Hamster Haiku

Give us all the seeds

Cheeks filling, never enough

You can keep the corn

Pinewood Derby - Building a Cool Car Stand

As a former Webelos Leader, I remember always looking for building projects that were cost effective, easy to complete at a patrol meeting and something that looked good and gave the boys something they could take pride in building.

 When my son was in Webelos, requirement 3 for the Craftsman Activity Pin was to build a display stand or box to display a model or award. I believe that requirement is still there today. There was a plan in the book for a simple stand for displaying a Pinewood Derby car, which consisted of three pieces of wood: a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 1/2" square plywood base with a 5" long section of 2x2 wood to display the car on and a smaller 2" x 3" x 1/2" piece of plywood on which to place a nameplate. The design is OK, but very simple looking. With a very few modifications, the same 3 pieces of wood can be made into a much more dramatic design.

To start, I do not use any plywood in my design, only precut pieces of poplar, which can easily be found at the hardware store in the craft wood section. The wood usually comes in standard lengths of 2, 3 or 4 feet. I needed to make five stands, so I bought the following supplies, which was enough for my needs with some left over.(Fig. 1):

1/4" x 2" x 24" Poplar Board (enough wood for 7 stands)
1/2" x 4" x 24" Poplar Board (enough wood for 6 stands)
2" x 2" x 24" Poplar Board (enough wood for 5 stands)
Mod Podge Glue, Satin Finish (available at the Hobby Store)
Adhesive Backed Velcro Fasteners (available at Hobby or Hardware Stores)
9" x 12" Black Felt (available at Hobby Store)
8 1/2" x 11" Parchment Type Paper (available at Hobby Store)

Figure 1 - Required Materials

I made all of my wood cuts using a power miter saw, but it is also possible to do the cutting by hand using a miter box. It will take a lot longer, though. Since the ends of the pieces of wood are usually fairly rough and may not be exactly square, I first cut a small slice off the end of each piece. Then I cut a 3 1/2" long piece from the 1/2" x 4" x 24" board. Due to the way boards are dimensioned in this country, what is called a 4" wide piece of wood at the store is actually only 3 1/2" wide, so you end up with a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square piece. Then I cut a 3" long piece from the 1/4" x 2" x 24" board (it's actually only 1 1 /2" wide). The last cut is the one that makes all the difference in this design. You must set your miter saw for a 15 degree miter cut in both the horizontal and vertical axis. This gives you a slanting cut across the wood that goes from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner. This is much easier to do on a power miter saw than by hand. Cut the double miter on one end of the 2" x 2" x 24" board (it's actually 1 1/2" x 1/12" across) and then measure 4" down from the tallest corner of the cut and make a straight cut through the wood.(Fig. 2)

Figure 2 - Wood Cuts

The miter cut makes all the difference in how this design works. With these three pieces it is now possble to create an infinite number of display stands which allow for the car to be displayed at a more dramatic angle.(Figs. 3-7) I made these with my patrol when they were Webelos II. I had twelve boys in my patrol and every stand came out different and every stand looked great.



Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

To finish the stand I first sanded the wood lightly to remove any splinters and saw marks and then pianted the base flat black and used a medium dark wood stain on the column and name plate. After staining, I finished with about three coats of spray on clear gloss varnish.(Fig. 8) Then I brushed an even coat of Mod Podge on the bottom of the base plate and glued a piece of felt to it. It is easier if you use a piece of felt that is slightly larger than the base and then cut off the excess with a sharp knife or scissors after the glue has dried than to attempt to pre cut the felt before glueing.(Fig. 9) I printed out the information for the name plate on the parchment paper and then used Mod Podge to first glue it down and then seal it to the name plate. Mod Podge is great stuff for glueing and sealing paper to wood. It can also be used to secure paper to things like neckerchief slides or picture frames.

