Pinewood Derby Update
My son and I continue to make progress on this year's Pinewood Derby car. Two nights ago, we purchased a piece of 5/8" rod stock to use as a weight. I cut off a one inch piece to weigh and went off and weighed the car body, wheels and axles, and the metal slug. Weights were as follows: slug - 1.3 oz.; wheels & axles - 0.6 oz.; and body - 2.8 oz. The total of these weights is 4.7 oz. That puts the car under the 5 oz. maximum we're aiming for.
Last night, we drilled a hole in the body and glued the slug to its bottom. We followed that up by plugging the hole with a dowel. This morning, the protruding portion of the dowel was cut off, sanded flat, and the paint process began.
In order to paint the car easily, I drilled a 1/2" hole in the bottom and in a board, then I took about a five inch segment of dowel and stuck it into the holes, mounting the car onto a base. A quick job with spray primer was followed by a coating of red spray paint. The car will dry today, and tonight we'll decorate it.
The axles (cheap nails) have been getting polished, having the grooves under the heads polished out. If all goes well, we'll mount the wheels tonight or early tomorrow morning, securing the axles with hot glue. A bit of powdered graphite lubricant will have the car ready for technical inspection (weigh-in and check of clearances) and to race.
Last night, we drilled a hole in the body and glued the slug to its bottom. We followed that up by plugging the hole with a dowel. This morning, the protruding portion of the dowel was cut off, sanded flat, and the paint process began.
In order to paint the car easily, I drilled a 1/2" hole in the bottom and in a board, then I took about a five inch segment of dowel and stuck it into the holes, mounting the car onto a base. A quick job with spray primer was followed by a coating of red spray paint. The car will dry today, and tonight we'll decorate it.
The axles (cheap nails) have been getting polished, having the grooves under the heads polished out. If all goes well, we'll mount the wheels tonight or early tomorrow morning, securing the axles with hot glue. A bit of powdered graphite lubricant will have the car ready for technical inspection (weigh-in and check of clearances) and to race.
Labels: life, Pinewood Derby
posted by Scooter at 10:49 AM
2 Comments:
Have fun. When I was a kid all of my brothers made cars and my parents were scout leaders and they made cars. My son inherited all the cars and we have some beauts. When my son joined scouts I became the leader so I could do my own car. What a good time this was. The memories with each car are precious. My pink slipper car took best design in adults.
Wanna race? We're talking about having a Pinewood Derby at a race in CT in early August. Any interest?
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