6 Reasons I build my own Pinewood Derby Car with my kids

 I was asked one time why I build Pinewood Derby Cars. "Why not just focus on the kids and let them have the lime light? Make their cars incredible instead of spending too much time on your own." Here is some info on helping your little Henry Ford get started with something other than a black block of wood. 6 Steps to getting started

I thought about that question a lot. In fact I didn't start out making my own car. I spent all the time on my sons car. With him. Then one year I decided I wanted to build one too. Just to try it out. His car was coming along nice, he was getting older and could do more work on his own. Plus who wouldn't want a Rat Rod Ford Effie. (My son doesn't apparently.) So I set out to create a fun and unique truck. This is it.

53 Ford F100 Rat Rod Pinewood Derby Car 2012

I was pretty proud of it. To keep with the rat rod theme, I robbed the wheels off of one of my old pinewood derby cars. (They are reshaped and sanded which is illegal now days)

It has a flat walnut bed, 13 gauge finishing nail bed rails, & bullet gas tank. Custom Altoids tin grill, trimmed out with super fast fire flames. (This truck is as slow as the tractor)

This little endeavor had some surprising benefits. Here are a few of them.

1. My Kids see me working on the same type of project.

How often do kids want to feel like they are doing something grown up and not childish. Seeing me do the same project lets them know, "Hey, this isn't just kid's stuff." Also my excitement and attention to detail (cool details like over sized blowers coming out of the engine) helps them dream bigger too.

Daughter's butterfly car, my tractor, and son's hot rod being painted at same time.
They usually take turns on mine while painting their own.

You know how tedious sanding is? If you are sanding on your car while watching Phineas and Ferb, They are more likely to sand on their car at the same time. Have them check you car, let them find rough spots (Whoops, you accidentally missed those on purpose.)

2. I don't take over their project.

Every pack has those dads that brings in a $500 car and tries to pass it off as his little ADHD Carroll Shelby built it last night. I like to talk to kids about what THEY did to their car at check-in. It's pretty east to tell who did what. Sure kids need help, guidance, instruction, encouragement, and for us adults to do some of the detailed parts. But it should be mostly the kid's. As a kid gets older, the cars should look worse because we are doing less. (It could be we are spending so much time on our masterpiece.)

3. They learn by Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable. (EDGE)

I will let them practice on scrap wood before letting them use the scroll saw to cut on their car. Yes, I let my wolf and bear use a scroll saw. I don't walk away and most of the time my hands are on theirs.
We talk about safety and glasses, and how to hold the wood. I let them cut stuff out for my car. It gives them more saw time and dad time.

I do the same thing with sanding. Go with the grain, and let them see how bad it looks going against the grain.

Painting takes time and sometimes when I see they are just slapping it on I will take a picture and make them sand it and paint it over. They usually do a much better job and compare the two. They are usually glad of it as well.

I can sit down with them when they are painting as well. They are working. I can help if needed. We have some fun conversations without me painting it for them. This might be the best part of the whole experience.

Old dirty, rusty tractor. It doesn't have wheels yet.
(It didn't matter. It was the slowest car at the race.)
Do you realize how nice it is when a kid does NOT have the slowest car there. I do now.
Every kid there had fun picking on me about beating my tractor.

They can see me putting "mud" or "rust" or repainting something, and they starting thinking beyond just finishing the car.

4. I enjoy making them.

I can't lie about that. I like wood working and carving. I enjoy teaching kids to do the same. I also like cars and painting, trying something new. I added so much wood to the tractor, getting it down to weight was almost impossible. It was a completely hollow shell. Challenge is a fun part of it. Next year I know even more to help the kids with.

5. I let them help me with my project. (And no, that is not sanding it for me.)

They will cut on it, drill, spray paint it when they are painting theirs. Sure it might have runs in it, but I'm not building show cars. I want them to brag about their sister's car or my car, just as much as their own car. It goes back to being helpful, being a part of something important. It makes them feel great to help me. 

Our family set of cars all lined up and ready to race.

6. They learn, that going the extra mile can be fun and rewarding.

When you do something different or challenging, and people ask, How did you do that? Everyone starts thinking differently about the Pinewood Derby. It's fun to talk about.

The Pink Tornado can tell you how to soak thin wood so it can be bent and clamped down to make butterfly wings that stick up and off of her car, because she did it.
The Pup can tell you about gluing lead weights in an angry bird to make it heavy, because he did it.
I can tell you a tractor looks really cool. It is the slowest car you can make, but I did it.  

Each year we learn something different and add it to our knowledge for next year.

Have fun.
Build a Pinewood Derby Car.
Let the kids rub it in when they beat you.
And they will be just as proud of your car as their car.

Come to think of it, these are the same 6 reasons I like my kids being in church with me.

