90 Days Left!

[J.Stein]

Not sure what other packs do but we can't start our work on our cars until we are handed our kits

Is that really a rule?
Wow, that could make things "tight" time-wise if family or work issues emerge.
The kit we get this year (have not received them yet) will just be sorted into our parts stockpile for the future.

[birddog]

Our race is on January 26th as well. I built a couple of cars over the Fall to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. Still have a ton to learn.

This year we have an open division for adults and siblings, so we plan to build 5 cars over Christmas break this year. One car for each of my 2 girls, 2 cars for my Wolf cub scout (we'll pick the fastest one) and one car for me!

Can't wait to start the building!

[jzarvey]

My son is a Wolf. The Derby is on January 26. We both have the week between Christmas and New Year off so the "Pinewood Derby War-room" (he named it that last year and wanted to post signs that said No Girls Allowed ) will be in full swing. We've all ready turned some wheels on the lathe and sketched out the design onto the block. So there will be a lot of sawing, gluing, painting and axle prep going on during the off week.

Also, you goin for looks or for pure speed ?

He definitely wants speed. He won den and pack last year and came in second in his age group for District (Our District does not have a race for District Grand Champion, just age group.) He wants to repeat results for Den and Pack and repeat or improve on his District Performance.

I am recycling the ducted-fan car I used in the Open Class at Districts last year. Going to give it a balsa body, razor wheels, and a new paint job.

I was going to build an arduino powered, x-bee remote controlled, direct drive light show car as my Open Class entry, but work has been busy and the time has just not been available to work on it.

[sporty]

our fan balsa car. be carfull. I have done this too and the axle wholes do not last very long long the stops kill it. Outside of 3 runs and the wheel alignment was toast, outside of 6 runs and the wheels were coming off. Just a tip to fore worn you.


Sporty

[jzarvey]

Thanks sporty. I'll rethink that balsa, maybe just the new paint and wheels then.

[sporty]

what you can do, is. cut out for some small 1/4 x 1/4 wood and where the axles will be, glue in those small squares of wood. this will resolve the issue. but takes a bit of work and a little harder in getting the axle wholes drilled right.


But I have done this also.


I used lithuim batteries and over volted it , and that made them fan cars faster.


Sporty

[DerbyDash]

Not sure what other packs do but we can't start our work on our cars until we are handed our kits

Is that really a rule?
Wow, that could make things "tight" time-wise if family or work issues emerge.
The kit we get this year (have not received them yet) will just be sorted into our parts stockpile for the future.

Well, it's a rule that our Pack has used at least for the past few years. I don't know about anything before that as we weren't part of scouts then. I agree it makes things tight but assume they want to stop people from working on their cars for the entire year trying to come up with a "perfectly" tuned car.

It puts a bit more pressure on the last few weeks of the year and into January as our PWD is in early February but with what we learned working on the car last year and reading DT since February, we think we're in a good position to be competitive again this year.

[rpcarpe]

We gave 'Christmas Presents' at our Pack meeting last night... yup, PWD kits.
My workshop will open 1 January, soonest Pack races are 26 January.
I saw so little action when I started on Black Friday, that it just wasn't worth the time away from the family to start any earlier.

[rcmoeur]

Our Pack received their cars at Monday evening's meeting, along with plan sheets they can use for design (available at http://www.richardcmoeur.com/cub/pinewooderbyplan.pdf" target="_blank )

Our Pack Derby isn't until March 2nd (as part of our spring campout at Pioneer Arizona History Museum), and the District Derby isn't until March 23rd. So, we have a bit of time to work with.

This is slightly complicated by the fact my work takes me to DC for 2 weeks in January, so we can't get the workshops properly started until late January. But we still have about 5 weekends for workshops before the Pack race.

All this talk about ducted fans and other propulsion has me wondering how many entries we'll get from leaders, parents, & others in the Open Class at the Pack Derby - last year, the other leader's ducted fan wasn't as fast as my bungee-powered car, but the other car did have a higher tendency to make it through the finish gate in the correct lane. But I have an almost-foolproof Secret Plan for this year, involving a car design that can race stock, unpowered, or even perhaps powered.

[J.Stein]

Received a call this weekend.

A friend of mine called and asked if I could help his son build a Pinewood Car. I said sure. I asked that he email me their rules and then told him we'd need to meet at least twice, maybe three times (he's almost two hours away by car). I also said he'd need to order some tungsten cubes since I'm running low.

I knew what the silence on the other end of the line meant.

I said, "You do know this is going to take about eight hours and that's not including ya'lls time sanding and painting the buggy after we get done cutting it.....right?" I then went on in stream-of-consciousness mode talking about things like "God is in the details" and "The difference between first and second is not 1/100 second...its ten hours!"

He then said....and I quote...."He wants a Penquin Car."

You know you've got it bad when you breath a sigh of relief at the news you "only" have to make a block of wood look like a Penguin instead of building a car that will get a trophy.

[Darin McGrew]

"He wants a Penquin Car."

