District Pinewood Derby
The District Pinewood Derby was held the last Saturday of March this year. Since #2 had finished in the top three at the pack races, he got to participate in districts for his third year in a row. Until two days before the districts, the car just sat in our carrying box. I took a little bit of the lead weight out of the car, since the districts use a scale that measures to 0.005 of an ounce and our pack just measures to 0.1 of an ounce. On Friday night, we added some more graphite to the wheels and #2 spent time spinning the wheels on our wheel polishing rig.
On race day, #2’s car “The Natural” was just one of 118 cars in the event. First race is typically against your pack mates and #2’s car won the heat and beat the first and second place cars from his pack. It looked like his car was pretty fast and when the standings went up, his car was in 13th place overall. The Natural won it’s second heat and moved up to 12th in the standings (running faster that the first heat). The Natural won the third heat too (running faster than the first two heats) and moved to 8th place overall and fourth fastest bear. The Natural won the fourth heat too, but we had to wait for the awards ceremony to tell where he might place. As the awards went on, we found out that he finished as the fastest bear in the derby (after the top three which included two bears) and got to take home a great trophy.
Sunday April 8, 2007 · Permalink
Pinewood Derby 2007
The pack’s 2007 Pinewood Derby was held the first Saturday in February this year. Only #2 was competing this year as #1 had moved onto Boy Scouts. At left is #2’s car “The Natural.” He wanted a thin wedge car again this year, so I cut the block to the shape he wanted. Once he was done sanding the saw marks off, he liked the grain pattern so just went with a clear coat. Much work was done on the axles and wheels to get them just so. At the practice day, the car was running straight, but a little slow, so we added more graphite and #2 spun the wheels on our wheel polishing setup.
The day of the race came and The Natural seemed to be running well. He won most of the heats he was in (though the scoring is on time alone) and ended up finishing third overall in the pack. This means another trip to the district pinewood derby (he’s qualified every year in scouts for the district race).
I built three cars for the open class races, two for the stock class and one for the unlimited class.
Black
This was my open stock car, it finished fifth overall. I probably should have spent more time on the axles instead of the design.
Pink Ribbon
The wife is a den leader this year, so I built this car for her to race.
Remote Control Car
For the open unlimited class I stuffed this old DVD remote with lead and slapped on the wheels. It finished second to a slightly heavier car.
Sunday April 8, 2007 · Permalink
Cub Scout Bird House
Here is a SketchUp plan for small bird house that will help a Cub Scout meet one of their Bear requirements (5b in Sharing your World with Wildlife).
The bird house is made from standard 1×6 lumber, using less than 7 feet per bird house. The front, back and top are all full width 1×6, but the sides and bottom are ripped to 4 inches in width. The SketchUp file includes a dimensions layer you can turn on to see the major dimensions.
You can either nail on the top or add a small hinge to make it easier to clean out (like our Bears did). When I made the kits up for our Bears, I took the time to pre-drill holes on the front, back, and sides to make it easier for them to get the houses together. Each was assembled with 1-1/2” brads.
Tuesday November 28, 2006 · Permalink
Pinewood Derby 2006
The pack Pinewood Derby was the first weekend in February. At left is a picture of #2’s Sword car on the left. Most of his races finished this way with the car about a car length ahead of the other racers. Early in the races, his car and a competitor took turns setting the track record times. But then his car actually got faster and he set the track record in his seventh race and tied it again in the ninth. Overall his car finished first in the pack, so we’ll be going to the district races again this year.
At left is #1’s Trogdor car closest to the viewer. He liked the open hole in the body that I used on my car last year, so he worked up a car like that for this year’s races. His car was second or third fastest in the Webelo 2s and was in the top 20 of the pack.
I also built two cars for the races this year, but didn’t end up with any photos of them on the track. One was an open hole car similar to Trogdor above (except in red and a little thicker) to race in the open stock class. It finished 2nd to another father. I also entered a box car in the open unlimited class. For that car I took a block of jatoba (brazilian cherry) and weighted it up and stuffed it in the box a normal pinewood derby kit comes in. It weighed in at 24.2 ounces and it managed to finish first in the unlimited class, beating out the two heavier competitors.
