Pinewood Display Stands with Matching Trophies

[ah8tk]

In order not to take over Randy’s post about Display Stands, Randy’s post, where he made a great little stand for the Cub Scouts in his derby. I have started this new post.

After seeing all the posts with cool display stands I decided to design my own. Then someone posted about the trophies that a car can sit on so I decided to combine the two (for next year). This is what I came up with:




I ordered some parts to make a couple of samples from TrophyParts, they were very easy to deal with. I was not sure if they could print 2 logos on their trophy labels (like I wanted to do), so I emailed them right after I had placed the order, before I received the receipt for my order I had an email back “Sure, we can make them like that”.

Then I received order status update emails as the order moved through their operation. Within 2 days (business days, as I had ordered Friday after work) my order was on its way to me. I received my order 1 week after I placed the order, great customer service, in my opinion.

I purchased some select clear pine and made some bases and tops for the stands (of course I messed up the first couple of tops so I cut others out of some scrap pine I had around, that is why the tops are not clear pine in the pictures).






I think they came out looking good. I am planning to add some non slip foam tape to the top of the stand (I would not want someone’s car to fall off the top, while they were carrying it around on top of the stand). Or adding some wood stops to the ends.

The pricing I came up with (in quantity) is $4.00 for the stand and $8.15 for the 1st place trophy (the 2nd and 3rd place will be somewhat less because of less materials in the column).

If anyone wants to make stands like this PM me and I can email the plans, with part numbers, also I am planning to put together a document with some pictures on how I made these sometime real soon.

[gpraceman]

Those turned out very nice!

[Randy and Son]

Brilliant! Really great idea.

Most of the time the car just sits beside the trophy, but having it be part of trophy is pretty clever.

Randy

[dna1990]

I like, I like.

Did you cut the angle on the top of the column stock, or did the trophy company? Assuming you, what was the technique and how easy...?

[gpraceman]

You may want to do away with the "wheel ledges". You could add a stop on the front, between the wheels to help restrain the car in addition to some non-slip strip along the "belly strip".

Currently, it seems like the car will be resting on its wheels. Over time, as kids play with the cars, wheels can become loose (like my kids' old cars), so the car may not be restrained well enough.

[ah8tk]

The column stock is a 48” long piece, they were cut down by me. The angle was cut with a miter saw with probably a 60 tooth blade (I'm guessing), set the angle at 20 degrees and cut relatively slow and it comes out looking good. I use a miter saw to cut plastic piping cleanly all the time.

[TexasScoutMom]

Those are awesome! I love them!!! I made a bunch of trophies for a charity pageant a group of mine held about four years ago. I still have about a half dozen two foot long trophy columns, and a bunch of marble bases. The columns are slender tubes, though. I wonder if they would work for something like this???

You have a great price, though. I may contact you when our Derby rolls around next year to get some awards for our race! Great job in building these!!!

Teresa

[gpraceman]

I do like the idea of saving money by getting trophies in kit form. Having the ability to build custom trophies, as you did, is very cool too.

[Darin McGrew]

You may want to do away with the "wheel ledges".

FWIW, I like the wheel ledges. I think it looks more like a normal derby track, which makes the car look like it's racing, rather than floating in mid-air.

[gpraceman]

FWIW, I like the wheel ledges. I think it looks more like a normal derby track, which makes the car look like it's racing, rather than floating in mid-air.

That is true. I was thinking in terms of keeping the car secure, if the axles become loose. Maybe a bit of a lip on the lower wheel ledge would suffice. Don't get me wrong, I love these combo trophies/display stands.

[ah8tk]

I presented my ideas for the trophies and participant stands to our parents committee last Wednesday. I had two completed participant stands and one 1st place trophy for showing. I had the detailed plans, drawings of the parent / sibling trophy, drawings of the grand champion trophy and a spreadsheet detailing what we paid this year (2009) what I felt we would need for next year and the cost associated with all. Everyone seemed up for the idea (to bring the trophy production in house), and having the Webelos assembling the trophies. Until one of the parents said something like, what do we tell the people the following year, when we go back to just having the standard trophies? My son will be a Webelos II next year, so we will be moving on (but I am sure we will still be building some cars, and attending his current pack’s Pinewood Derby). I did not have an answer to this inquiry. Finally another one of the parents said “we will just tell them that someone stepped up and volunteered to make the trophies, we are looking for someone to take on the duties”. After this it was passed that I will be manufacturing the trophies and stands.

I have changed the labels (to match Randy’s) and added “I did my best”, which is a great thing to keep on the scouts minds; before, during and after the derby.


All of the plates for the trophies, and the plate for the participant stand (top)




After the meeting the same guy that brought up the question asked me if he could get one of the participant stands ( I truly do not think he was trying to derail my idea). He is great at getting donations for whatever the pack needs, he was going to go to some lumberyards and home care centers and show the stands and inquire about donations of clear pine (or any other things we may possibly need) to complete the stands. So I guess we are on…

[dna1990]

That comment about 'next year' is very interesting - I actually wrote half a reply to this thread several weeks back, but deleted it.

It had to do with that exact question. And not just with trophies, or even PWD - but anything where 'passing it on' to the next voluntold(teer) could' handle it' without specific wood, computer, or people skills, etc.

My question was going to be - 'is it bad to set a higher standard that may be hard to keep going, and is consistency a better choice at times'. I decided not to post, because I didn't want to know the answer.