Ah, a kid after my own heart.

Of course, I probably spent well over 10 hours working on my penguin car.

[FatSebastian]

I said, "You do know this is going to take about eight hours and that's not including..."

Not always!

[sporty]

I can build a pretty darn fast car in around 2 hours. This is including wheel bore and axles. not just buying prepped axles and prepped wheels.

I was not overly impressed awhile ago when some 30 minute videos popped up, but I never seen any wheel work or axle prep in them. and that always had me feeling that was not a true fair account of building a car from start to finish and going fast, if you already have the wheels trued and ect and axles polished. lol.

But at the same time, I know advanced builders, can built very fast cars in a very short time. due to being well, advanced ! when ya build many cars over the years. or have the drill press, ect, tools, set up already and leave them set up and tuned for just doing those things for the car. it makes it much easier and quicker.
Takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to true up a set of wheels, alone. I can cut a block of wood in 3 to 5 minutes. and add weight in just 3 minutes with a quick setting glue.
But I cant take a set of stock base axles and remove the burs and mold marks very fast. maybe 20 minutes. but often i find a few bad ones, and it takes a little time to pick thru and find a few decent ones.
Tuning, gosh I recall, when I first started trying to tune a 4 on the floor rail rider and make it fast. I came up with this on my own. I had no data to go by. Only a idea on how to do it. to make it work and be fast.

it took me several tries and many hours to get a method and process and a set of drift numbers that worked with 4 on the ground.

by the time I got into running cars with just 3 wheels. wow, that was much easier.
Now, you dont need tungsten to go fast, it gives you a better chance with facing many other good builders. who are also using it. I have seen some pretty fast lead cars. but also by some pretty darn good bulders too.

Fast is a illusion ! because every pack and district or council. one the rules, differ often and then the tracks differ and then the race format differs. Then who the other racers are, how well they build cars.


We faced league racers at our council. and even tho i adult league raced in 2010 and did pretty good. atleast i feel i did.

I felt what really set us apart at our pack and councl race, was i figured out how to rail ride with 4 on the ground ! and worke very hard and long hours at it. because when we faced other league racers. they built darn good cars. i think it just came down, to I got it figured out better for 4 on the ground rail riding.


Sporty

[Ickabod]

I can build a pretty darn fast car in around 2 hours. This is including wheel bore and axles. not just buying prepped axles and prepped wheels.

I was not overly impressed awhile ago when some 30 minute videos popped up, but I never seen any wheel work or axle prep in them. and that always had me feeling that was not a true fair account of building a car from start to finish and going fast, if you already have the wheels trued and ect and axles polished. lol.

But at the same time, I know advanced builders, can built very fast cars in a very short time. due to being well, advanced ! when ya build many cars over the years. or have the drill press, ect, tools, set up already and leave them set up and tuned for just doing those things for the car. it makes it much easier and quicker.
Takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to true up a set of wheels, alone. I can cut a block of wood in 3 to 5 minutes. and add weight in just 3 minutes with a quick setting glue.
But I cant take a set of stock base axles and remove the burs and mold marks very fast. maybe 20 minutes. but often i find a few bad ones, and it takes a little time to pick thru and find a few decent ones.
Tuning, gosh I recall, when I first started trying to tune a 4 on the floor rail rider and make it fast. I came up with this on my own. I had no data to go by. Only a idea on how to do it. to make it work and be fast.

it took me several tries and many hours to get a method and process and a set of drift numbers that worked with 4 on the ground.

by the time I got into running cars with just 3 wheels. wow, that was much easier.
Now, you dont need tungsten to go fast, it gives you a better chance with facing many other good builders. who are also using it. I have seen some pretty fast lead cars. but also by some pretty darn good bulders too.

Fast is a illusion ! because every pack and district or council. one the rules, differ often and then the tracks differ and then the race format differs. Then who the other racers are, how well they build cars.


We faced league racers at our council. and even tho i adult league raced in 2010 and did pretty good. atleast i feel i did.

I felt what really set us apart at our pack and councl race, was i figured out how to rail ride with 4 on the ground ! and worke very hard and long hours at it. because when we faced other league racers. they built darn good cars. i think it just came down, to I got it figured out better for 4 on the ground rail riding.


Sporty

[pgosselin]

Over the summer, we relocated from Louisville to just north of Indianapolis. Our new Pack's race is the first week of February so we've got about a month to go. That being said, our cars will go into paint this weekend. We've still got some wheel prep to do, but the vast majority of January will be spent on getting the alignments right.

It should be interesting this year. We moved from a district that allowed extended wheelbases, drilled holes and center-rail tracks to one that requires using the stock BSA slots and running the cars on a SuperTrack (with no center rail). A lot of our old speed tricks are now kaput. However, some still will help. Fortunately, my Webelo did so amazingly well last year, he's not all hopped up to win this year. We're just enjoying our last build and the new engineering challenges that the new rules and SuperTrack have presented. Our only goal is to build a car that's competitive on the new track. Anything else is a bonus.

Paul