Not the normal SMC project, but fun

[Don C Peterson]

My oldest boy is in Cub Scouts and the Pinewood Derby is coming up in a couple of weeks. My son decided he wanted to build a tank but after much deliberation, we settled on a Light Armored Vehicle (LAV). I just couldn't figure out a way to make tracks without totally killing any chance we might have of doing well in the race...

The underside of the body is almost completely hollowed out and I made the turret out of Balsa wood to keep it at the 5oz weight limit. The middle wheels are just for show and raised off the ground so they won't cause extra drag.

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[Steve Kohn]

I have been a scout leader for over 20 years. One year we had some extra kits that we sold to the Dad's. Then we ran a race for the Dad's only. The winner was a kit that had been shaped and painted to look like a tennis shoe. The only rule was that we had to stay within the weight limit.

The kids loved watching the Dad's compete against each other.

Then the Dad's winner was asked to compete against the Cub's winner. Want to guess who won?

It wasn't the Dad.

[David Epperson]

I may be a newby to "regular SMC" type work, but I spent 15 years with my boys in Scouts and helped them build many a car. Built quite a few for myself as well for experimentation as well as a track. For 5 years
I even held a "clinic" where I brought the drill press, scroll saw, files, sandpaper, etc. and all the dads and cubs worked together to get the basics of their cars knocked out. That LAV should do very well in the "Most original" or "Best design" judging. As for speed - that is much more dependent upon wheel/axle preparation, and center of gravity location. You will be at a bit of a disadvantage only if you come up against a very experienced car builder who's main goal is crossing the line first. I think you have done well because the main purpose for the Pinewood, and in Scouting is to make the learning fun. :D

[Kyle Kraft]

Our church has a Grand Prix race...identical to the Pinewood Derby each year for the kids in AWANA. The adults arrange a workshop like Davids on a Saturday near the race. Many parents turn out to help their kids and also to help several kids from broken homes build their cars. Last year my son won the Design award with his modified jet-engine equipped pulling tractor.

Nice personnel carrier, Don!! Camo paint jobs are fun aren't they? I like to go out and find small leaves and some juniper sprigs to form cool patterns.

[Don C Peterson]

I may be a newby to "regular SMC" type work, but I spent 15 years with my boys in Scouts and helped them build many a car. Built quite a few for myself as well for experimentation as well as a track. For 5 years
I even held a "clinic" where I brought the drill press, scroll saw, files, sandpaper, etc. and all the dads and cubs worked together to get the basics of their cars knocked out. That LAV should do very well in the "Most original" or "Best design" judging. As for speed - that is much more dependent upon wheel/axle preparation, and center of gravity location. You will be at a bit of a disadvantage only if you come up against a very experienced car builder who's main goal is crossing the line first. I think you have done well because the main purpose for the Pinewood, and in Scouting is to make the learning fun. :D

I spent quite a bit of time sanding and polishing the wheels and axles down to 2000 grit sandpaper. And while the extra wheels add weight in a less than optimal place, I shaved them down to eliminate as much of their weight as possible and still preserve the basic look. The reason I hollowed out the body and used Balsa for the turret was so that I could place weights at the back. Then we spent quite a bit of time tweaking the wheels and axles so the car tracks straight.

This is my first time making a Pinewood derby car, so I was kind of surprised at how much work it was. But it was fun for both me and my son. He helped with the design, and sanding, gluing, painting, and a little bit with the axle and wheel preparation, but he quickly got bored with that part...

[David Epperson]

I spent quite a bit of time sanding and polishing the wheels and axles down to 2000 grit sandpaper. And while the extra wheels add weight in a less than optimal place, I shaved them down to eliminate as much of their weight as possible and still preserve the basic look. The reason I hollowed out the body and used Balsa for the turret was so that I could place weights at the back. Then we spent quite a bit of time tweaking the wheels and axles so the car tracks straight.

This is my first time making a Pinewood derby car, so I was kind of surprised at how much work it was. But it was fun for both me and my son. He helped with the design, and sanding, gluing, painting, and a little bit with the axle and wheel preparation, but he quickly got bored with that part...
Sounds like you are already covering most of the bases.

I would taper the axle nail heads a bit when I polished them. 3 to 5° from flat - that way there was no disc brake effect. I also would mix some Testors silver model paint about 50/50 with graphite and paint just a dab around each axle hole in the body - the aluminum in the paint and the graphite helped to keep the wheel from wearing into the wood. Let dry before reinstalling the axle.

I would also teach the boys to work graphite onto the axles by keeping them in a film can with graphite and shaking it every so often. And working graphite into the wheel bores with a loaded pipe cleaner in a hand drill.

I'm sure you got rid of the "flash" under the nail heads already, I taught our boys to do that with a hand drill and a file.
I tried to get our boys to locate the center of gravity about 7/8" in front of the rear axle (with the longer body extension to the front). Any farther back would lose stability with the light front end.

I was big on keeping the wheelbase real close to the "as provided" locations, some were more prone to want to move them to the far ends of the body. Those did well, but I thought it an unfair advantage.