6 Steps for Helping My Kids Build a Pinewood Derby Car

Building Pinewood derby cars is one of my families favorite scout projects. We have built them for years. We love creating new ideas and trying to turn our favorite things, movies, or toys into a car that is not just cool looking, but fast.

Red Rat Rod, Tan Horse, Black Dragon, Caterpillar, #80 Green Racer, #49 Angry Pig

We have to start way in advance. I have 3 boys in scouting. 1 American Heritage Girl, and my wife and I are both involved in leadership. That is correct, six (6) cars. It takes a while.

The kids are eager to get started and this is the BEGINNING of the process to get it all done. This is just a starting point for those who don't know where to begin.

First, Dream drawing 

Draw several cars on paper.We encourage then to try to turn what they love into a car. One son has an Angry Birds theme going on. My daughter made a caterpillar one year and a butterfly the next.  My oldest son is which ever movie he likes at the time. He has make Speed Racer, Star Wars Forest speeder bike, dragon, and an arrow. I have one son who likes old Hot Rods Race cars and so that is what he makes. I like old junk rat rods, so that is what I make, except one year I made a tractor.
Have fun with them. Encourage crazy ideas.

Second, the design on template.

The design must fit on a template of the block of wood's top and side. This is interesting, because they learn to think 3 dimensional. Sometimes we use toy cars so they can get the idea. Make sure the wheels closest to the end of the block of wood is in the back. Putting the weight back there is important for speed.

If you are looking for templates, here are some printable ones. Free Templates

The template I use for the kids is in the back of this Derby Design book, which is a great resource for adults helping a scout. I have learned so much from it. All of the books in this group are good.

Third, redesign

After they draw it the first time it's usually big and bulky. We talk about aerodynamics. How can we make it thinner. Where will we hide the weights so that it still looks cool? What will attach to it so that it looks the way you want it? This is where I may draw a few lines to make it smaller, clean things up a little. After all it has to be able to be cut, by a 9 year old. And you want it to be fast. Remember, we don't do it for them, we do it with them.

The Hoot painting in his fire flames, because they make any car faster. 

Forth, weights and accessories in design

Yeah, we try to have a good idea of the finished product before we cut out the car. Not because I am super smart or annul about those things, but I've made so many mistakes and had to redo so many times, I finally figured a few things out. It also helps builders stay focused on ONE design and not change it all over the place.

The Angry Birds cars have "Rocket Boosters" on the back of them. We found cheap wrench sockets to use as Boosters, and as weight. We also glued weights inside of the socket and the character so the car looks good, clean, and finished. The Red Rat Rod had a "Spare Tire" on the back that was full of washers for weight.
The Forest speeder below used large fishing washers for bags and tanks.
Lots of those things are thought about, collected and put in baggies.
Boy's Life  and Dremel have some great tips for you to think about.

The Pup test fitting  & checking his work. 

Fifth, Make copies and get baggies.

With everything on paper I make a few photocopies. (With 6 cars it's easy to loose and misplace things.) Everything goes in their own Gallon sized Ziplock bag. You can also use a shoe box, small tool box, old sock without a hole in it. (Again, I'm not organized, just lost it enough times that I finally figured it out.)

For building and speed I'm going to defer to other experts. It is covered in books, articles, blogs, and the other guys at the scout meeting. I think these first 5 steps get over looked a lot. This is to help you get started and a plan to follow.

Pink Tornado polishing her axles for speed.

Sixth, FINALLY, go over safety and start cutting.

The kids, eight years old and up, cut their own cars out on a scroll saw. I stay right with them, thus the reason I have no pictures of this step. They also have to use coping saws or chisels, depending on the design. We will do a little a time if we have to due to being tired or frustrated. (This is also why it takes so long.)
Don't worry about missing the lines, anything can be shaped or cleaned up with a power sander. Just make sure they wear a mask and it is well marked. Red Sharpies are great for this.

Here are some tips to keep your kid working.

• Sand the really rough stuff for them to start with or give them a small power sander.

The Head using a power sander to get started with.

• Have them sand on it while watching a movie. Lay out newspaper or old towels you can shake outside.

The Pup sanding his Angry Pig Car.
The Pig was full of 2 ounces of lead and sat right over the rear wheels.

• I always tell my kids, the difference between "THAT's AWESOME!!!" and "yeah, nice car", is SANDING (and polyurethane). 
• Sand on your car while they are sanding on their car. 
• Build your own car along side of them.6 reasons to build your own car.
• Refer back to their design and plan. 
• Check out your Local LOWE's Hardware Store. They should be doing Pinewood Derby Dremel build days with test tracks.

This is a competitive event. 

But it is also a FUN event, 

a LEARNING event, 

a FAMILY event. 

When they do most of the work themselves, they are that much More proud of themselves and take better care of their cars.

The Head with his WeBeLoS car.
It wasn't fast, the design was off balance, but it did the job and looked cool.

"The Head"s version of a Star War's Forest Speeder Bike.