Just this last fall I voluteered as the Cubmaster for the school's pack, otherwise there wouldn't be a pack for my son to be in. Just last week we finished our pinewood derby cars for this sunday's race and I thought I'd toss up a pic of my pinetruck for your amusement...it turned out pretty darned good if I do say so myself- enjoy{I did}. Next year a conventional will be in order I think!





Here's all the cars ready for racing-

Spare car 1st{wife's if she wanted to race but she's being a stick in the mud so it's a spare}, daughter's pink racer car, son's batmobile with model jet pieces added and then mine.

That't pretty cool! Did you run it down the track?

Jim

Our school has an old track that has a rep for a very slow lane...the win only electronics was questionable so when my step bro-in-law{cubmaster across town} told me he had a spare track I was all over it, full electronic readout timer and all! I had a few things to fix on it that were broken or out of adjustment but after that I raced all the cars down it especially mine. I still have tow other cars that simply won't get finished "this" year....one is my lil 40 plymouth touring sedan and the other is a pine version of the "Mr the King" petty car...too much body smoothing to do there yet.
I do have plans for a "fan jet" car....next weekend is the regionals here and my step-bro-in-law runs that race...I'll inquire if they can or will do that sort of thing...Matt knows I get very competitive with these sorts of things, so we'll see.....

All the cars weigh in at the maximum 5oz, axles are smoothed and deburred, wheels trued up but not modded and the kids did actually help paint their cars...alittle!
Just for those who may be interested, the truck is a simple flat wedge body with .250 removed up front for bumper width{regulation length still}, has an all balsa body and gas tanks, heavy rear weight bias and yes, I used some spare model truck decals to spruce her up alittle...my free hand lining just isn't what it used to be.

Actually modern Pinewood derby stuff gives me a sad. When my son was a Cub, like 25 years ago, Another dad let me in on the secrets. Polish the nails, including under the head, sand the parting line off of the center of the wheel (now the wheels are molded differently,parting line moved), get the axles in evenly; weight it in grams to get as much weight into the car as possible (1 gram ~1/28 oz). Son came in 2nd first year and won the next 2 years. Helped my nephew 1 year, his car won the winner's bracket, won the 1st final heat, jumped off the track and lost the last 2 heats....

NOW, Revell is offering 2 or 3 different size templates, axle alignment jigs, axle polishing kits, wheel polishing kits, scales, all kinds of accessories. Scroll down to the bottom of the link.

How's a wily old grandad gonna help the grand kids against that array of technology?

Design still is a lost art my friend, after all the speed tricks are applied one still has to build something better looking than a block of pine. One of my "next year cars" is a lil copy of my 40 plymouth...Ive seen a chrysler turbine car in pinewood scale, a 60s batmobile, an amc marlin{when's the last time you saw one of those?!} and an assortment of other not so common body styles. Your only limited by your imagination and the allowed car size...which btw is 7" long x 2 3/4" wide x 3" tall{but that height one is per each packs rules and the timimg lights clearance} and weigh in at 5oz.

The nephew's car was a work of art. We painted it international orange (kinda like Tiger Cub colors) and put a big paw print on the top. He won best looking car and 2nd fastest. Great day all around.

Excellent work, guys. We finished mid-pack this year, our first time.
I'll be sure to use some of the ideas here for next year!
thanks,
Sean.

Not a bad race day...track ran well, only mishap was my truck falling over the edge...rugged construction kept it going{yeah, I got really lucky!}
My son took 2nd place overall and my daughter was 1st place "girls".
I did something wrong, but I think it was right in the end...let my truck get beat for 4th place...wish I had a pic of the tank car's turret blocking my truck from winning...and my truck was running down backwards too!..the kid's need to win, not me! Did make everyone laugh at that one!!!
Here's the full roster{yeah, we've got a small pack right now}

Here's the lounge racer I did too....tigerpaw wheels!

We channeled some of that fatherly concern into an 'adult' category. Open to all "legal" pinewood cars built by folks too old to be Cubs. I think my son won 2 years running....

Guilty as charged, but in my defence my sons only 6{tigercub} so there isn't a whole lot I'd let him do with power tools{badnsaws/sanders/drill press...} I did let him dust some clear gloss coat on...same with my 9yr old daughter's car...she painted the pink.