New Pinewood Derby Book

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FatSebastian
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New Pinewood Derby Book

Post by FatSebastian »

Not sure why Troy deleted his initial post, but his new book seems to be out as of November 2011 and is getting good reviews. I liked what I saw based on the Amazon "Look Inside" preview and Troy's own site. Other's impressions?

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whodathunkit
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Re: New Pinewood Derby Book

Post by whodathunkit »

FatSebastion,

I'm not sure why Troy deleted his initial post also.

I have used his designs & patterns book to build most all the cars in there like his jeep and red car seen on the cover. Even today, I find myself using a few of his tips as well and the tips out of David Mead's speed secrets book also.
I like to use their blank templates to draw up a few designs of my own. (take for instance the Fender Guitar car, or the yellow 1954 chevy truck, and the SO-CAL SPEED SHOP Belly Tank car I've posted on DT)

I picked up Troy's book: Getting Started in Pinewood Derby at Hobby Lobby. And I liked how he and the kids play the part as Dash Derby! And how it takes you on an adventure and shows you step by step how to build your first car. I feel it's a good book as well as a tool also!

And I really like the quote seen in the upper right of this book. As well as the ones seen on the back of the book. Same goes for those seen on David Mead's book also.
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Whoda.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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FatSebastian
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Re: New Pinewood Derby Book - Review

Post by FatSebastian »

FatSebastian wrote:Other's impressions?
Out of curiosity, we recently purchased Troy Thorne's new book. It turned out to be very true to its title: it is about Getting Started in Pinewood Derby. Page 9 states the intentions of the book best to adults: "If you and your child have never experienced the Pinewood Derby before... [t]his book will guide you through the creation of a derby car from start to finish, explaining everything you need to know, WITHOUT overwhelming either of you." Conversely, if you have experienced the Pinewood Derby before, then you may find this book underwhelming. For example, the car built by the main (cartoon) character, Dash Derby, and featured on the cover, is a simple wedge weighted by a triangular zinc plate screwed to the bottom. That is not to say that this book doesn’t include some good advice. Page 27 makes it clear which end of the block should go in front, a common beginner's error. Pages 18 through 21 provide some very nice illustrations on how to make straight, curved, notched, and internal cuts with a coping saw.

Generally the book is laid out and illustrated very well. Each chapter ("session") represents one "step" of the building process, and the first page of most chapters includes a handy "Materials & Tool List" or something similar. The contents are presented as Dash's diary and arranged in a style reminiscent of a comic-book, construction advice being arranged as a sequence of 2-1/4" x 3" panes. To appeal to kids all the more, some of the panes even splash comic-book-style sound-effect language like "SNIP SNIP", "SPLASH", and "WHIRRRRR" (ala the 1960’s Batman television series). But the book is not a cartoon: except for the drawings of Dash in the sidebars, almost all of the illustrations are actual photos.

All that said, there are some ironic aspects. While obviously directed at first-time builders and especially children, the writing level seemed like it might be far above the comprehension level of younger Cub Scouts, especially Tiger Cubs. On p. 15 the author mistakenly refers to "Boy Scout packs" (rather than Cub Scouts), and the only photographed child working on a car is a girl! (Although, looks can be deceiving sometimes. ;) )

I appreciated the author's emphasis that the Pinewood Derby is not about winning or losing but about learning new skills and having fun. Yet, there were several recommendations that IMO needed improvement to ensure that fun is had indeed. My biggest concern was with the illustrated use of a triangular zinc weight plate.* Although easy to install and relatively inexpensive, these zinc plates tend to be ~5/32" thick, and because this book recommends installing the axle as high up into the slots as possible, a car built as illustrated will almost certainly fail the standard 3/8" clearance criterion.

This pointed to another ironic aspect: all of the thirteen car templates in the appendix showed 1/16" thick plating in the side view (and having exactly 3/8" clearance). Likely the plans were drawn with tungsten plating in mind, but the book makes no distinction between tungsten and zinc ballast. In fact, the only discussion of metal is the sidebar admonition About Lead (p. 14) which includes a drawing of a skull & crossbones and says "Lead is a very heavy substance, and so used to be commonly recommended for derby cars. However, lead is very poisonous, and when melted or sanded, creates dust and fumes that are easily inhaled. There is no reason now to use lead -- there are many types of weights specially made for derby cars that are safe and non-toxic." (Of course, there are health risks from ingestion of zinc too, and BSA seemingly recommends "inexpensive lead weights", but that's another story.) In this book, "types of weight" (p. 23) seemingly refers to the shape rather than the material. Another concern is that the book suggests filling a couple of holes (covered by the plate) with loose split shot as a source of removable weight, but this could break some local rules that forbid loose materials in the body.

Recommended wheel preparation involves the parent holding a hand-held drill and spinning the wheel mounted on a mandrel; meanwhile the child "polishes" the tread freehand by pressing a homemade sanding block against the tread using 400-grit sandpaper. It is hard to imagine that this process would result in improved wheel runout, plus there is an obvious risk of re-shaping the tread -- again illegal under most local rules. Regarding the "fun" aspect, the reader is directed to construct homemade "sanding sticks" out of carefully trimmed 150-grit sandpaper, glue, and Popsicle sticks (resulting in something that looks like an emery board), which is to be used as a file for removing the burrs and ribs on nails spinning in a drill. But would not a true file (such as a sapphire fingernail file) be easier, just as effective, and not wear out like sandpaper? A fingernail file is hardly a budget buster!

In fact, most of the book's recommendations are not what we would do now as experienced builders, but in fairness the audience of this book was not us. Rather, Getting Started in Pinewood Derby is about making a simple car that rolls to the finish line with the least amount of tooling and budget. However, for the beginner race team that is not intimidated by the "building instructions" on the rule sheet that comes with the BSA kit, I would instead recommend Fox Chapel Publishing's other book, Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets by David Meade.

:goodluck:

*When we were "Getting Started in Pinewood Derby" many years ago, we didn't need anyone to recommend the triangular weight, as it was the only weight being sold at the Scout shop. Rather, we really needed someone to tell us not to use zinc weight, and why, in order to have a competitive car.
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whodathunkit
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Re: New Pinewood Derby Book

Post by whodathunkit »

What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
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FatSebastian
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Re: New Pinewood Derby Book

Post by FatSebastian »

This appears to be a supplementary "Workbook & Logbook". Pages 76-93 of Getting Started in Pinewood Derby already include templates and a scrapbook-like space for "memories" (race records, photos, etc.), so it's not clear what this supplement is adding. I suppose that once a racer uses these pages up the first year, one buys this supplement for the next year?

This adds another bit of irony to the Getting Started book; nowhere was this Log & Journal supplement advertised in our (first) printing. :scratching:
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