Photos of my kids first PWD cars

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ChrisWoodard
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Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by ChrisWoodard »

My kids finished their pinewood derby cars this weekend so I thought I would post up some pictures. They looked on line for ideas but I never dreamed that they would have turned out so nice. My son Caleb (8) did the blue Cobra in about 10 hours and my daughter Claire (10) did the silver car in about 30 hours (that included painting and stripping the car 4 times... don't EVER plan on using chrome paint again). I helped them with the general shaping by holding the belt sander while they shaped the car. They also did all the hand sanding and painting and striping themselves. I did do a lot of coaching but they polished the axles and wheels on their own. I told them that their wheels weren't ready to go on the car until they could spin for 20 seconds and then I helped them install the axles. Claire's car ran straight as an arrow from the start and Caleb's car needed some axle tweaking to get it run straight. This has been so fun for me to spend time with them and watch how excited they were as their cars took shape.

Both cars are the factory PWD blocks that we glued fenders to and we used the factory slots. Claire's car was completely drilled out on the underside and about 75 grams of weight added to the back. Caleb's car for some reason was overweight in the wood alone so we had to drill out some weight on the front. Both cars currently weigh 141-142 grams.

We have an 8ft hotwheels race track that we have been running them on and they are car link or faster than any other car that friends have brought over. But that is on a plastic track... so we will find out on Saturday when the race happens.

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Darin McGrew
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by Darin McGrew »

Very nice. Thanks for sharing!

BTW, what was the problem with the chrome paint?
rpcarpe
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by rpcarpe »

Gorgeous Cars!
So good to spend time with the kids doing something creative and fun.
Good Luck on the race!
My wife started a new support group... Widows of the Pinewood Derby.
ChrisWoodard
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by ChrisWoodard »

The Rustoleum chrome paint would never properly cure. Even though the can claimed it was an enamel, it did not work with other enamels. We tried different primers and even clear coating over it before striping and NOTHING worked. We finally ended up with a silver metallic enamel that worked perfect.
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Noskills
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by Noskills »

LOVE the metallic blue!!
Noskills
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whodathunkit
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by whodathunkit »

:welcome: ChrisWoodard,

Wow! what a job your kids did on the cars.
Tell your daughter Claire her car is Cool two.. And that she is not the only one that has ever,
had to start over painting cars. ( Been there done this many times myself.) ;)

Mark
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: Photos of my kids first PWD cars

Post by Mr. Steve 316 »

Great looking cars. You have it in your blood now, go ahead and get started on next year's cars. ha ha. Your fenders look great, a lot of people use balsa wood to reduce weight. We stick with pine since after all it is the "Pinewood" Derby. Good luck on your future project!
Keep Moving Forward!

Mr. Steve - Pack 316
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