I work in IT and support-ability 'over time' is something that goes into a value equation when developing a piece of software. Sometimes 'plain' is a better choice for the long run. I can see that in a typical scout pack too.

But at the same time, it seems so anti-Scouts, anti-American, anti-Do Your Best....if you or I can whip up a cool trophy or PWD race feature...why should we hold ourselves back? It may be just the inspiration that someone else needs to spawn an even better idea.

Kinda veering off the thread here, but what does everyone think and have seen occur in past 'hand offs' from year to year?


Those trophies are indeed way cool. In fact the new DT website should have a smiley made to look like one of them.

[gpraceman]

Kinda veering off the thread here, but what does everyone think and have seen occur in past 'hand offs' from year to year?

Personally, on trophies, I would say go for it. If the next person running the race can't make them up, that is not a big deal since they can always purchase regular trophies. They have an easy enough fall back. Either that or ah8tk needs to start selling these.

Those trophies are indeed way cool. In fact the new DT website should have a smiley made to look like one of them.

Well, maybe not just like ah8tk's cool trophies, but there are these smilies that I found. lol

[ah8tk]

My question was going to be - 'is it bad to set a higher standard that may be hard to keep going, and is consistency a better choice at times'. I decided not to post, because I didn't want to know the answer.

I work in IT and support-ability 'over time' is something that goes into a value equation when developing a piece of software. Sometimes 'plain' is a better choice for the long run. I can see that in a typical scout pack too.

But at the same time, it seems so anti-Scouts, anti-American, anti-Do Your Best....if you or I can whip up a cool trophy or PWD race feature...why should we hold ourselves back? It may be just the inspiration that someone else needs to spawn an even better idea.

If the conversation, concerning what are we going to do the year after, kept going in the wrong direction, I was going to make a comment kind of like this “then the rest of the pack can have the traditional trophies, but I am going to make these trophies and participant stands for the Webelos II, and it will not cost the pack anything” (we are currently the biggest group of boys in the pack). Then others could answer the question “why didn’t we get one of those?”

I don’t know how to answer the question of how to keep the different aspects of scouts going in the packs. People of various skill levels come and go, and a lot of them don’t want to do anything to help the pack advance, (where is that soapbox smiley). In our many discussions about this very subject during our committee meeting, we have come up that some of the most talented (volunteers) just need to be prodded and asked repeatedly and then they are willing to help out. I was one of these people, I would go to the pack meetings, and maybe some of the den meetings, while my wife volunteered to be the den leader and would attend the committee meetings (and come home and tell me all about it). But some of the most vocal volunteers that come out and say they are going to change this and do that, do not ever complete any tasks.

Either that or ah8tk needs to start selling these.

Wouldn’t that be against the commercial advertising policy? Just kidding, I would not like to spend too much time making trophies for others. But I sure can help if someone would like to make these for their pack.

[ah8tk]

I received the approval to build the trophies for our pack this year. In mid December I ordered the parts and started to cut the bases and tops from pine (what else would you use for the pinewood derby). I ordered the trophy parts from TrophyKits. After I placed my order I was still looking for a Big Rig trophy figure for our Big Rig race. I found a trophy on eBay, that had a semi truck on it and I sent an e-mail to the seller to see if I could purchase just the trophy figure.

I remembered seeing something on the TrophyKits.com website “However some items may not currently enabled for online purchase”, so I called their 800 number and the person who answered said they had an 18 wheeler figure. He said he would e-mail me a picture of the figure, I described what I had seen on eBay and he said it seemed like the same truck so I had him add one to my order (for $2.80). The eBay seller e-mailed me 3 days later and said he could sell me a figure for $4.00 plus shipping, I emailed them back and said I already purchased the figure from another online retailer. TrophyKits was very easy to deal with I would highly recommend them to anyone.

I wanted the 1st - 3rd place trophies to have the rank on the trophy label. So I figured that I would have to pay $1.50 each, for them (that is the price for 1 to 9 labels). When I placed the order I got all of the labels for $1.00 each (apparently because I had ordered over 25 labels). That saved a lot of money.

It was decided to build 15 place trophies and 18 participant trophies. Out of an 8 foot board I can get 13 bases or tops cut. While cutting I decided to keep the cut pieces together so we could match up bases and tops made from the same board (keeping the grain patterns together).



The boards were then run through the table saw for the other cuts, making sure to keep the tops and bases from the same board together…



Then the bases are moved to the drill press for the drilling operations…







And then the angled hole is drilled into the tops…



Then it is back to the shop for some sanding, vacuuming and sealing of the boards…







When the polyurethane was dry, my son Noah sorted the boards into sets of tops and bottoms…





Then using another jig installing the labels onto the bases…



Installing the threaded inserts into the bottom of the bases…



And installing the foam tape to the top of the trophy tops (this stuff really sticks, if you make a mistake it does not easily peel off)



Then, being these are to be assembled by the Webelos, I wrapped the matching tops and bases in paper to transport to the school to be assembled.





I cut the 4’ columns for the trophies and the participant stands…



And cut the threaded rod to length…



Here are the parts for a participant stand (the parts were individually bagged so they could grab a base/top and a bag of parts and assemble a participant stand).



And the parts for a rank 1st - 3rd trophy…



At the den meeting The Webelo IIs built the place trophies and the Webelo Is built the participant stands…



Using the foot attachment and the label jig…









The bottom “assembled by” sticker attached.



Now the trophies are done for our PWD on January 30th, now back to building cars and Big Rigs…