Figure 8 - Wood Painted and Stained

Figure 9 - Adding Felt to the Base

Figure 9 - Mod Podge Paper to Name Plate (It Dries Clear)

After that, use some wood glue to create the stand design you wish and secure the car to the column using the adhesive backed velcro pads.(Fig. 10,11)

Figure 10 - Stand Glued together, Velcro Added

Figure 11 - Finished Car Stand

This project can easily be incorporated into one or two patrol meetings. It is also quite cost effective. The total cost for materials comes in around $3.00 per stand. It is a display that will look great for years to come.







Hamster Haiku

Twilight calls to us

Foolish humans sleep as we

tumble through our lives

Pinewood Derby - Building the Pinewood Punk - Part 4

Race day was yesterday, and as usual with me, I was working on the car up to the last minute. This was a good week for working on projects at home. An unusually severe cold snap has closed the schools for the week and brought much of the city to a halt.

As of the last post, I had finished painting the car and made and painted a lot of the car's accessories. Now it's time to put it all together as well as try to get the car up to the proper weight.

After weighing the car, wheels, axles and other additional pieces I was still about an ounce and a half light. I decided, therefore to add one ounce of weight to the driver. This would put a nice chunk of weight at a good spot on the car, low and just in front of the back wheels. I used the drill press and a 3/8" forstner bit to hollow him out and then sealed in a tungsten fishing weight with some super glue and wood putty.(Figs. 1,2) Tungsten weights work great on pinewood cars because they are very heavy for their size so you can fit a lot of weight into a small space. The drawback, however, is that they are a bit expensive, as much as three times more costly than the zinc weights available at hobby stores. But if you need to get a lot of weight into a small space on your car, the only answer is tungsten.

Figure 1 - Driver Hollowed Out for Tungsten Weight

Figure 2 - Weight Added (Then sealed in with Wood Putty)

At this time I also drilled a 3/8" hole in the underside of the car near the rear to hold another bit of weight at the end of construction. I also drilled pilot holes and countersinks for four #6 1/2" flat head screws.(fig. 3) These are the fine tuning weights for my car. Each one weighs about 0.05 ounces, so four of them make up about 0.2 ounces that can be easily removed on race day if my scale and the racetrack scale are not calibrated exactly the same. Always make sure to have easily removable weight so you don't have to do any drastic surgery to your car at the race.

Figure 3 - Fine Tuning Weights and Hole for Extra Weight

The next step was a rather delicate and time consuming one. This car is a tribute to my cousin, Norman Bryant (the Texas Giant), who used to belong to a Seattle based rock band called The Machine, so I wanted to put their name on the car. After printing out their logo, I put a strip of painter's tape on my cutting board and then scotch taped the logo on top of that. Then I very carefully cut out the logo with my craft knife and created a stencil in the painter's tape. Then I removed the tape from the cutting board and placed it on the car, along with the tiny little pieces of tape that are in the middle of the letters.(Fig. 4) After that I masked off the rest of the car with newspaper and very lightly painted the stencil with some flat white spray paint.(Fig. 5) I have found that on small projects like this, where the designs are small and the surface you are trying to paint is often irregular, using painter's tape to create a stencil is the only way to neatly paint an image. It's a bit of work and the stencil is a one time thing, but you get a very clean looking transfer. After the paint dried and I removed the tape, I spayed the hood with a few light coats of artist's fixative to better seal it to the car.

Figure 4- Painter's Tape Stencil

Figure 5 - Finished Transfer

Now it was time to start adding accessories to the car. First I painted the grill area of the car flat black and cut a few notches to accept 3 small e clips creating a sort of grill in the front.(Fig. 6) I trimmed off part of the clips to make them a half round shape. I also glued a slightly larger trimmed e clip behind the cockpit as the grill of an air intake and I superglued the headlight in place.



