BSA Pinewood Derby Car Builds....Slightly OT but it is RACING

Here's our car from last year, an attempt at the SoCal belly tank, with headers and triples for weight.


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Just finished Pinewood derby.....


A LOT of fun for my boys! (and Dad).

I believe in them doing as much work as possible, so I built my own alongside them.

I had them draw what they wanted on an outline of the block of wood (crazy kid drawings), then we searched online for cars and pics (real cars).

My oldest is a HUGE Ferrari fan. He wanted a 512 Le Mans style (wedge) then changed his mind to formula one. WE settled on the Sharknose. The proportions seemed easy enough.
Meanwhile the other boy wanted Pokemon. Just Pokemon. (to be fair, he stayed true to his crude kid drawing). I "persuaded" him towards a dragster or some type of skinny in the middle type.

We printed pictures of the cars to scale and they traced the shape onto the pine block. I cut 'em on the bandsaw while they watched....and they got to work with the files.

Both cars were easy shapes...didn't take long. After sanding and LOTS of filler, I set up a "paint booth" with a cardboard box and mounted their bodies on a long wood screw...let the boys spray them with dust masks and auto touch up paint. Some sanding between coats and voila...turned out pretty good!

I had my oldest paint details on with poster type paint because it scrapes off easy when it's dry (to clean up his messy job). I painted the yellow "ferrari" logos for him and we used some old stickers.
"Pokemon" was easier... just letter stickers and one of his Pokemon foil decals. His car was easy anyhow...still uses the axle slots and the back is just the raw factory edge of the block.

My '32 sedan was pretty easy too. I just sliced the block, then glued another thin block on top (from the windshield back)...then I used a dremel to dig out windows, grille and some details. I wanted it a LOT lower, but there is a clearance restriction for the track. I mounted the tires in a drill and painted the whitewalls on low RPM. I am NOT a woodworker by any means. I had the typical "Condemned" bird house in High School wood shop!

Back to the boys. I chucked up the nail axles in the drill press and let the boys sand and polish 'em. Drilled holes with a spade bit and I melted lead fishing weights (by myself at night as it's 2013 and someone might take my kids if I let 'em do it).
WE.... mounted the wheels (theirs came out kinda crooked despite my best assistance...but it's all in fun.

They did well. Overall. Oldest ran pretty good, but the dragster made it to the semi-finals.
The Boeing Dad's cars....I mean their kid's cars.... obviously won it all. But I explained to my boys that they just have to try harder and do their best if they want to win. We'll pull out a few more racer's tricks next year and see what happens. I bet they woulda done a LOT better if I had perfectly squared up their axles FOR THEM and assembled their cars FOR THEM.

Their cars look damn good I think (especially for the sheer amount of work they did themselves), and they were proud.

On a side note... they were both sicker than hell the night of the race. They insisted on going though...and with all that work I couldn't deny them.

The "Cool" bus is the oldest boys car from last year. Red Ferrari is his this year. Pokemon is my other boy.

Black '32 sedan is mine. It ran...not too well though. The front wheels are waaaay out there on the nails...so the had a LOT of wobble. (lol).

 

I never thought I'd be posting these anywhere!
It was a bit too much for them and I was basically told to put it away

 

Great looking cars you guys made. But that '32 is hot. Love it. I also did a '32, and it was the slowest car in the history of pinewood derby. (it's a page or two up...)

That car is very creative, and is really a work of art. It's too bad it wasn't received a bit better. I bet the kids loved it.

 

This is my sons first year. He is a tiger and we have weigh in tomorrow. He wanted it to look like a nascar. They had a guy come in with a band saw and cut them out but his table wasn't square to the blade and everything was cut at an angle. His looks kinda messed up because I tried to fix it with a dremel but he still thought it was cool so I guess thats all that matters. I found out we had an old shop smith at work and dragged it out and got it going. I cut one yesterday for my daughter ( there is a sibling rivalry race ) she is only 4 so I had free reign and made it like a bonneville stream liner. I'll post pics later.