It was a good weekend, until....

[HM]

MONDAY - which meant the weekend was over!!!!
My son's Cub Scout Pack had their PineWood Derby this weekend, and he took 1st in his Den and 1st in the Pack (which means he was 1st overall). Our track is a little different from traditional, but we had the next car beat by .15 seconds averaging 3.85 seconds (traditional tracks will see times below 3 seconds, and some get below 2.5 seconds). And, he is a Tiger Cub - the youngest of the cub scouts.
I got accused of cheating because I had told people about how we tuned the axels and wheels. The lame parents didn't even bother to read the BSA(Boy Scouts of America) rules as they actually tell you that not only is tuning/modifications legal, but that all parents/kids should do tuning/modifications beyond car shape and weight placement! There are some modifications that fall into a grey area and the Rule Book says the local Pack should establish these rules, but I stayed away from those modifications (wheel base, lightened wheels, raising/lowering axel heights and a few other things) as we had no local rules. One main reason for 'tuning' the wheels and axels is because the wheels and axels are not very consistent and have defects that cause the cars to be slow. One parent, who waited until the night before to build his car, came in with a car that didn't even make it down the track. I volunteered to help tune his car, and with some glue, proper axel spacing, slightly different weight placement, and dry lube....his son ended up 2nd in his den. He was obviously a supporter of mine after I fixed his car in about 2 minutes.
We passed all inspections without exception and we were even a tad light (4.9 oz). Some parents said that parents like me take the sport out of the race as we make unfairly fast cars. Reality was that we only had a couple more hours into our car, and my son really enjoyed the "fine tuning" and that we had "speed secrets". It is not like I have a practice track or anything - but I will next year!!! Wait until we smoke them by more than a half second!
Here is the tuning we did:
Straightened the axels
Squared the heads of the axels
Flared the heads of the axels (this step was done simultaneously with squaring)
Groove the axels to hold dry lubricant
Polished the axels
Removed the injection molding mark on the wheels
Cleaned, polished, and trued the inside of the hubs (center of wheels)
Trued the roundness of the wheels
Trued the inside edge of both the wheel and hub
Coned the inside of the hub so that less of the hub rubbed the body
Coned the outside of the hub so that less of the axel head rubbed the hub
Fully lubed the axel wheel assembly with a dry lube prior to assembly and again after assembly.
The above tuning did take some specialized tools, but nothing $100 bucks and a google search on "pinewood derby" can't get the average joe. My son is 6 and will have many derbies in his future. I also have a 4 year old boy and another boy due in June....so by the time we are done with derbies, we will have spent more money on pizza during the builds than we did on tools.
My son was so stoked to win. But, he was upset that people accused us of cheating, and I had to show him the rule book where it states that what we did was legal and ENCOURAGED. And these parents said that parents like "me" take the fun out of these events? Funny thing was that many of the kids wanted to know his secrets and thought it was really cool. Only the parents were actually upset.

[Debbolas]

We always enjoyed our Pine Wood Derby. Our kids LOVED making their own cars. Dremel tools, paint, and we used the rod & wheels & graphite.:D

[HM]

We always enjoyed our Pine Wood Derby. Our kids LOVED making their own cars. Dremel tools, paint, and we used the rod & wheels & graphite.:D
We bought a pre-cut car (that still used the BSA block and axel slots) as I don't have any good wood cutting tools and my son is only 6. We were informed that pre-cut cars were o.k. My son picked out the car style (funny car) and he had to sand it. I also bought a little fake engine, fake side pipes, and a spoiler. He chose the placement of the accesories. We didn't paint ours, but used the decals you put on with water. He also got "Best Use of Color" award but they gave these types of awards to every cub.
Did I mention that there were 37 entries?

[Chubby4Life]