At one time I worked up an entire Excell spreadsheet accounting for all the energy available and expended in a PW derby trip including the amount of energy stored in those 4 plastic flywheels called wheels. :D You would be surprised ad how much energy one of those wheels stores at 3000 rpm. (yes they do spin that fast in a race.)

[Bruce Page]

That's neat! I hope you win!

[James Stokes]

Thats Cool.
I have allways wanted to build a soap box derby car. I watched a show on the Hallmark channel a few weeks ago where this kid built one. They do not have the derby races here. I thought it would be fun to see if I could get it started here for the kids. Not sure where I would have to start but I think the kids would have fun with it.

[David Epperson]

Thats Cool.
I have allways wanted to build a soap box derby car. I watched a show on the Hallmark channel a few weeks ago where this kid built one. They do not have the derby races here. I thought it would be fun to see if I could get it started here for the kids. Not sure where I would have to start but I think the kids would have fun with it.
Soapbox derby is a whole 'nother animal altogether. Kids don't ride in the Pinewood cars (or Pine Car in AWANA). They are only 7" long or there abouts.

[Don C Peterson]

I've never built a soap box derby car either, but I do think it would be fun, and I'm sure my kids would love it.

[Jeff Bower]

Don, I built 4 pinewood derby cars with my dad in cub scouts many years ago. We finished 1st 3 out the 4 years...thanks for reminding me of some great memories. Love the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV).

[Jim Becker]

Nice project...and one to be appreciated. In this age of plastic everywhere, especially in toys, nice solid play things made of wood are wonderful to see.

[Chris Foley]

I have been a scout leader for over 20 years. One year we had some extra kits that we sold to the Dad's. Then we ran a race for the Dad's only. The winner was a kit that had been shaped and painted to look like a tennis shoe. The only rule was that we had to stay within the weight limit.

The kids loved watching the Dad's compete against each other.

Then the Dad's winner was asked to compete against the Cub's winner. Want to guess who won?

It wasn't the Dad.


I did the exact same thing when I was in charge of the Pinewookd Derby. All the Dads had an absolute blast. We too only had a weight limit. Anything else was fair game. One of the items that robs the cars energy is getting the wheels to roll. Basically the less wheel, the better. I chucked up my wheels in a drill and used a chisel to pare them down to just plastic disks. The amount of wheel on the track was only a few milliters wide. This thing rocked! It was slung VERY low to track and accelerated like nothing else. I even had dad's adding illegal weight and they still could not beat me!!! My son thought I was a king!!!! :D

[David Epperson]

I did the exact same thing when I was in charge of the Pinewookd Derby. All the Dads had an absolute blast. We too only had a weight limit. Anything else was fair game. One of the items that robs the cars energy is getting the wheels to roll. Basically the less wheel, the better. I chucked up my wheels in a drill and used a chisel to pare them down to just plastic disks. The amount of wheel on the track was only a few milliters wide. This thing rocked! It was slung VERY low to track and accelerated like nothing else. I even had dad's adding illegal weight and they still could not beat me!!! My son thought I was a king!!!! :D
In todays BSA Pinewood, there is only so much you can legally do to the wheels. What you describe is not one of them. Yep, eliminating much if not all of the "tread" reduces the amount of energy stored in the flywheels, and leaves it available for overall car velocity. But it's pretty clearly stated as a no-no.

[Mike Marcade]

I still have my prize winning pinewood derby car from 1975. :D

[David Epperson]

I still have my prize winning pinewood derby car from 1975. :D
I wish I still had mine. It would have been from 1964-65. Back when the axle struts were separate pieces of wood. :D
But that's why I packed all 15 of my 3 sons cars up. In fact, keepsake boxes for those cars are 3 of the projects on my WW list. :D
I'm a bit undecided as to whether to make the boxes out of pine as in PineWood Derby, or to use some of the Bradford Pear, 'cause it finishes out like Cherry and looks great.

[Don C Peterson]

David, I like that idea. I don't have any of my Pinewood Derby cars from when I was a kid, but sometimes wish I did. Since this is my son's first PWD I think I'll start a tradition.

Speaking of starting traditions, check this out. First time and we won! It was close and at the end there was a tie for first place so we had a run off. As it turns out, he only lost one race and it was to a car that really didn't do too well overall so I suspect there was something goofy with how the car was placed in the starting block or something. The boy he was tied with only lost one race and it was to Christian.

There were four cars that were clearly faster than the rest of the pack, and the races between them were always close. Then there was a big group in the middle. There were also two cars that lost most of their races. It was nice to win, but we found ourselves cheering and hoping that those two would pull out a win...

Anyway, since the rule around here is no pics, it didn't happen, here's a pic.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79901&d=1201100261

[Jim Becker]

Congrats to you and the smiling winner! That's really something to be proud of!

[David Epperson]

Congratulations. :D It's fun to participate - Winning is just the gravy, But ain't it nice.
Nice collection of arrow points that boy has also.
Keep it fun and be amazed at what he retains of it. It's the values much more than the skills.

[Bill Wyko]

Priceless:)