the design but he painted it, applied decals, and installed wheels. Which is why it was so slow. He would not listen when I told him we needed to polish nails and apply some graphite and hone and balance wheels. Instead he just mounted them and let's just say it is very obvious it was the 8 year old who put the crooked wheels on.

[69_500]

Here is Dakota with his ribbon and car.

[nvrbdn]

its supposed to be about the kids. when my oldest was in the scouts we had dads that took their boys cars to work for their engineers to build. those cars would kick our butts. but what did the kids learn. the dad would be saying dont touch the car while he watched all the other kids rolling theirs around on the floor.

[nvrbdn]

congrats to you being a good dad and letting him do it.

[Fred]

An older thread link showing what a couple of my kids did:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22592.0.html

Those cars are really cool!!   10 out of 10 

[hemigeno]

An older thread link showing what a couple of my kids did:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22592.0.html

Those cars are really cool!!   10 out of 10 

Thanks!

I did the layout, but had the kids do most of the cutting (I still had to do some of the trickier cuts by the tailpanel), sanding, machining for the wheels/axles, and they did all of the painting, etc.  They were proud of the results even if the "dad-powered" cars ended up winning the actual races.

After all the work I had them do, they didn't ask to do the races the next year - since I told them that with one under their belt, they could do even more of the work the following year 


BTW, cool cars, Paul!  Successful results are measured in kids' smiles, not wins on the track.

Hey Danny - tell Dakota "Congrats" for me - nice looking car even if he didn't paint it his favorite color!

[moparstuart]

    great cars guys


  ians car from like 3 years ago 

[69_500]

Yeah could not find any cans of T7 at any hobby stores. So went with the old reliable Petty Blue.

[Fred]

An older thread link showing what a couple of my kids did:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,22592.0.html

Those cars are really cool!!   10 out of 10 

After all the work I had them do, they didn't ask to do the races the next year - since I told them that with one under their belt, they could do even more of the work the following year 

Kids................gotta love them!