Why not drill some tiny holes and drop in tungsten balls or discs or putty? I like the wood stain, don't touch a thing and the burnt car is too cool. Like the kids theme too!
Seth
Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
"Nunchuk skills... bowhunting skills... pinewood derby skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!"
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
I've got no more tungsten putty. I used it all up getting all four to these weights.
I supposed to can drill some holes for bb's, but in reality, drilling the wood out to drop a bb into it might not really be a worthwhile trade-off. I've got until tomorrow night to figure something out.
I supposed to can drill some holes for bb's, but in reality, drilling the wood out to drop a bb into it might not really be a worthwhile trade-off. I've got until tomorrow night to figure something out.
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Curse You Red Baron!
- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:35 pm
- Location: Superior, Colorado
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
If you are looking for a fast and easy way to add a tenth or two of weight at the last minute, I'd suggest lead tape - your local athletic store/golf store should have it - golf is usually quarter inch wide and tennis is usually a half inch. I prefer the latter, but you can order on line from Amazon, in the future. The adhesive backing has never given me any problems, I just add it to the bottom of the car, as straight and flat as I can press it to the body. I always go in about a tenth of an oz over, and remove only as much as I need to get down to 5 oz.
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Thanks! I'll check that out!
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Shawn Stebleton
- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 190
- Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:20 pm
- Location: Monroeville, PA
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
We use the lead tape, too. Works really well. At our pack race we can fine tune on the official scale. We go into districts a tad over and remove about .01 oz. sometimes .02 oz.
Shawn
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
The tape worked out great! I was able to get all 4 cars to 4.995 ounces. Might have to do a slight adjustment for official weigh-in, but that was a great tip! Thanks!
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Curse You Red Baron!
- Master Pine Head
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:35 pm
- Location: Superior, Colorado
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Awesome! Good luck with your races!
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Lightning in a bottle. Think I got it.
Had our race today. Here's the results.
My son's Rank Race - Webelos I.
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 3 2.3570 First 209.7 Fastest Time
2 2 2.3670 First 208.8
3 1 2.3650 First 209.0
4 4 2.3620 First 209.3
He took first place in rank. Here's the grand finals:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 2 2.3690 First 208.7
2 1 2.3620 First 209.3
3 4 2.3700 First 208.6
4 3 2.3570 First 209.7 Fastest Time
He won the Finals. For his car, he used the wedge in the basic template, but since we moved his wheels back he picked the 5/8" spacing in between all of the holes for the lead wire. Had a full 3 ounces of lead wire and then some lead tape and tungsten putty to get it to 4.99 ounces. Front left wheel raised.
Here's my daughters results for Open Junior:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 1 2.3610 First 209.4
2 3 2.3630 First 209.2
3 4 2.3600 First 209.5
4 2 2.3590 First 205.5
She took first in Open Junior. She used the basic template I have listed above with the standard axle location and the rear weight halfway between axle and the back and the front weights closer together. Again, we got a full 3 ounces of lead wire and used tungsten and lead tape to get to 4.99 ounces. Front left wheel raised.
Here's my wifes results from Open Adult:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 1 2.3740 First 208.2
2 4 2.3580 First 209.6
3 3 2.3700 First 208.6
4 2 2.3650 First 209.0
She took first in Open Adult. She used the same design that my daughter did with the basic template. Weighted the same and front wheel raised.
And, then there was mine (sad trombone sound):
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 2 2.4090 Third 205.2
2 1 2.4470 Third 202.0
3 4 2.4090 Second 205.2
4 3 2.4130 Third 204.9
I came in fifth, but really not by much. I threw caution to the wind with mine, moved my wheelbase back and instead of using the same weight placement my son used, I moved the front weight back closer to the weight in front of the axle. It did not perform as well as the others. I got smoked. But, I was experimenting and in the end, I'm good with that. They did fantastic!
And I will never, EVER move my weights that far back to center them around the axle. These wedges and the weight placements for them proved to me that it's not just getting it as far back as you can. Even though the balance points were pretty close, they all had the exact same body designs and the exact same prep work on wheels and axles (I just polished the bores of the wheels, nothing else and axles were sanded down to 1500 grit wet sand). And I used the sample of [no advertising for this vendor] that I received last year on all of them. We really ran out of time this year so the kids didn't get to really do anything crazy. When it came down to it, I told them that this was what they had to use if they wanted to get cars in for the race. And how quick is drilling 3 weight holes, 4 axle holes and making one cut and sanding it flat? Really quick. Well, ok, we also drilled 4 holes underneath for glueing the axles in, too.
