Derby Talk

I advised a busy mom in our den that, if she wasn't able to do axle polishing with her kids' cars, the next best thing would be to grab some Revell axles at Michael's. Would that be 'aftermarket'?

What, no pictures?

Congrats on the win!

Quick, somebody find a cub-scout aged boy for Sporty's family to adopt, so the addiction can continue!

sporty wrote:

Scrollsawer wrote:

Sporty, you gonna enter a car in the Mid-America this year??

Im retired. No I am not. Sorry.

It's a means of drilling a determinate angle by placing a block on your drill table and inserting a spacer between the bottom of your piece to drill and the block, so that the drilled piece is held at an angle. See here for an illustration and calculations, courtesy of Mr. Pope. Ok Guys, Just what i...

Just curious about how you old pros do your cars. Do you drill some positive cant for the DFW of your rail riders? Or do you just rely on the bend in the nail? If you do drill cant, how many degrees (approximately)? And do you reduce the bend in your DFW axle accordingly?

I have to buy more sandpaper...I've got nothing higher than 1000 grit right now...though I am interested in how much it /really/ matters. I don't think I'll go higher than 5000 grit at any rate. Has anybody tried using oil instead of water to wet sand, btw? Interested in how well that works. That's ...

I must respectfully disagree with Speedster here...I think awards for craftsmanship and/or design are a big part of the Derby. Some design for speed, and that's perfectly fine, but some people put long hours into developing works of art out of pine and paint, and that should be recognized, IMO. I do...

Managed to steal a little time in the workshop this evening (not much, but a little). Weighed my pine chassis plank and was a little surprised to see that it only weighed 0.65 ounces. I guess this "clear pine" I bought from Michael's is pretty light stuff? At that weight, do I have much to...

Very, very impressive. That's a beautiful product. I wish I had half the woodworking ability of your son.

Wow, that's a big crowd, TXDerbyDad. You definitely have a Pinewood Legacy ahead of you! You have some really impressive cars. That's some fine work you and your kids have done. I'm hoping to be like that as well. I have six sons. The oldest is about to make Star Scout in his Troop, and the next you...

Congrats! Nice to see people winning with "just" lead.

I'm starting to think you should change your name to "LawsOfPhysics", Speedster. ;) But seriously, the main reason I'm using lead is cost. I am well aware that tungsten is a denser material and that there are benefits to be had from concentrating the weight in the car to the smallest point...

Congrats! Bring on the pics!

Okay, first off, thanks very much for your patience and feedback, everyone. Here's what I'm thinking: Reduce the width of the wood around the rear axles to 1/4". Eliminate the strip of wood in the back, let the lead go all the way to the end. Fully inset the lead inserts into the body. Since th...

Congrats! Thomas looks a tad more streamlined this year!