Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Show off your cool vehicle designs and track burning speedsters!
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roosclan
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Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Post by roosclan »

Well, with son #3 crossing over to Boy Scouts, Roosclan Racing is down to 1 member this year. Son #4, Seth, is a Wolf this year, and after winning champion in Pack and District and taking 1st in Tigers at Council and 4th overall, he decided that he wanted a different kind of car from last year -- which looked like a car. His comment this year was "I want to go thin for the win!"

So, after scouring the interwebs and getting ideas he came up with Arrowhead:
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I was looking for airbrushing techniques to try on my scale model cars, and he saw a youtube video on doing a water droplet effect and fell in love with it. It is amazingly easy to do if you have an airbrush, and a spray can will work if you have the fine-spray nozzle and turn it horizontally.

My son's den leader is a local orthodontist, and while his hands work magic on teeth, they didn't do PWD well at all. Our boys are in the same den, and his son finished last in almost every heat last year because he didn't know how to help his son build a car. He asked me this year if I would help him so that his son would not finish last (didn't ask for help to build a winning car -- just so his son didn't finish last. Typical genuine humility for this guy). He's a really nice guy, and our boys both seem to suffer from ADHD, so it was a challenge to keep them on task. Each time they came over to my garage he was so patient with his son and drew him in to work on his own car as much as he could (when an 8y.o. has a friend to run around the garage with, it can be hard, though). I taught him not only the basic physics, but the finer points as well, and we set up a 3-wheel rail rider with finely polished axles (on his dental lathe at work!) and a CoM at 7/8".

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I gave his son free reign of my paint supply, so he picked some purple-to-green color shifting paint for his flames. He did an excellent job sanding and spraying the Duplicolor black on, and even did well with my airbrush. We had to hollow out the car a lot and covered the bottom with some packing tape, but in the end, I think he'll give my son a run for his money instead of "just not last."
Last edited by roosclan on Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tempus fugit. Frater, memento mori.
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sporty
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013

Post by sporty »

Look really nice. I hope they run well.


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Noskills
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013

Post by Noskills »

Both look great. I love the water drops. Will look for that bideo on YouTube. Also like your son's name

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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013

Post by MOFAST »

It's feels good to help someone that is a "good guy" and appreciates it and you don't feel taken advantage of.

We had a large batch of parents this year that wanted a lot of help with cars, but were not appreciative of what you put into it. We do a couple workshops each year and the parents that just want some advice and are respectful get a lot more help than the rude ones. I had parents get into my shut tool box and start using tools without asking and left them laying scattered around. :burningmad: Now, I lock it.

I know what you mean about the boys getting together in the garage and then wanting to play. My neighbor is a fellow scout leader and derby enthusiast. Our boys also like to play around and it's sometimes hard to get them to participate. It's just kids! Sometimes us adults get together to do a project together (help build a deck or swing set) and the next thing you know there is 15 kids in the yard and we are all playing football. :oops:

The cars look great! I commend you for helping out the father/son, good deeds bring good returns!
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013

Post by rpcarpe »

Nice cars!

Helping others to help their boys will always pay off.
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roosclan
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013

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Well, since I'm up with the toddler at this ridiculous hour, I might as well post the results of our pack race, along with the "Salt Flats Race" which was a district-wide race for all scouts (the official district race for pack winners is in April).

Seth did very well, even though his car was not as fast as last year's car. He consistently ran 3.021 - 3.040 with two runs on the slow lane of 3.055 and 3.074 or so. Neither race was particularly close, although some heats had a couple cars nipping at his back wheels.

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Yeah, he's happy:
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They ran the Salt Flats Race a little differently:
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My camera battery gave out before they awarded the trophies, so I'll have to get that picture later.
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Post by MOFAST »

Wow! Fantastic Job! Great times too! I bet he was jumping up and down! Looks like a cool race.
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Post by sporty »

Awesome,

Cool, racing in the dark with those lights, thats neat-o. big time. Look like you all were way ahead of the rest, thats huge gaps I see there.

Dont be downed, due to a little slower then last year, could simply be how the track was set back up again.
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Post by Speedster »

CONGRATULATIONS to your team. Job Well Done.
I've been looking at the other cars. Some seem to have an extended wheelbase or are they simply short cars. Several of the entrants in a race I helped with yesterday had Revell cars and they were all 6" in length. I'm just curious about your rules.
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Re: Roosclan Racing 2013 -- update 3/3

Post by roosclan »

sporty wrote:Awesome,

Cool, racing in the dark with those lights, thats neat-o. big time. Look like you all were way ahead of the rest, thats huge gaps I see there.
There were even bigger gaps at times, and two cars were closer -- about half a car length.
Dont be downed, due to a little slower then last year, could simply be how the track was set back up again.
I'm not down at all. Our CoM wasn't quite as aggressive as last year, and we reused wheels off of his brother's champion car, so there could have been some wheel bore looseness involved as well. My goal for him was to have fun building and racing, and to hopefully improve his car from last year. His speed didn't increase, but his quality of work sure did, so I'm happy. He won, so he's happy.

Speedster wrote:CONGRATULATIONS to your team. Job Well Done.
I've been looking at the other cars. Some seem to have an extended wheelbase or are they simply short cars. Several of the entrants in a race I helped with yesterday had Revell cars and they were all 6" in length. I'm just curious about your rules.
Our rules are very strict. 4 3/8" axle spacing, and they interpreted that to mean the axle slots had to be used (even though the rules don't specify that). The white car in the photo was shorter than the other cars. It looks like they cut it down to make it seem like an extended wheelbase.
Tempus fugit. Frater, memento mori.
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