Team Vitamin K 2015 Lineup/Progress

[DerbyAddicted]

First, you need to change the name to "Pretty Penny".

I think from a sturdiness aspect, you should be fine, especially if you make your pennies a "solid unit" via glue or epoxy.

[Vitamin K]

First, you need to change the name to "Pretty Penny".

How's about "Penny Dreadful"? Ultimately, the boy will call it whatever he wants. Earlier, he said he wanted to call his car, "Up."

I think from a sturdiness aspect, you should be fine, especially if you make your pennies a "solid unit" via glue or epoxy.

This was along my line of thinking, too. Wonderful stuff, epoxy.

[Noskills]

Speed and economy. I love it!
Noskills

[Vitamin K]

Penny Dreadful is coming along. Managed to cut the body without cracking the wood due to the holes routed out for the pennies. Did need a little epoxy in the rear, but I think it'll be okay.



CoM appears to be about 1" right now, which is probably okay for a penny-powered car. Might get it down a hair lower after I cut out the holes in the front of the car.

Incidentally, I think it would be fun to have a race division in which pennies were the only allowed ballast, to see what some of the pinewood wizards could cook up. Could you get sub-3 seconds with a penny racer?

[Vitamin K]

Penny Dreadful continues! Did some work with the older kids on their cars, too, and will hopefully have some more pics soon.

Decided not to use the coping saw (couldn't cope, y'all) for the angles on the rear canopy and just marked the lines and went at it with a sanding block. You can't see it in the picture, but what I did was to put a single penny in the center of each weight 'tunnel' and epoxy it into place. I feel better about pressing down on the canopy now, with the pennies in the middle.



I've marked out the wood removal locations in the front. Will be interested in seeing what the CoM gets to when I weigh it again.

Edit:

Sneak another pic in here...went ahead and cut out the inner wood removals and the front end. Haven't rebalanced it yet, but it weight 1.27 oz, if you compensate for the three pennies already expoxied inside.

[sporty]

coming along really nice.

I bet he cant keep his hands off of it.

[whodathunkit]

Coin Operated?
Man there go's all the bubble gum money! lol!
Ok.. I just had to say it Vitamin K, Nice Job on this car build!

[Vitamin K]

Glued the rest of the pennies inside and added wooden 'plugs' on the ends of the weight bores. Now all that's left is a little wood filler and a lot of sanding. Boy howdy do I wish I'd bought that belt sander about now..



Once this is done, I'll probably hit it with a primer coat and then let the two year old paint it however he likes...

[Vitamin K]

Got to spend some time with the older kids in the workshop this evening. Got the rear fenders for my son's car cut (he doesn't want the fronts anymore) and got 1.5 of the fenders cut for my daughter's car.

I'm getting better about cutting delicate pieces of balsa now. Thanks for the tips, Whoda.

Image didn't come out so great. Yay, cellphone cam.



Getting about to where I need to do weight additions, so I need to make some molds to pour some lead. Whee. That's always...interesting.

[whodathunkit]

I'm getting better about cutting delicate pieces of balsa now.
Thanks for the tips, Whoda.

Your welcome Vitamin K
Keep shareing the build photos will ya.. the car is looking good.

[Noskills]

Vit K,
They all look great. Very creative penny racer. What's your COM now?
Noskills

[Vitamin K]

It's actually still sitting around 1". I'm not sure if I mis-measured last time, or if when I angled the sides (to keep the canted rears from rubbing), I reduced the weight pocket enough to move the CoM forward.

Either way, I'm leaving it alone. 1" is respectable enough, IMO, especially given the poor man's ballast.

Vit K,
They all look great. Very creative penny racer. What's your COM now?
Noskills

[Vitamin K]

So I "lost" my two year old's car for a little while this afternoon. All we knew was that my son had been playing with it before bedtime, but couldn't figure out where he'd put it.

Eventually, I found it...at the bottom of his toy box.



Probably good that I'm not doing alignment until the final step.

[whodathunkit]

Vitamin K,
Is your son going to cover up the open holes or do a balsa fill or something?

It's takeing shape and I'm looking foward to seeing what he will do for the paint job on the car.

[Vitamin K]

We're leaving them open. Might pick up a little wind drag, but I've decided that his car will be as simple as possible.

No idea on how the final paints will look. I'll put on a primer coat, and then he gets to do whatever else he wants to do with with the acrylics. Might look...unique.

Vitamin K,
Is your son going to cover up the open holes or do a balsa fill or something?

It's takeing shape and I'm looking foward to seeing what he will do for the paint job on the car.