So I put my money where my mouth was and we outperformed all of my expectations. Well, most of the cars did (but I know now not to play around and just use what I know). These were the most absolute simplest car designs and weight placements and they did awesome! Although, I think there was a petition being drawn up to ban us from next years race.
Had our race today. Here's the results.
My son's Rank Race - Webelos I.
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 3 2.3570 First 209.7 Fastest Time
2 2 2.3670 First 208.8
3 1 2.3650 First 209.0
4 4 2.3620 First 209.3
He took first place in rank. Here's the grand finals:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 2 2.3690 First 208.7
2 1 2.3620 First 209.3
3 4 2.3700 First 208.6
4 3 2.3570 First 209.7 Fastest Time
He won the Finals. For his car, he used the wedge in the basic template, but since we moved his wheels back he picked the 5/8" spacing in between all of the holes for the lead wire. Had a full 3 ounces of lead wire and then some lead tape and tungsten putty to get it to 4.99 ounces. Front left wheel raised.
Here's my daughters results for Open Junior:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 1 2.3610 First 209.4
2 3 2.3630 First 209.2
3 4 2.3600 First 209.5
4 2 2.3590 First 205.5
She took first in Open Junior. She used the basic template I have listed above with the standard axle location and the rear weight halfway between axle and the back and the front weights closer together. Again, we got a full 3 ounces of lead wire and used tungsten and lead tape to get to 4.99 ounces. Front left wheel raised.
Here's my wifes results from Open Adult:
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 1 2.3740 First 208.2
2 4 2.3580 First 209.6
3 3 2.3700 First 208.6
4 2 2.3650 First 209.0
She took first in Open Adult. She used the same design that my daughter did with the basic template. Weighted the same and front wheel raised.
And, then there was mine (sad trombone sound):
Race # Lane # Time Place Speed (mph)
1 2 2.4090 Third 205.2
2 1 2.4470 Third 202.0
3 4 2.4090 Second 205.2
4 3 2.4130 Third 204.9
I came in fifth, but really not by much. I threw caution to the wind with mine, moved my wheelbase back and instead of using the same weight placement my son used, I moved the front weight back closer to the weight in front of the axle. It did not perform as well as the others. I got smoked. But, I was experimenting and in the end, I'm good with that. They did fantastic!
And I will never, EVER move my weights that far back to center them around the axle. These wedges and the weight placements for them proved to me that it's not just getting it as far back as you can. Even though the balance points were pretty close, they all had the exact same body designs and the exact same prep work on wheels and axles (I just polished the bores of the wheels, nothing else and axles were sanded down to 1500 grit wet sand). And I used the sample of [no advertising for this vendor] that I received last year on all of them. We really ran out of time this year so the kids didn't get to really do anything crazy. When it came down to it, I told them that this was what they had to use if they wanted to get cars in for the race. And how quick is drilling 3 weight holes, 4 axle holes and making one cut and sanding it flat? Really quick.
Well, ok, we also drilled 4 holes underneath for glueing the axles in, too. So I put my money where my mouth was and we outperformed all of my expectations. Well, most of the cars did (but I know now not to play around and just use what I know). These were the most absolute simplest car designs and weight placements and they did awesome! Although, I think there was a petition being drawn up to ban us from next years race.
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Whata great photo ! Thanks for sharing.
Seth
Seth
"Nunchuk skills... bowhunting skills... pinewood derby skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!"
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite
-
whodathunkit
- Pine Head Legend
- Posts: 2477
- Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:56 pm
- Location: Forgan, OK
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Way to go..Team Oddzilla. 
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Again, lightning in a bottle!
My son made it to Districts this year for the first time and even though he first said he didn't want to go, we still signed him up.
Just got back from the rank races and his car took 1st place in each of his races AND he at first got the track record for his rank and each race, he was beating his previous speed and time. So 4 records in a row and he took first place.
So now it's off to the finals at 4:30 against the top 3 from the other ranks. One of the Webelos II cars broke 3 second on this track. I think it's a 35 footer so it's a bit longer than our packs. That car was moving!