MONDAY - which meant the weekend was over!!!!
My son's Cub Scout Pack had their PineWood Derby this weekend, and he took 1st in his Den and 1st in the Pack (which means he was 1st overall). Our track is a little different from traditional, but we had the next car beat by .15 seconds averaging 3.85 seconds (traditional tracks will see times below 3 seconds, and some get below 2.5 seconds). And, he is a Tiger Cub - the youngest of the cub scouts.
I got accused of cheating because I had told people about how we tuned the axels and wheels. The lame parents didn't even bother to read the BSA(Boy Scouts of America) rules as they actually tell you that not only is tuning/modifications legal, but that all parents/kids should do tuning/modifications beyond car shape and weight placement! There are some modifications that fall into a grey area and the Rule Book says the local Pack should establish these rules, but I stayed away from those modifications (wheel base, lightened wheels, raising/lowering axel heights and a few other things) as we had no local rules. One main reason for 'tuning' the wheels and axels is because the wheels and axels are not very consistent and have defects that cause the cars to be slow. One parent, who waited until the night before to build his car, came in with a car that didn't even make it down the track. I volunteered to help tune his car, and with some glue, proper axel spacing, slightly different weight placement, and dry lube....his son ended up 2nd in his den. He was obviously a supporter of mine after I fixed his car in about 2 minutes.
We passed all inspections without exception and we were even a tad light (4.9 oz). Some parents said that parents like me take the sport out of the race as we make unfairly fast cars. Reality was that we only had a couple more hours into our car, and my son really enjoyed the "fine tuning" and that we had "speed secrets". It is not like I have a practice track or anything - but I will next year!!! Wait until we smoke them by more than a half second!
Here is the tuning we did:
Straightened the axels
Squared the heads of the axels
Flared the heads of the axels (this step was done simultaneously with squaring)
Groove the axels to hold dry lubricant
Polished the axels
Removed the injection molding mark on the wheels
Cleaned, polished, and trued the inside of the hubs (center of wheels)
Trued the roundness of the wheels
Trued the inside edge of both the wheel and hub
Coned the inside of the hub so that less of the hub rubbed the body
Coned the outside of the hub so that less of the axel head rubbed the hub
Fully lubed the axel wheel assembly with a dry lube prior to assembly and again after assembly.
The above tuning did take some specialized tools, but nothing $100 bucks and a google search on "pinewood derby" can't get the average joe. My son is 6 and will have many derbies in his future. I also have a 4 year old boy and another boy due in June....so by the time we are done with derbies, we will have spent more money on pizza during the builds than we did on tools.
My son was so stoked to win. But, he was upset that people accused us of cheating, and I had to show him the rule book where it states that what we did was legal and ENCOURAGED. And these parents said that parents like "me" take the fun out of these events? Funny thing was that many of the kids wanted to know his secrets and thought it was really cool. Only the parents were actually upset.
When I was in scouts (80's) the only rule on record that I remember was "no engine's":D I sure do miss BSA.

[Debbolas]

We bought a pre-cut car (that still used the BSA block and axel slots) as I don't have any good wood cutting tools and my son is only 6. We were informed that pre-cut cars were o.k. My son picked out the car style (funny car) and he had to sand it. I also bought a little fake engine, fake side pipes, and a spoiler. He chose the placement of the accesories. We didn't paint ours, but used the decals you put on with water. He also got "Best Use of Color" award but they gave these types of awards to every cub.
Did I mention that there were 37 entries?
Wow, you belong to a big pack :D
It's a fun time, too bad some of the parents had to "spoil" it. This should be an exercise in fun and good sportsmanship. :rolleyes:

[Jrocket]

Very nice HM,looks like you and your son had some great quality time together.Great way to end it all with a nice trophy too.Its good to be a proud Dad.

[RiverDave]