Figure 6 - Front Grill and Headlight

Then it was time to attach the wheel covers. I predrilled two holes in the flat parts of the wheel covers on the drill press to make sure the holes were perpendicular to the covers and then superglued in some decorative picture hanging nails I found that had heads that looked like little gears.(Fig. 7) Then at each tire position. I temporarily put on a wheel so that I could position the wheel cover next to it, making sure it did not touch, and then marking with a pencil the positions on the car body to drill holes to accept the nails. After everything was in the right place, I superglued the nails to the car body.(Fig. 8)

Figure 7 - Adding Nails to Wheel Covers

Figure 8 - Wheel Cover Glued to Car

The next step was to add the parts to the engine openings on each side and the accessories to each side of the car body. I went to the hardware store and picked up an assortment of small gear like washers, brass washers, e clips, and picture hanging nails.(Fig. 9) I used these to free form a set of engine works on each side of the car. I also added other components, such as an exhaust pipe, barrel, various gauges and a gear box.(fig. 10,11) I just arranged them in a way I thought looked best. 

Figure 9 - Small Engine Pieces

Figure 10 - Right Side of Car

Figure 11 - Left Side of Car

Next, the spare tire was glued in and a picture hanging nail was used as a decorative tie down.(Fig. 12)



Figure 12 - Spare Tire

The next project was to complete the driver. Previously, I had painted on his suit, vest, tie and pocket watch.(Fig. 13) Next I made a small aviators jacket out of a scrap of faux leather.(Fig. 14) Finally, a blue scarf, aviator's leather helmet and a set of goggles made out of fun foam are added and the driver is complete.(Fig. 15) The driver was added to the car along with a steering wheel, another gauge on the dashboard and the back part of the air intake behind the driver.(Fig. 16)



Figure 13 - Driver's Suit Painted On

Figure 14 - Jacket and Scarf Added

Figure 15 - Aviator Helmut and Goggles

Figure 16 - Driver and Cockpit Complete

The final step was to add the wheels. I used the wheel gap attachment on my plastic alignment tool I bought from the BSA to make sure the gap between the car and the wheels was the same for all four tires. If you do not have an alignment tool, a credit card works just fine. After weighing the car I was still 0.3 ounces short of the 5 ounces allowed by the rules, so I added that amount of weight to the hole I had predrilled earlier.(Fig. 17) This time I used one of the round barlike weights you can find at the hobby stores that is easily cut into smaller pieces with a hacksaw. The car is complete !!! (Fig, 18)

Figure 17 - Wheels On and Final Weight Added

Figure 18 - The Car is Done !!!

This car was a lot of fun to make, and although it may be a more complex design than many people would build, the basic techniques I've tried to illustrate can be used on any car. Please leave me a message if you have any observations of your car building experiences that may help or questions about car building in general. I must admit that while this car looks good, it is not the best design for a super fast racer. Although I did win two out of four heats at the races, ultimately my overall time was only good enough for a twelfth place finish out of eighteen. Next time I'll build a car for speed as well. Good luck to everyone at the races ! 

Check back soon for a design on how to build a very simple yet elegant car display stand.

Pinewood Derby - Building the Pinewood Punk - Part 3

It's day two of no school due to the freezing temperatures here in Garland. So we've played a lot of Guitar Hero and caught up with the shows on our DVR somewhat while we wait for the world to thaw. It's also been a good time to continue on my Pinewood Derby Car.

The last bit of carving I had left was to make some relief openings in the hood for engine parts to show through later. I started the carving by hand and finished up with a dremel tool.(fig. 1)

Figure 1 - Engine Opening

Next, I painted the car with a gray primer to help show any areas that need filling in with wood putty.After that, I began sanding the car with progressively finer grades of sandpaper starting with 100 grit, then 150, 220, 320, 400 and finally 600 grit paper to get the car as smooth as possible before the final coats of paint.(Fig. 2) Before painting, though, I covered each of the wheel holes with a small piece of tape so they would not become clogged with paint and make it hard to insert the axles later.(Fig. 3)

Figure 2 - Car after Sanding

Figure 3 - Protective Tape at Wheel Holes

Then I gave the car three light coats of metallic bronze spray paint, after which I painted the engine recesses, cockpit and spare wheel well flat black.(Fig. 4)

Figure 4 - Bronze Paint

I finished the day by making and painting some of the car accessories such as the wheel covers, pressure gauge dials, headlight, exhaust pipe and driver.(Fig. 5)

Figure 5 - Building the Accessories

Next time all of the car pieces come together. Until then, be safe and stay warm.