Pinewood Derby????

[Pembo]

Disclaimer: I'm a girl, a girly-girl, so all this cub scout/tiger scout stuff is FOREIGN to me.


What is the Pinewood Derby? Why are the Pack Leaders so excited about it? How much work is involved for us? Should I care about this even a little?

DS's PD is in Feb. Should we have been working on his car already? I don't even know where to get the kit. (You do buy a kit right?) I just found a huge website all about PD...it's a little scary. Is this part of a cult that I don't understand?

Can any of you enlighten me?????????

 

[tkd lisa]

Welcome to the fun world of Cub Scouts!

Pinewood Derby is a race held within your pack where the scouts (with some help from their family) build a "race" car from a kit. You can usually buy the kit wherever you got your son's uniform or at a local hobby shop. Boy Scouts of America also sells them via telephone. Hit the BSA web site to get the phone number (my catalog is at home).

As to whether you should put a lot of time into it, well, that's up to you and your son.

Our pack is on a Navy base. We have a fair amount of boys whose dads are away at sea, so we see a full range of "help". I didn't personally see this, but another leader told me about one his boys who came with the kit still in the box. The leader and the boy stuck the wheels onto the plain block of wood and it ended up winning over the entire pack!

Overall, I'd say get the kit, have your boy sand the block of wood. Work with him to cut it to some sort of shape, have him paint it, then help him glue the wheels into the slots. The straighter they are, the better it will run.

Good luck!!

 

[RUDisney]

My Eagle Scout DH hasn't taken much of an interest in helping our DS so far and our race is on the 19th of this month, so I sent the kit in his bookbag so my Dad could help him. My brother won every one of his races with which Dad helped him, so I know that DS is in good hands. I know I'll catch it when I tell DH that my Dad is helping with this, but he's had the kit for 3 weeks now and hasn't done anything with it. I'm not a procrastinator and I think it should have been finished by now.

As for buying a kit, call your den leader and ask if you have to buy it or if the pack provides it. We were handed ours at the last meeting before Christmas.

Good luck to your son!

 

[The LK 4]

I don't want to scare you, but PD is huge! It is tons of fun to watch the races. My DH helps DS with his car, because I wouldn't have a clue for what to do. Our pack hands out the cars as a Christmas present for each boy. There are tons of tricks to building the cars and people go to great lengths to keep their tricks a secret. Again, I don't know anything about the building or I would throw you a hint or two. You should probably start working on the design of your car soon. Do you have anyone to help him with the woodworking tools? Our pack usually has one or two workshops where they help the beginners. See if you can find an older scout to show you some basics. Every council is different - some are real strict with the rules, and others are more lenient. Even if his car doesn't do well this year, you can still use this experience for the future PD's. Good luck and let us know how he does!

 

[Pembo]

thelk4-I have friends who live in Cranberry Twp! What a small world!


So far we've heard NOTHING about the PD except that they bought a new track. I'll send the cubmaster an e-mail today about the kits. His pack meeting isn't for 2 more weeks and the derby is next month.

DH remembers making the car with his dad but that's about it. I think this may be a project for Ds and my dad!

Oh the joys of being a mom to a son........

 

[Pam]

When my almost Eagle Scout son was in Cubs, the Pack gave the cars to each boy for Christmas. I was the den leader and in January we would have a den meeting with the dads and cut out the cars. The boys and their Dads would then work on the cars at home.

It's a big thing to put weights in the car and also make a sporty design. The paint and decal jobs on some of these cars were remarkable. On the day of the race the cars are weighted (have to meet a certain weight standard) and, if necessary, holes are drilled in them to make them legal.

We started having a big Pack event, selling hot dogs, chips, drinks, etc. Trophies were awarded for first place Tiger Cubs (in our Pack the Tigers only raced each other_; 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place for Wolves-Webelos II; and various trophies for Most Sporting, Most Unusual Design, Best Paint, etc.

Once you get the car, there will be instructions inside the box. Your local Council should sell the cars - but I am really surprised that your Pack is not informing the Scouts and the parents about the race.

Pam
P.S. - DS won the Tiger Race, and when he was a Webelos, he won most sporting for his Pick-up Truck model. He and his Dad made an eighteen-wheeler when he was a Webelos II Scout.

 

[Amy]

Another Derby veteran here - our oldest is a Star Boy Scout and our youngest is a Webelos II, so we've been thru our share of derbies. DH has been cubmaster the last couple of years, so I get to see the "behind the scenes" part, too.

Our pack provides the cars to the scouts, usually at the November pack meeting because we don't have a pack meeting in December due to very poor attendance. We used to just hand out the rules/guidelines and let everyone do it themselves, but the past couple of years, we've had workshops to help the boys whose parents are "tool-challenged". We call them Pit Stops - one was just this past Saturday to help the boys cut out their cars. We have another Pit Stop planned the week before the derby so they can get some help with finishing touches, putting on the wheels and check the weight, etc.

Pembo, if you're really stuck for a car, they DO sell cars that are pre-cut. BUT, check the rules of your derby. In our pack, pre-cut cars can win the race, but they can't win best of show; plus, the winners from each pack race against winners from the other packs in our district, and a pre-cut car is not allowed to race in the district-wide race.