MONDAY - which meant the weekend was over!!!!
My son's Cub Scout Pack had their PineWood Derby this weekend, and he took 1st in his Den and 1st in the Pack (which means he was 1st overall). Our track is a little different from traditional, but we had the next car beat by .15 seconds averaging 3.85 seconds (traditional tracks will see times below 3 seconds, and some get below 2.5 seconds). And, he is a Tiger Cub - the youngest of the cub scouts.
I got accused of cheating because I had told people about how we tuned the axels and wheels. The lame parents didn't even bother to read the BSA(Boy Scouts of America) rules as they actually tell you that not only is tuning/modifications legal, but that all parents/kids should do tuning/modifications beyond car shape and weight placement! There are some modifications that fall into a grey area and the Rule Book says the local Pack should establish these rules, but I stayed away from those modifications (wheel base, lightened wheels, raising/lowering axel heights and a few other things) as we had no local rules. One main reason for 'tuning' the wheels and axels is because the wheels and axels are not very consistent and have defects that cause the cars to be slow. One parent, who waited until the night before to build his car, came in with a car that didn't even make it down the track. I volunteered to help tune his car, and with some glue, proper axel spacing, slightly different weight placement, and dry lube....his son ended up 2nd in his den. He was obviously a supporter of mine after I fixed his car in about 2 minutes.
We passed all inspections without exception and we were even a tad light (4.9 oz). Some parents said that parents like me take the sport out of the race as we make unfairly fast cars. Reality was that we only had a couple more hours into our car, and my son really enjoyed the "fine tuning" and that we had "speed secrets". It is not like I have a practice track or anything - but I will next year!!! Wait until we smoke them by more than a half second!
Here is the tuning we did:
Straightened the axels
Squared the heads of the axels
Flared the heads of the axels (this step was done simultaneously with squaring)
Groove the axels to hold dry lubricant
Polished the axels
Removed the injection molding mark on the wheels
Cleaned, polished, and trued the inside of the hubs (center of wheels)
Trued the roundness of the wheels
Trued the inside edge of both the wheel and hub
Coned the inside of the hub so that less of the hub rubbed the body
Coned the outside of the hub so that less of the axel head rubbed the hub
Fully lubed the axel wheel assembly with a dry lube prior to assembly and again after assembly.
The above tuning did take some specialized tools, but nothing $100 bucks and a google search on "pinewood derby" can't get the average joe. My son is 6 and will have many derbies in his future. I also have a 4 year old boy and another boy due in June....so by the time we are done with derbies, we will have spent more money on pizza during the builds than we did on tools.
My son was so stoked to win. But, he was upset that people accused us of cheating, and I had to show him the rule book where it states that what we did was legal and ENCOURAGED. And these parents said that parents like "me" take the fun out of these events? Funny thing was that many of the kids wanted to know his secrets and thought it was really cool. Only the parents were actually upset.
I was never in the boyscouts, but when we did our science projects, and physics projects (school competitions..) I killed everyone in every competition in our area. People used to complain about that shit all the time as well saying this took the fun out of it, or that took the fun out of it.. Makes you wonder what they think the "spirit of competition" actually means?
What is this soccer? Everybodies out to have fun? And even the losers are winners? F that.. People should get involved with their kids, and if it's something like that then they should be competitive and WANT TO WIN, not just do the bare minimum and complain when they get there ass handed to them.
When I changed schools my senior year my new school didn't have those competitions. My girlfriend went to San Diegito in encinitas though and they still had them.. LOL They did the rat (make the rat trap move as far as it can on it's own power) trap competition. She showed up with a billet chassis rat trap car with german "jeweled" bearings (one way bearings on the back) on these hard low friction roller skate style wheels. I was going to thin the wheels to get a few more feet out of it, but honestly when she took it to school for the prelims, the nearest guy was back about 10' so there wasn't much point.
That rat trap car is still on the shelf down here at my old mans engineering firm.. He loves doing that kinda stuff. Kind of explains where the battlebot came from.. ;)
Took a picture of the rat trap car.. ;) Man I can't wait to have kids.. LOL
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/860RatTrap2-med.JPG
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/860RatTrap1-med.JPG
RD

[6 balls]

Pinewood derbies are alot of fun. Back when my daughter was in Indian Princesses we did one, brought back alot of memories of when I was in scouts...
We went for style over speed :D
http://members.cox.net/dla/images/pinewoody2.jpg
http://members.cox.net/dla/images/pinewoody1.jpg

[Havasu Carrera]

Pinewood derbies are alot of fun. Back when my daughter was in Indian Princesses we did one, brought back alot of memories of when I was in scouts...
We went for style over speed :D
http://members.cox.net/dla/images/pinewoody2.jpg
http://members.cox.net/dla/images/pinewoody1.jpg
And style you got there pal!! Wow Nice car! I live @ Trabuco and El Toro! We're neighbors!:D

[Jetaholic]

I cannot stand people with the whole "people like you take the fun out of it". As a guitarist, when I would learn songs I would make it my goal to make the guitar sound exactly like the record. All the way from playing all the right notes, to the note articulation (how the note sounds) and the playing technique even to the correct guitar and amp combination...and I wouldn't stop there. I would listen for little nuances that the average person didn't really pay attention to and even throw those in there.
Yet all the guitar players around here...they all have a generic sound and are happy if they can just play the song and have it resemble the song in some way...put the minimum into it.
And I also get a lot of them that are intimidated by my high playing standards. They're always like "Dude I just do this to have fun...why don't you just have fun with it?" But what they don't realize is that by being able to play a song and have it sound and even FEEL like the original version but what it would sound like live...that IS the fun in it for me.
Some people...different strokes for different folks I guess.