How to Get Started Designing Your Pinewood Derby Car|Boy Scouts of America (2024)
November 7, 2022 4161 view(s)
How to Get Started Designing Your Pinewood Derby Car
How to Get Started Designing Your Pinewood Derby Car
We encourage our Cub Scouts to do their best, to be helpful, and to be kind to others. With Pinewood Derby season right around the corner, these words could not ring truer. The Pinewood Derby is the perfect time to teach Cub Scouts the value of sportsmanship, how to win with humility, and to accept loss with grace. The derby inspires Scouts to think outside the box, and with each Pinewood Derby, we're left speechless witnessing the innovative, charming, and exciting cars all of the Scouts design. To help Scouts bring their visions to life, we've compiled some of our favorite accessories available at the Scout Shop.
Transform your car into a firetruck, police car, or ice cream truck
Preserve your car with a display box
Let Your Scout's Design Shine
Not only do under-glow lights enhance the car's appearance, but they also give out lighting that everyone can enjoy looking at. The undermount light kit contains light strips that glow blue and have different lighting options. The accessory piece is an official product of the BSA and includes a battery pack and two strips of lighting that can be applied to the undermount of the vehicle. Although we prefer the constant glow setting, your Scout will also have the option of fast-blinking and slow-blinking lighting that's easy to adjust. And if you're concerned about exceeding the weight limit of 5 ounces, not to worry—the Pinewood Derby Under Light Kit weighs just half an ounce!
All eyes will be on your Scout's car at the next Pinewood Derby. From electric blue to bright green, eye-popping pink, purple and white, these colorful wheel and axle replacement kits make your Scout's design come to life. Bonus: the wheels even glow in the dark! Imagine a sleek black derby car with eye-popping pink wheels or hot pink combined with the spark of electric blue! The colorful wheels put the finishing touch on a car and help your Scout practice decision-making on a micro-level.
Fun Peel-and-Stick Decals
Whether it's blue flames or unicorn rainbows, decal stickers help your Scout express whatever theme they choose to go with this year. The peel-and-stick decals are easy to use and put the finishing touches on a car after a hard day's work. Each decal accessory kit comes with a main decal sheet and an accessory sheet, and there's no cutting necessary! The Police decals go perfectly with the Police sound kit. There's even an Ice Cream Truck decal set too! Nevertheless, we hate being the bearers of bad news: ICE CREAM NOT INCLUDED.
HearYour Scout's Vision Come to Life
At ScoutShop.org, you can find the Pinewood Derby Ice Cream Truck, Fire Truck, Police, and Race Car. The Fire and Police sound kits even come with flashing light accessories. The accessories must be installed with a round drill, and sounds are activated only when the tiny silver button in the corner of the speaker box is pushed. So, there's no need to worry about motion-activated sensors. Plus, the car doubles as a fantastic toy after the race is over.
Put the Champ on Display
Every year, your Scout will get the opportunity to design a new car for the Pinewood Derby. Whether it's your Scout's first car or just a design too cool to be stored in a box, keep the smiles, and cherish the good memories with a Pinewood Derby Display Case. Too often, great-looking cars are lost or left to sit in hot attics or damp basem*nts, environments that can diminish the paint or rot the wood because of moisture. Your Scout's Pinewood Derby car is a precious object that took hours of hard work to complete. Compact enough to go on a bookshelf, mantle, or office desktop, the display case protects the car from moisture, dust, light, fingerprints, or heavy objects falling on top of the car and breaking it in storage. The display case is the perfect tool to preserve the memories you forge with your Scout no matter the threat.
Haven't Purchased Your Pinewood Derby Car Kit Yet?
With Christmas just weeks away and winter break quickly approaching, make sure you order your official Pinewood Derby Car Kit before it's too late! At the Scout Shop, you can load your virtual cart and check out easily. With just a few clicks, the Scout Shop delivers all the materials you need for the Pinewood Derby season. Keep your Scout's mind engaged during winter break and generate memories that will last a lifetime!
The pinewood derby is the wood car racing event of the Cub Scout Program of the Boy Scouts of America. Pinewood derbies are often run by packs of the Cub Scouts program.
® car kit and your imagination. Inside the kit you'll find the wooden block, wheels, and axles – everything you need to get started. Brainstorm with your adult mentor to come up with a design that's a fun challenge, but not too difficult to build.
The wedge is a classic and probably the easiest shape (besides keeping a block) to build your Pinewood Derby car. The Wedge is the foundation of many cool car designs, and it is designed to be aerodynamic and is a one-cut wonder.
Much has been written about the physics of pinewood derby cars, and this is one rare case in racing where heavy = fast. Aerodynamics have little effect in such a short race, but weight does and putting the weight at the back of the car will make your car faster on the flat of the track.
The National Director of Cub Scouting Service, O. W. (Bud) Bennett, wrote Murphy: "We believe you have an excellent idea, and we are most anxious to make your material available to the Cub Scouts of America." Within the year, the Boy Scouts of America adopted the pinewood derby for use in all Cub Scout packs.
Baking your Pinewood Derby wooden block helps to remove the moisture so that you have more wiggle room to add extra weight at the end. Remember, every little bit of weight in the right place makes a difference! Bake it in the oven at 250° for about 2 hours.
Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska, USA on 15 October 2016. The successful Pinewood Derby car was provided by Glenn Jewkes of Jewkes Engineering. It completed the run in 1 min 16.7 sec, and weighed 137 g (4.83 oz).
Bore waxing as the final step of wheel preparation has shown to be a significant speed benefit in Pinewood Derby car racing. It leaves a very slick final finish that reduces friction for smooth, quick starts and faster overall runs. Prepare your wheels and polish the hub before applying the bore wax.
Step 3: Choose a color for your Pinewood Derby car. Then apply two to three coats of enamel paint to the car's body. Spraying the model with paint from an aerosol can is easier than using a brush. If you use a brush, dip only the lower third of the brush into the paint.
Slide the axles and wheels onto the car and glue into place. Use an epoxy or nonresin glue, and make sure you don't get any on the surface of the axle where the wheel rides.
Push until the wheel touches the car body. The base is designed to leave the proper gap between the wheel and body. 5. The axle will need to be glued if it slips easily into the car body.
Science says the heaviest part of your car should be about 1 inch in front of the rear axle. The idea is that the farther back the weight is, the more potential energy you have because your center of mass is higher up on the track.
No loose materials of any kind (such as lead shot) are allowed in the car. No bent axels, and all 4 wheels need to be on the track. Once a car passes inspection and is entered into the race, only race committee members can touch it.
Younger girls have been able to join Cub Scouts for nearly a year, and more than 77,000 joined. Now, older girls 11-17 have a path to earn the organization's highest rank.
We tested over 100 different paints and selected the ones that gave the best results on Pinewood Derby cars. These high gloss acrylic paints work best if no primer or wood sealer is used - Just sand and paint. All of our paints are water based. They are non-toxic and water wash-up.
The rear wheels should be set at a 3-degree angle (camber). This angle reduces friction as only a tiny portion of the wheel makes contact with the track.
For example, on a smooth aluminum track, a wheelbase of 4.75” offers a good balance between speed and stability. For a rougher track where instability could be a concern, the Race Team might consider going with a 5.0” to 5.25” wheelbase. New axle holes must be made to move or extend the car's wheelbase.
Science says the heaviest part of your car should be about 1 inch in front of the rear axle. The idea is that the farther back the weight is, the more potential energy you have because your center of mass is higher up on the track.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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