And no, I didn't write down his times or speed. I do know that he was going, on average, over 250MPH in each race and almost broke 3 seconds. I think I saw a 3.010. I hope to be able to get them later but I was just so excited that his car kept out-performing itself in each race.
So now, since he was in the top 10, he gets to go to the Grand Championship next weekend against the other 3 district races (north, east, west and south divisions) and if he places in the top 3, he'll get the change to race in a special pinewood derby race at the Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Ilse against people like Roger Penske and the CEO of Ford Motor Company. How cool is that?
http://blog.thedetroithub.com/2013/04/1 ... ood-derby/" target="_blank
I'll update this evening. So proud of my little guy!
My son made it to Districts this year for the first time and even though he first said he didn't want to go, we still signed him up.
Just got back from the rank races and his car took 1st place in each of his races AND he at first got the track record for his rank and each race, he was beating his previous speed and time. So 4 records in a row and he took first place.
So now it's off to the finals at 4:30 against the top 3 from the other ranks. One of the Webelos II cars broke 3 second on this track. I think it's a 35 footer so it's a bit longer than our packs. That car was moving!
And no, I didn't write down his times or speed. I do know that he was going, on average, over 250MPH in each race and almost broke 3 seconds. I think I saw a 3.010. I hope to be able to get them later but I was just so excited that his car kept out-performing itself in each race.
So now, since he was in the top 10, he gets to go to the Grand Championship next weekend against the other 3 district races (north, east, west and south divisions) and if he places in the top 3, he'll get the change to race in a special pinewood derby race at the Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Ilse against people like Roger Penske and the CEO of Ford Motor Company. How cool is that?
http://blog.thedetroithub.com/2013/04/1 ... ood-derby/" target="_blank
I'll update this evening. So proud of my little guy!
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Well, he came in 8th overall. Top 3 were all extended wheelbase with tungsten weights. The physics just wasn't on my sons cars side with a stock setup.
He did good, though. Had fun, took it like a boss was proud of himself.
That's all I can hope for.
He did good, though. Had fun, took it like a boss was proud of himself.
That's all I can hope for.
Last edited by Oddzilla on Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Still fabulous results, Oddzilla. Congrats to your son and your family.
Also, I think you meant tungsten, not titanium. That would be some really expensive weighting material.
Paul
Also, I think you meant tungsten, not titanium. That would be some really expensive weighting material.
Paul
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FatSebastian
- Pine Head Legend
- Posts: 2819
- Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:49 pm
- Location: Boogerton, PA
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
Ooooooh, titanium!Oddzilla wrote:Top 3 were all extended wheelbase with titanium weights.
pgosselin wrote:I think you meant tungsten, not titanium.
That's the important thing. Congratulations!Oddzilla wrote:He did good, though. Had fun, took it like a boss was proud of himself.
Re: Basic starter template for new scouts and parents
heh, I honestly did not notice I put titanium instead of tungsten.
Yes, yes... Tungsten...
Well, he made it to the grand championship for our council. He ended up taking second in rank for Webelos I and was edged out of first place by .0004 by another car if you can believe it.
But, in the finals, he raced three times head to head with the car that took first in his rank and he beat it all three times.
he ended up 7th overall. He took 3 first places and 1 second place but there were some cars that were just faster. But not many.
Not bad for a car with no canted or bent axles or a rail rider or TUNGSTEN weights or wheels that were sanded perfectly flat and looked like mirrors. Again, some things not allowed in our pack. And not a dig on the other cars, ours are just restricted with some things. But I'm going to try and change that so our scouts have a better chance in the future. And since my son isn't racing anymore, no one can say I'm doing it to benefit him.
Yes, yes... Tungsten...
Well, he made it to the grand championship for our council. He ended up taking second in rank for Webelos I and was edged out of first place by .0004 by another car if you can believe it.
But, in the finals, he raced three times head to head with the car that took first in his rank and he beat it all three times.
he ended up 7th overall. He took 3 first places and 1 second place but there were some cars that were just faster. But not many.
Not bad for a car with no canted or bent axles or a rail rider or TUNGSTEN weights or wheels that were sanded perfectly flat and looked like mirrors. Again, some things not allowed in our pack. And not a dig on the other cars, ours are just restricted with some things. But I'm going to try and change that so our scouts have a better chance in the future. And since my son isn't racing anymore, no one can say I'm doing it to benefit him.
