Weight

[ohiofitter]

The Thursday we had our impound The final weigh-in scale read 141.6. I know each scale might read a hair different. But District race are in March. I was wandering how do most of you guys set up for different scales. On my car I used lead pellets to bring it up to weight. Our Weight is from the scout and is takin care of like it is gold. Should all 5 ounce weights be the checked from time to time.

[Stan Pope]

The brass weight in a wood box sold by BSA for about $35 IIRC was spec'ed at 5.00 +/- 0.04 oz. So, any one sample may weigh as low as 4.96 oz and as high as 5.04 oz. Unless someone files a corner off, the weight should not change appreciably with time. Brass is pretty stable!

But, I think you should have it weighed so that you know what you have and, maybe, what the marginal weight issues might be. A 5.0 oz scale calibrated to a 4.96 oz weight would DQ a car that weighte 5.02 oz but the scame scale calibrated to a 5.04 oz weight would pass a car that weighs 5.08 oz.

So, a successful weigh in at the pack race might not assure a successful weigh-in at district or council.

I just looked and I could not fine the brass weight on scoutstuff.org. Maybe it is still there, but no luck finding it. I see that they do sell a 0.1 scale with a 5 lb capacity and another scale of unspecified accuracy with an 11 lb capacity. (Good for using around youngsters!) Neither appeared to come with a calibration weight, though. IMHO, the 5 oz weight above is inadequate for calibration of a 0.1 scale.

[cubdad]

I get the car to about 141.1 grams. Then I screw in 3-6 little wood screws into the side of the car behind the front dominant wheel till the weight reaches about 142.7 grams. Then at weigh in I'd remove any screws if required to be at 5 oz.

So far I have not had to remove any screws even when they added a (giant) sticker to my car at the districts during check and then told us to go to the next line for weigh in! There was a heart beat skip inducing moment. I would have made it weigh 142.5 grams if I knew they were going to be adding stickers!

[derbster]

We usually get the car pretty close, but under, 5 oz. In the bottom or back of the car we'll leave one of two small holes (3/8" dia) that we fill w/ plumbers putty. its cheap and heavy. The tungsten putty would work well, too. if the car is grossly underweight, the holes would be filled w/ lead pellets and capped w/ the putty. the putty stays sticky and doesn't dry out or flake. Plus, any increment of weight can be added or removed w/ the putty. $1.69 at the local HW store.

[Go Bubba Go]

We usually get the car pretty close, but under, 5 oz. In the bottom or back of the car we'll leave one of two small holes (3/8" dia) that we fill w/ plumbers putty. its cheap and heavy. The tungsten putty would work well, too...

Same as derbster, except we use Tungsten putty with a Tungsten BB or two thrown in for density.

Bubba

[PWD_addict]

We usually get the car pretty close, but under, 5 oz. In the bottom or back of the car we'll leave one of two small holes (3/8" dia) that we fill w/ plumbers putty. its cheap and heavy. The tungsten putty would work well, too...

Same as derbster, except we use Tungsten putty with a Tungsten BB or two thrown in for density.

Bubba

3/16" holes drilled underneath and add Tungsten BBs and sticky-tack to keep it in as needed. I have some small lead fishing BBs that are 0.01 ounces that I may use if we start using our new official scale next year (which goes by 0.01, instead of by 0.05s).