Sunday, February 14, 2010
Pinewood Derby 2010
On Feb. 13, 2010, Pack 12 had their annual Pinewood Derby. Our Wolf Scout was able to get his brother and sister a chance to race in the Siblings category, so I bought them each a car kit. They spent a lot of weekends and evenings working on their cars, and it paid of.
We used the World's Most Awesome new saw to cut down the blocks, but then the kids got to work with sandpaper. They sanded, and they sanded, and they sanded. There was a workshop put on by the Pack, and the Shark Car started to show its final form:
For a break we smoothed the wheels and the axles. Then they painted and painted.
Making weight was very important: getting as close as possible to exactly five ounces was critical. Puddles the stuffed duck was one of our chief technicians; it took us a couple of tries to get the weight right: I used fishing weights, washers, official Derby weights, and anything else I could find on my workbench.
Last, we added some final touches, like these eyes for the Shark Car:
The last work was done on Thursday night: cutting it close!
Friday night I joined a few of the Pack's stalwarts -- Mr. Jeff, Mr. Ron, and Mr. Bill, as well as young Josh -- to get the track assembled and wired, which Mrs. Kris set up the kitchen. We got the cones arranged around the track and spread out chairs while a few eager races showed up to have their cars weighed in on the official scale in case extra work was required..
On Saturday morning we were there early (7:45!) since I was working the laptop & race software, and I made sure that the results for each heat were projected on the wall for a full fifteen second before we switched to the next set of cars. :7) There was so much graphite on the cars that by the time we weighed them all in my hands were a rich silver color, and I shudder to think what the inside of the laptop looks like now.
Every car ran two races in each of the four lanes, so there were 94 heats in total. Somehow we finished in just over an hour, which amazed the parents, the leaders, and even the photographer.
The fantastic Shark Car won three of its eight heats, came in second three times, and came in third twice. In fact, it was the fastest car for the first dozen or so heats:
Our Girl Scout made this Toothpaste Car; it finished 23rd out of the 47 racers:
Younger brother -- who will probably join the pack next year -- made the Cheese Car. (The holes suggest a Swiss cheese, probably the classic Gruyere. ) He finished 7th overall and second among the siblings:
Our Wolf Scout produced this man-eating Shark Car, accurate right down to the severed LEGO Guy arm in its fierce mouth. It finished 17th out of 47:
Final portraits of the proud "drivers":
We used the World's Most Awesome new saw to cut down the blocks, but then the kids got to work with sandpaper. They sanded, and they sanded, and they sanded. There was a workshop put on by the Pack, and the Shark Car started to show its final form:
For a break we smoothed the wheels and the axles. Then they painted and painted.
Making weight was very important: getting as close as possible to exactly five ounces was critical. Puddles the stuffed duck was one of our chief technicians; it took us a couple of tries to get the weight right: I used fishing weights, washers, official Derby weights, and anything else I could find on my workbench.
Last, we added some final touches, like these eyes for the Shark Car:
The last work was done on Thursday night: cutting it close!
Friday night I joined a few of the Pack's stalwarts -- Mr. Jeff, Mr. Ron, and Mr. Bill, as well as young Josh -- to get the track assembled and wired, which Mrs. Kris set up the kitchen. We got the cones arranged around the track and spread out chairs while a few eager races showed up to have their cars weighed in on the official scale in case extra work was required..
On Saturday morning we were there early (7:45!) since I was working the laptop & race software, and I made sure that the results for each heat were projected on the wall for a full fifteen second before we switched to the next set of cars. :7) There was so much graphite on the cars that by the time we weighed them all in my hands were a rich silver color, and I shudder to think what the inside of the laptop looks like now.
Every car ran two races in each of the four lanes, so there were 94 heats in total. Somehow we finished in just over an hour, which amazed the parents, the leaders, and even the photographer.
The fantastic Shark Car won three of its eight heats, came in second three times, and came in third twice. In fact, it was the fastest car for the first dozen or so heats:
Our Girl Scout made this Toothpaste Car; it finished 23rd out of the 47 racers:
Younger brother -- who will probably join the pack next year -- made the Cheese Car. (The holes suggest a Swiss cheese, probably the classic Gruyere. ) He finished 7th overall and second among the siblings:
Our Wolf Scout produced this man-eating Shark Car, accurate right down to the severed LEGO Guy arm in its fierce mouth. It finished 17th out of 47:
Final portraits of the proud "drivers":
Labels: scouts
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fantastic pictures. Reminds me of my Cub Scout days. I still have 3 of my old cars maybe we can have a race.
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