2013 Pinewood Derby Cars

[PinewoodTopia]

Well it has been awhile, but here are this years Derby. This is our last one, my youngest ages out in 1 month, and it has been one hell of a ride. We have cumulatively amassed almost 50 cars in the last 9 years, lots of great times and memories to lat a lifetime. Hope you like the 2013 edition of our cars.

My oldest son's car


My yougest's car


My Car (such that it is)

[pgosselin]

Excellent craftsmanship. So Ghostbusters is still popular with the younger set? I remember seeing it in the theater during high school.

Paul

[Darin McGrew]

Wow... Those are some nice designs. (Yes, even the BLOCK, such that it is.) Thanks for sharing!

[birddog]

I am continually amazed at the cleverness I see in so many different car designs. How do you come up with these ideas, much less turn them into cool looking cars?

birddog

[PinewoodTopia]

thank you for the complimants. Yes ghostbuster is timeless, as is the 59 caddie ambulance. The ideas come from a number of sources, mostlyit is what the boys want to do, but also some are drivien by the moment when we are starting the build, as an example, we did a gator car, as a kind of memorial for Steve Irwin when he passed. we have found that there is not alot that is impossible, with good planning, and being able to "see" things for other than what they are, outside the box thinking. helps. we have really tried to stir creativity in our pack, and i sincerely hope that it continues long after we depart. I will miss this outlet to be creative with my boys, it has been a blast for us all.

[rpcarpe]

Nice cars!

I'll have to make a 'Block' car, I'll probably thin it down... an ironic block?!

[PinewoodTopia]

i always told myself i wouldnt do a block, as it just felt like it lacked creativity, however this year time got away from me so i did what i could to make it somewhat creative, so to speak

[whodathunkit]

Whoda's gonna call.. Cool cars PinewoodTopia.

[dubldart340]

I thought I would tag onto this thread with pics of our family's cars for 2013. This is my first post, but I have been reading the board for over a year. Thanks to what I have learned here, my son's green wedge, which he built 90%+ on his own, won our packs family fun/test-n-tune race back in November. He is all ready to go for the official pack race next month, but I figure the competition will be tougher. His twin brother's car, the blue convertible, which he also built mostly himself, is a bit behind, but we will get it tuned up. My wife's blue coupe didn't fair as well, but it was a rush build. My version of my own real life Dart ran fantastic. I didn't enter it, as I was running the race, but when i had a few grudge races, it was unbeaten and the crowd loved it. I hope everyone likes our cars as much as we liked building and racing them. Thanks for the help, even if you didn't know you were giving it.



Here is a picture of last years cars too, built with help from the site. The two Generals were the twins' cars. They were Wolf den winner and runner up and the General Lee went on to runner-up in the District Open Class. The General Grant made it to the Semi's in the main District Wolf class. The black Rat-Rod was my entry in the Parent's class, which only had one other car, so we didn't actually have a race.



Thanks,
Dave

[PinewoodTopia]

You have some great cars there, and the right perspective on the derby, enjoy it, it goes by fast, 9 years and 50 cars went by like that

[Mr. Steve 316]

We still have this year and next year. 17 cars in so far, still enjoying the ride. A lot of nice cars on this post. That Ghostbuster car is outstanding! Did you have to remove material to get to 5 oz? Our District race last year featured a local charity group that dress up like the Ghostbusters and had the car and everything. That car would have been a huge hit.

[PinewoodTopia]

Thanks for the compliments. We have always tried to push the creativity of our cars for 2 reasons, 1. my sons like what they like, and it aint wedges or thin cars, 2. we used this as a platform to hopefully inspire the scouts to take time on their cars, think outside the box if you will, and have value in the creating/building of the car, the experience of problem solving, overcoming obsticles they run into, ending up with a carthat they value more than any trophy, and memories that they will value later on down the road. The ghost buster car was in our sibling class, so it got an additional ounce, and the rack on the top had to be removed to make weight, but yes i had to do some creative "hallowing" to get to weight, especially since i did not use balsa for the sides, to ensure strength of the tail fins.

[ciodude]

Very cool! Ecto1 is on my long list of potential future projects.

[PinewoodTopia]

thanks you. Oe i havent gotten to yet is a side car chopper, got it planned out, drawn up, just havent done it yet

[ciodude]

I have seen a few of those done. On my list, in a similar vein, is to try my hand at a light cycle from Tron. Too many ideas and not enough time!