Any Pine Wood Derby Dads out there?!

[TD13]

I'm embarking on my first PWD with my son this year and would love any tips and tricks you may have gained from experience! Please share any pictures and brag about your boy as much as you like! I know I will for mine!!!

 

[Jlobes]

ohman, the PWD!! i remember that from when I was a scout. what a fun time!

 

[ironeagle2006]

Did this a few times. For shape go with a wedge. Also buff those freaking wheels smoother than rolls Royce polishes their paint jobs. Next get some stick graphite and use that to lube up the axle nail on the wheels. Next get sand that body smoother than a BMW going into a paintbooth.

Color is up to you. Then take a 1/4. Drill bit and still into the back of the car. Weigh it on postal or food service scale. Then take molten lead and pour it into the holes you made to get it back up to 5 ounces. I won 3 years in a row including 2 state titles in the mid 80's using that formula. You need the weight in the back to shove you down the track not in the nose.

My webelo year I was banned from the derby. Why I said I was just going to bring back the car from the year before. The one that had beaten everyone in the pack by 3 lengths. At state it was a1 length winner in the final.

 

[Jlobes]

you can add weight??

 

[ironeagle2006]

As long as the total is less than 5 ounces it is legal. My cars before weight were normally in the 2.5 ounce range. I would have half their weight in lead in their butt shoving them.

 

[cwb_reeftank]

 

[cwb_reeftank]

This is a really good video to watch

 

[TD13]

Nice! Thanks!!!

 

[steiger33]

Love that video. I remember doing the comps here when I was a kid and we also built the rocket cars too. The best advise I can give is if they allow it is get the balsa wood one which is the lightest if regulations allow it then as they said also weight 1" in front of rear axle.

 

[james983]

I'm laughing because this is my sons and my first one. Never realized how seriously guys take it. I opened up the box to put it together and was like, what do I do with this block of wood? Thank God for You Tube.

 

[steiger33]

Haha that is too funny. Your not kidding there is actual adult comp leagues. These buys are no joke either. It's amazing what side a competition will bring out in people too. I remember the first one I built my dad was never in the picture so my mom looked at me and said " I want you to build this so you appreciate it more" she was there to help but it was up to me to design and tweak it. I still have the ribbon from getting 3rd place

 

[Jlobes]

makes sense indeed. I always had to build mine on my own, without my moms help.

Haha that is too funny. Your not kidding there is actual adult comp leagues. These buys are no joke either. It's amazing what side a competition will bring out in people too. I remember the first one I built my dad was never in the picture so my mom looked at me and said " I want you to build this so you appreciate it more" she was there to help but it was up to me to design and tweak it. I still have the ribbon from getting 3rd place

same here, I was in scouts but dad passed when I was super young. Mom helped a tiny bit, but it was more a solo project. lol

 

[steiger33]

makes sense indeed. I always had to build mine on my own, without my moms help.


same here, I was in scouts but dad passed when I was super young. Mom helped a tiny bit, but it was more a solo project. lol

I have to say that there is nothing wrong with moms helping I have to say my mom and grandmother did an amazing job raising me and showing me the ropes. I could never thank them enough for everything they did for me and giving me the life I have lived so far. Not having my father around definitely showed me the way I would never want to treat my child. Which in the end I think makes me a stronger man.

 

[ironeagle2006]

My father was an otr driver so much of the time not home. I would have loved to been able to have his help. However I knew he had to be gone to support the family.

Want the you tube video show is close to what I made. However I secured the weight in the body in drilled holes.

 

[sstewart81]

I did PWD when I was younger, and now I am getting to share the experience with my son. Such a good learning too to have fun with.

 

[trido]

I was a scout leader for four years and helped run our PWD meets. Being a contractor everyone assumed my son would have the fasted fanciest car. I let my son decide what the car would look like and made him do most of the work. He never won any titles. He won plenty of heats and learned that you get out what you put in they were his cars, not mine.

 

[Dtackett]

I did 1 pwd as a kid and never did it again. I realized it wasn't a kids comp, it wasn't even the kid building most of them. it was about the dads even though it was supposed to be about the kids. never did one again. I did pretty decent in it though. I modeled mine off of an early 90s corvette (the wedge ones) and made all the curves as smooth as possible, shaved off part of the back and slotted it to act as a spoiler and like ironeagle said and buffed the wheels as smooth as glass, then polished them with a piece of leather. I also ensured the bottom of the car was perfectly flat and just as smooth as the top. I wanted the entire thing to be as smooth as possible. I lubed the wheels using a dry graphite gun lube (uncle was a marine and told me to use it). did really well considering it was a car built and designed by a child.