Update: April 8, 2007
Here are studio shots of the cars.
Trogdor
The Sword
Mr Red
Box Car
Wednesday March 1, 2006 · Permalink
Pinewood Derby Cars
The pack Pinewood Derby was early last month and all of us had a blast building our cars. On the left is my entry into the open/stock class, next is #1’s Runaway House and on the right is #2’s Yellow Fireball. Each of us finished first in our class and since #2 was the fastest Tiger in the pack, he’ll be going to the district races.
Both boys spent a quite bit of time polishing the axles for their cars along with selecting matched sets of wheels. They both saw the benefits of concentrating on the friction points. I also built a short test track without a center guide so we could make sure the cars tracked straight before we even went to test-and-tune night. The test track worked well and we didn’t have to make any alignment changes at all.
Wednesday February 9, 2005 · Permalink
Soap Carving Wrapup
Last week, I finally led the den meeting where our Bears would learn about knife safety and do a little soap carving on their way to earning their “Whittling Chip”. The section on knife safety wasn’t all that interesting to them, but it was important overall. I’d made a larger foamboard knife to use as a demonstration tool for proper handling and care of a knife. You can see that to the left in the picture.
After we finished the “boring” part of the meeting, we moved into the kitchen table and then I showed the boys a few different kinds of real knives. Starting with a large lockback hunting knife really drew their attention in. I also showed them a different lockback and two pocket knives, one of which was the “official” Bear Cub Scout knife. I think they all really wanted that one, but it already belongs to my Bear cub.
I’d also made up sharpening “stones” for the boys by gluing a piece of 320 grit wet or dry sandpaper to a plywood block (see it on the right side in the picture). We then practiced a little sharpening using the wooden knives and the sharpening block. By using wet or dry sandpaper, it will also work well for sharpening real metal knives.
Then came time for the big event of the evening: soap carving. Knowing how much we would have to cover, I’d prepared two bars of Ivory soap for each boy, one with just the heart and sides outlined (middle left of the picture), and one where I had already relieved the background (middle right of the picture). This proved to be a great way of teaching them. The first block allowed them some time to get used to using the knives and then roughing out the shape. The second bar was good for them to learn shaping and finishing using more controlled cuts.
After snack time we also had a quiz to reinforce what they had learned and to prove they actually had been listening to me (at least a little). All the boys did well and will be presented their Whittling Chips at a Pack meeting before the annual camping trip.
All in all, I think all the boys had a great time. I’m very fortunate that we also had one adult for two boys so that they were all well supervised during the meeting. And by working in Ivory soap, the boys left the meeting smelling better than when they arrived :-)
Tuesday January 20, 2004 · Permalink
Soap Carving: "Polar" Bear
More soap carving pictures. At left is a “polar” bear from a large bar of Ivory soap based upon the pattern in the Cub Scout’s Bear Handbook. It took me around 3 to 3.5 hours over two evenings. There are more pictures including one of the pattern from the handbook.
Friday December 5, 2003 · Permalink
Soap Carving Tools
I made eight sets of soap carving tools from the Soap Carving for Children of All Ages book I picked up recently. Shown in the background is a sample relief-carved heart from a small bar of Ivory that I think we’ll be doing as a project.
(The car and truck in the background are prototypes for a small run of toys to be donated to the Western Ohio Woodworking Club annual toy drive. Other pictures and drawings will come later.)
Sunday November 30, 2003 · Permalink
Getting Ready for the Whittling Chip
I’ll be helping my son’s den get their “whittling chip” so that they’re allowed to carry a pocket knife to scout activities not held at the school.
Here are some resources that I’ve found that will help in teaching the boys about the “whittling chip”, projects and knife safety:
- The Whittling Chip Award from the Desert Pacific Council.
- Soap Carving for Children of All Ages shows how to make wooden carving tools and presents a number of simple projects.
Sunday November 16, 2003 · Permalink