Pinewood Derby time

[jsta6]

Last year, my oldest made a GN with flames on it. Came in second I think. Just for fun, I had my middle sun race a car right out of the box, and with one wheel pushed up so that it would run on three wheels only. He cam in first.

We are gearing up to do our 2008 races soon. First one is the cubmobile races. Anyone ever make a cubmobile "GN"?

 

[UNGN]

Last year, my oldest made a GN with flames on it. Came in second I think. Just for fun, I had my middle sun race a car right out of the box, and with one wheel pushed up so that it would run on three wheels only. He cam in first.

We are gearing up to do our 2008 races soon. First one is the cubmobile races. Anyone ever make a cubmobile "GN"?

We did cubmobile a few months ago. The Ideal vehicle weight to shoot for is less than 20 lbs with the pusher providing all steering control.

With cubmobile, the cooler it looks, the slower it is.

We had the sorriest group of peanuts and we made it to the finals in their age group because our Pushmobile weighed about 30 lbs and went straight when pushed. Three of the Pushers were Wolves or Tigers on a Bear team

We just got beat by a very athletic team. We still could have won if we had eliminated the steering and lost 10lbs or so in weight.

 

[jsta6]

We are making ours strictly a "fun" race.

Here are some pics from last year:

here is the new style i would like to try to make a GN out of:

 

[UNGN]

We had a lot of fun last year, This year, it all about winning.

Those traditional pushmobile designs are dead meat compared to the tiny 3 wheeled wheel chair we are building.

We will be finishing when the other team is trying to turn it around.

 

[jsta6]

We had a lot of fun last year, This year, it all about winning.

Those traditional pushmobile designs are dead meat compared to the tiny 3 wheeled wheel chair we are building.

We will be finishing when the other team is trying to turn it around.

got pics?

 

[Race Jace]

that GN pinewood derby car is the coolest thing i have seen in a while. way to go. awesome!

 

[jsta6]

that GN pinewood derby car is the coolest thing i have seen in a while. way to go. awesome!

oh no, now I bet Jason is going to have to make a billet one... :biggrin:

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Well, about 45 years ago (really!) I had the car to beat during qualifying. Nothing could touch it so felt real confident going into the actual race. One of the other fathers wanted to look at the car so like an idiot I let him hold it. Hey, was only around 7 or so.

Gave me the car back as it was time for the first heat and when they released the cars for the run mine barely moved. The guy had squeezed the nails holding the wheels on so hard that they didn't spin.

Still haunts me to this day. And the car was all BLACK.:biggrin:

 

[jsta6]

Well, about 45 years ago (really!) I had the car to beat during qualifying. Nothing could touch it so felt real confident going into the actual race. One of the other fathers wanted to look at the car so like an idiot I let him hold it. Hey, was only around 7 or so.

Gave me the car back as it was time for the first heat and when they released the cars for the run mine barely moved. The guy had squeezed the nails holding the wheels on so hard that they didn't spin.

Still haunts me to this day. And the car was all BLACK.:biggrin:

lol. Sorry to laugh to man, I know that must have been horrifying at the time.

I have read in a couple of places recently where someone suggests not to let anyone touch the car before the race (especially younger siblings)...

 

[spoolinturbo6]

pinewood derby car

another trick is to make the car a 3 wheeler. one of the front wheels is just off the ground which gives the car less friction allowing it to go faster! also the wheel and axle alignment is very important and like someone else said the weight needs to balance out about 1" to 3/4" in front of the rear axle. also sand your axles with the fine pumace or a 2000 grit sand paper.

 

[Wrenchmonkey]

Pinewood pictures

Sam Colalillo just caleld wiith good news about his son's pinewood derby.

Sam is Good at doing all the the things I say I "should" do for speed. My kids prefer to go for looks, and I make the cars fast after they go to bed.

John Christian's car

John Christian's car last year

Luke's car

Luke's car last year, he wasn't old enough to be in scouts and he wanted it cut to look just like the car on the box

both kids came is 2nd but they only raced against about 10 other kids, they had a great time. My favortite part of the whole night was when the Pokemon car won its first race by several car lengths and a heard a bunch of people say "Whoa the tree car is fast!"

 

[aminga]

Here's a couple of pics of the trophies I won when I was a cub scout. The big one is 1st place from 1971. The two smaller ones are runner ups from 69 and 70. These are regional. IIRC about 100 troops in the region. Man things have changed in the last 35 years. All I can remember was one of my cars was modeled after the 3rd gen Corvette. My father had a lot to do with the winning cars. BTW my older brother took first in 68,69 and 70. My dad was a typesetter and lithographer and one of the tricks we used was to cut a channel under the body and he would used the old lead typesets as weight. I can remember spending a lot of time scaling those cars. We used one of those old postage scales to get it just right. And tons of graphite on the wheels. Never did make it past the regionals. Not even in the top 10% if memory serves me right. Weird.

Somewhere I have my trophy from 72. When we put it on the scales my car weighed 4.95oz it had a little Ballast

 

[85HOT-T]

I hated pinewood derbeys when I was a kid. I think I was one of the only if not the only kid who built it all by myself. Every other kid had their dad who was an engineer for the big three build their cars. Lots of cheating going on too.

Oh and the worst part 4th place every year. It was such a let down to miss the podium every year by one place!

 

[regal-nut]

My buddy has got it figured out on the mold cavites on the wheels. thier are two #'s that run realy good and the others dont and make shure that all 4 wheel #'s match that helps lots :biggrin: I will try to get more of the srecrets out of him in doo time so keep an eye on the thread

 

[regal-nut]

ok he sent a pick over and here it is yes there are 4 trophys on the table they did a clean sweep

 

[regal-nut]

we will try agin

 

[regal-nut]

well here we go

 

[UNGN]

well here we go

Holy crap, those don't even look like they are made out of wood. Those are beautiful.

If we tried to make a Petty Blue car it would look like "smudged graphite" by the time the trophies were presented.

 

[regal-nut]

Ok here are the tricks wheel cavity # 14,1,12,13 do not use!!!
cavity # 11,15,17 are fair cavity# 4,8 are the best
As the paint job treat it like u are painting a car but use wood sealer (Deft is the best) 2 to 3 coats of primer and paint then clear.
Use car wax on the car but let it sit for a week then do the graphight. That will let the wheel use it as needed going down the track.
You can hallow out the body this will let you place the weight better for the center of gravity( Watch your weight)
Some of the cars that they have done have been useing parts out of plastic model car kits

Do not buy wheel kits from the e net they are cavity #14 they are not worth the money!!! got to your boy scout suplyer and spend $50.00 on the wheels and sort the cavity #'s out. There will be more to come soon this is all legal to do by the book. Have fun but dont cheat u will be suprized what just the littles thing will do!!

 

[jsta6]

cool cars! Gives me an idea to do a lightning mcqueen for my youngest.

here are some pics of the new style cubmobile we just made: