Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Show off your cool vehicle designs and track burning speedsters!
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Vitamin K
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Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Vitamin K »

So I will add to this thread as I get more progress and pictures. We've had some of my kids' regular events get cancelled due to Snowpocalypse, so hopefully that translates to more workshop time this weekend!

So we're building a total of four cars: One of my son, who is a wolf scout, one for his sister, one for momma and one for daddy (that's me!) Everyone who isn't a scout will be racing in the open/masters category.

This is our second year Derby-ing, and I'm doing a lot more this year than I did last time. Because I am depressed by the prevalence of "wafer" cars, we're building bodies from balsawood that are mounted onto a thin pine chassis. I'm using lead weights for ballast.

So here's shots of progress on my son's car. He's a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, so we decided to come up with an idea for a car with "spines". I'm not really sure that the car evokes much of a Hedgehog, but he likes the design.

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Next up is my design, which I decided to get kind of weird with. I'm basing it (very) loosely off of a particular 'teardrop' design: http://www.retronaut.com/2013/06/teardr ... -number-9/" target="_blank Really sort of curious as to how successful my effort will be. Also wondering if I will have to tell the stager which way to turn it. :angel:

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Coming Soon will be pictures of progress on my daughter's car (Totoro themed) and my wife's (Volkswagon VW).

Here's a picture of a test chassis with a section of lead glued in. I used the Harbor Freight equivalent of JB-Weld, and I have to admit that it's held pretty durn strong thus far.

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So yeah, more to come as I get further along. Keep derby-ing til then!
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Noskills »

Sweet. Keep the photos coming. Also the current snow has nothing on the Snowmageddon from 2010 in the belt way region.
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by whodathunkit »

:agree: with Seth..
Noskills wrote:Sweet. Keep the photos coming.
Vitamin K,
That's a cool looking Sonic the hedgehog car your son is working on. ;)
At first I thought he was makeing the Sonic & speed star race car.
I was looking at one at walmart just today thinking it would make for a cool pwd car.

The 1933 Retronaut teardrop car is a cool space age looking car as well.

I want to see more photos of all the car builds as they progress.

Whoda.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

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So we're slowly, but surely, making progress. Gotta ramp it up. Weigh in is this coming Monday! :nervous:

This is not a chicken. This is a Totoro for my daughter's car. It will feature 3 Totoros riding a giant skateboard...the largest is lying on his belly. If you don't know what a Totoro is, go out and rent "My Neighbor Totoro" today.

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Here's my son's car top (hollowed balsa) primed. I did the spraying, because I want to minimize brain damage from the fumes (the kids are crazy enough as it is.) There were some cracks left from the x-acto work, and I found that baking soda and superglue made an excellent filler for these.

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Some contour work with the dremel and sandpaper on the fenders for daddy's car...

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Here's the first coat of paint on my son's car. We used acrylic paints. It will need another coat of red before he does the blue stripe layer. I'll hit it with clear coat when that's all done. My cruddy phone camera makes it look pinker than it really is.

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Here's Totoro getting his grey base coat. A little thick, but, c'est la vie. Kids paint like kids are gonna paint.

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More to come soon. :mrgreen:
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by whodathunkit »

Vitamin K,

Your daughter is doing a great job with Oh- Totoro.
The Gray totoro is called by the name of - Oh Totoro.
And the Blue one is called- Chuu Totoro ..The white one is called - Chibl Totoro.
And "Totoro" is the Japanese word for ("Troll").. sprit of the Forest .. Right?

Cool idea and car design. :thumbup:

Mark.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Vitamin K »

I didn't actually know they had name designations, but that does seem to make sense. In my (extremely) limited knowledge of Japanese, the "O" prefix designates something big or great (e.g., the founder of a martial art might be referred to as "O Sensei", and, in Judo, the "big hip throw" is referred to as "O goshi"). "Chibi" usually implies cute or small (or both). Not sure what "Chuu" means. I should ask my wife (she studied Japanese in HS and college). And yes, Totoros are spirits (or lords) of the forest.
whodathunkit wrote:Vitamin K,

Your daughter is doing a great job with Oh- Totoro.
The Gray totoro is called by the name of - Oh Totoro.
And the Blue one is called- Chuu Totoro ..The white one is called - Chibl Totoro.
And "Totoro" is the Japanese word for ("Troll").. sprit of the Forest .. Right?

Cool idea and car design. :thumbup:

Mark.
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by whodathunkit »

Vitamin K wrote: Not sure what "Chuu" means.
My bad Vitamin K,
I typed in one to many (u..'s) It's Chu-Totoro. "Chu" medium-size maybe. :idk:

keep on posting the build photos will ya!
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

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Progress plods along! Was fearing a blitz to the finish last night because the weigh-in was supposed to be tonight, but due to a snow event, it has been pushed to Thursday! More time to work!

Here are the kids' pine chassis, along with mine (assembled and primed). My daughters' is a skateboard that the totoros will ride on, so I had to fill the top to make it smooth. Since my son's has a balsa top, his top is still pretty rough. I was a little sloppy with the epoxy on the fenders on mine and I wish I'd taken more time to sand it smooth. The tyranny of the urgent, I suppose...

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My son wanted a purple chassis, while my daughter decided she wanted rainbow stripes for the "skateboard" and could not be talked down from it. Here's initial progress on that. If you look closely, you can see the tiny balsa figures for chu and chibi Totoro sitting in the paper plate. Also, my son wanted stripes on his car top, so we started work on that. It will look better when it's finished (I hope!)

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Did a test-fit of my son's car top to his chassis and discovered that the rail-rider notch put the DFW wheel too close to the body for my comfort. Sanded a recess to accommodate. I have smeared some CA glue over the raw balsa, but it will still need some more paint.

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Here's my car after a few coats of Rustoleum metallic bronze. Even with the poor photo quality you can see where some areas don't coat as well as they ought. If I'd more time and patience I would have layered more primer and done more sanding. Oh well. :/

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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Noskills »

Post some final photos!
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Vitamin K »

Here are some pics from the final cars. I can see about getting more angles later.

So the first is my son's car. He dubbed it "Super Slinger Wave Guy." I asked him more than once if that was the name he really wanted. It was. He placed 2nd in his den, 5th overall in pack. A little disappointing, and I felt like something didn't feel right when I was doing test rolls of his car, but I didn't have any time left to tear down and diagnose. Still, he had a lot of fun and didn't have regrets, so I call it a win.

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The next is my daughter's car, called "My Neighbor Totoro." I was pretty pleased with how well the little figures actually turned out once painted. Like her brother's, her car wasn't as fast as I might have hoped, though it ran respectably. I think that one of the rear wheels was rubbing against part of O Totoro's side, which sapped some speed.

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Finally, there's my car, "Daddy Needs a Life." I actually finished this one first and had the most time to tune and align it. It set the track speed record, despite taking on a bit of wobble at the end of the track. Needed more toe-in maybe? Well, plenty more to learn and experiment with. A lot of people said nice things about how the car looked and asked about the fenders.

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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Noskills »

Vit K,

Very colorful cars. I really like the design of your and the 1950's airfoil look.

Noskills

BTW why Vitamin K as a screen name? Big fan of fat soluble vitamins (along with A, D and E) or perhaps you appreciate its role in the blood clotting cascade?
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by gpraceman »

Vitamin K,

Some of your photos are huge. If you can, please resize them to fit within a max height and width of 640 pixels. This will speed up the display of this web page.
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by Vitamin K »

Nothing so sophisticated as that. My first name starts with "K" is all. :)
Noskills wrote:Vit K,

BTW why Vitamin K as a screen name? Big fan of fat soluble vitamins (along with A, D and E) or perhaps you appreciate its role in the blood clotting cascade?
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Post by Vitamin K »

Done. Hopefully the post loads faster now.
gpraceman wrote:Vitamin K,

Some of your photos are huge. If you can, please resize them to fit within a max height and width of 640 pixels. This will speed up the display of this web page.
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Re: Watch this Space: Team Vitamin K Progress Pics...

Post by whodathunkit »

Vitamin K,

Don't fell like your the only one that's ever posted to large of photos.. & then had to resize them.

The cars all turned out looking good..
Your sons car the "super slinger wave guy" & your daughters car "my neighbor Totoro"
Are neat looking cars!.. And I can't say that I'v ever seen any like them in design!

Mark.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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