Post by thetasboy on Jan 22, 2007 3:43:20 GMT -6
To the WIRL group,
I have been building pinewood derby cars with my son now for 5 years. It is kinda funny since I never had help building my car 38 years ago that I should be so into it now. I cant wait for Christmas when they give the kids the cars.
Our first year, we took second at our pack (76 cars), but did poorly at the district, Although we won a Most Realistic Award since we hand built a version of a formula racing car.
Our second year was great fun, we built a mouse car with a tail and all. We even made our own decals. great fun, slow car, though in those days they were still judging the races by eye.
Our third year we made a cool looking spider car, with a canopy that acually opened up and a lego racer inside with steering wheel and all. I also designed a great car carrier with six slots in it, one for each year and an extra slot for the badges and pins that we get for participating. I built it with my son and he loves it to peices, something he will always keep and remember the times we spent building these precious little cars.
Our fourth year, we had to build the car at my job site. the paint job was not very good. lots of finger prints and crooked pinstripes, but we came in third at the pack race and got to go the the district race again. And again, we did not even compete very well against the other cars.
This year was starting to look grim in terms of time. We built the car in four days. we decided that this is the last chance we had to get a first place since he will be moving on to boy scouts, so I put all the stuff I have learned over the last four years into this car. It paid off. We won first place at our pack. My son was very excited. We will be going to the district race in February.
I had no idea that there was so many folks into the pinewood car stuff like me. I just found this website yesterday. I have looked at a few sites that offer suggestions here and there, but never bought any thing from the dealers. we just went to a local craft store to buy a set of weights and decals. I saw some of the tools that were available, but thought they were probably gimicks just to get a few bucks. I had no idea that this was big stuff lately.
I am very excited. Just today my daughter asked if I could build a car with her. I cant wait. My older son wants us to send our cars in to race. And, I have a six year old that will enter cub scouts in the fall for another five years of joy with him.
I am glad that there are other folks out there that love this as much as I seem to. I can't wait to start building another car. I will post some pics of our cars and box soon. We are very proud of our work, even the not so perfect ones.
Best regards,
The Tas Boy (David)
I have been building pinewood derby cars with my son now for 5 years. It is kinda funny since I never had help building my car 38 years ago that I should be so into it now. I cant wait for Christmas when they give the kids the cars.
Our first year, we took second at our pack (76 cars), but did poorly at the district, Although we won a Most Realistic Award since we hand built a version of a formula racing car.
Our second year was great fun, we built a mouse car with a tail and all. We even made our own decals. great fun, slow car, though in those days they were still judging the races by eye.
Our third year we made a cool looking spider car, with a canopy that acually opened up and a lego racer inside with steering wheel and all. I also designed a great car carrier with six slots in it, one for each year and an extra slot for the badges and pins that we get for participating. I built it with my son and he loves it to peices, something he will always keep and remember the times we spent building these precious little cars.
Our fourth year, we had to build the car at my job site. the paint job was not very good. lots of finger prints and crooked pinstripes, but we came in third at the pack race and got to go the the district race again. And again, we did not even compete very well against the other cars.
This year was starting to look grim in terms of time. We built the car in four days. we decided that this is the last chance we had to get a first place since he will be moving on to boy scouts, so I put all the stuff I have learned over the last four years into this car. It paid off. We won first place at our pack. My son was very excited. We will be going to the district race in February.
I had no idea that there was so many folks into the pinewood car stuff like me. I just found this website yesterday. I have looked at a few sites that offer suggestions here and there, but never bought any thing from the dealers. we just went to a local craft store to buy a set of weights and decals. I saw some of the tools that were available, but thought they were probably gimicks just to get a few bucks. I had no idea that this was big stuff lately.
I am very excited. Just today my daughter asked if I could build a car with her. I cant wait. My older son wants us to send our cars in to race. And, I have a six year old that will enter cub scouts in the fall for another five years of joy with him.
I am glad that there are other folks out there that love this as much as I seem to. I can't wait to start building another car. I will post some pics of our cars and box soon. We are very proud of our work, even the not so perfect ones.
Best regards,
The Tas Boy (David)