Some cool ideas we've seen at past races: a car shaped like a hot dog on a bun (complete with mustard), a Hershey bar, a banana, a Batmobile, a roller-coaster car. (I want DS to do a carrot this year, but he doesn't want to.) Some kids do it all (or most of it) by themselves, and some get a lot of help from dad - one dad works in an auto detailing shop and put a glaze on his son's car that you would not believe!

 

[Towncrier]

There are all sorts of devices out there to true the wheels and polish axles. Some people end up buying dozens of kits looking for just the right combination of parts to make a winning car. But as was stated earlier, it is possible to win the race with a car that you build at the last minute. James built a couple of cars during his tenure as a Cub. As he got older, form was a lot more important than function. Since you've managed to find the websites, I won't give you any more advice other than to have a lot of fun with pinewood derby. It is one of the more enjoyable events in scouting.

 

[FINFAN]

DS won the whole thing in our pack last year....it was his first time entering...so no pressure this year right? He walked away with three trophies, and the last was half as tall as he was! DH helped, but since it was the first time we were doing the race we started way too late in preparing. It was an all-nighter here the day B4 the weigh-in. All I can help you with is this web-site:http://users.aol.com/randywoo/pine/index.htm.....maybe it will help a bit. One big thing....the kids REALLY get into decorating or theming the cars...we dropped the ball on that...stickers were long gone from hobby stores by the time we realized it. Ours is in 2 weeks and DS keeps "reminding" DH they need to start on it....it is a long day, but fun!
Good Luck!

 

[cgcw]

I could have killed DH last year when it was a couple of days from the pinewood derby race. Our DS was given the kit at the December pack meeting and the race was in February. Silly me, I thought the box contained the car. Come to find out a couple of days before the race that it was actually a hunk of wood and tires which needed to be built. I was so angry at DH. He knew what was in the box from his childhood and what was required. Well, we battled over how it wasn't going to be done on time. Somehow or another, he pulled it off with DS. On race day, I was still a bit steamed. Guess what happened?? DS won first place in the Tigers and went onto the district races, placing 6th out of 54 for speed. I felt about an inch tall. Boy, did DH have the opprotunity to rub it in.
This year, I'm prepared. Now, I'm a den leader and have already for warned all of the mom's that what their son received was a block of wood and they'd need to built the car. We'll see what happens this year. At least DH and I won't be at each others throats!
Good luck with your race!

 

[The LK 4]

Hi Pembo! I am sending you a PM to see if we know the same people.

 

[mom2boys]

DH is obsessed with our boys' derby cars. My youngest was first as a Tiger last year & 9th in the district - of 84. The difference between the fastest car and the slowest car at the district level was .009 Our oldest came in 2nd for his den. Our pack sends the top 4 Tigers & the top 4 overall from Wolves-Weeblos II. Santa hands out the kits at our Dec. pack meeting. This is PD is BIG. DH heard someone say that our boys were the ones to beat. He spent the entire Christmas vacation pouring over the web sites. PM me if you want me to send them to you.

 

[Randi]

One year my son's entry won a trophy for best design. We shaped the higher end like a head wearing a racing helmet, and the long hood part was shaped like a cartoon nose. We called it "The Running Nose"...

 

[fklhou]

My son (an eagle scout with six palms) had a great deal of fun in the PD when he was a cubbie. Our troop's service project for our scout fair each year is to help run the PD for the event.

In January, I am scheduled to help a newly formed pack hold their first fix-it day and help the kids design and build their cars. It can be a great deal of fun.

Go to Michaels or a craft store and get the book on Pinewood racing. You have to use the car and wheels from the official BSA kit but you can get some good tips in this book. Pinewood racing is very serious for some racers and I know some NASA engineers who still compete in races with some very high tech cars.

One of the keys is to polish your axel to get it a smooth as possible and to deburr the axel. The book will show you how to do this but basically you need to put the nail (your axel) in a electric or other hand drill and to smooth out the imperfections on the head of the nail with a file. You can then use a kit that you get at the craft store to polish the axel to increase speed.

The other key is the weight. You need to get the car to be as close to five ozs as possible. Our race measures cars to the gram and so is even more exact than the average electronic scale.

Finally, have fun. These races are fun for the boys. BTW, my daughters each have entered cars in the open division that many packs will hold for siblings. This can make the event a fun event for the entire family.

 

[minniecarousel]

Another veteran of PD here. We always had great contoversy in our Pack regarding how much "help" the kids could get from their parents. We had some over-zealous Dads who would make such elaborate cars that it was obvious that a kid couldn't have done it. There's a fine line between the kid building one with help and Dad doing the whole thing. We finally had a separate race for adults only!

 

[The LK 4]

My BIL is very creative with his cars. His never win for speed, but always take home a design trophy! His best creation was when he made his car look like a pool table, complete with two pool cues crossed on top. Very cute!

One of the boys in our den turned his into a cell phone.

Any other interesting designs that anyone has seen?