blueprints/help

[badmoona]

hi all, very very new here,
this might beling in the anything goes category but ill try here as well. I am having a birthday party for my 3 year old son who is completely into cars and racing. i though what a great ide it would be to have a opinewood derby for the kids at his party. I am looking for some suggestions for the following:
1. cars: what would be the best kits to get for the 3-9 year old crowd, something that they can make easliy and look cool. i could even paint them in advance and have them put the decals and wheels on themselves? suggestions would help here as i would guess this is the starting point of the whole project. are there premade ars kits?
2. track: ok, im looking around and even calling local bsa troops. Do hobby shops rent these or do bsa troops rent these? OR; could anyone provide me with a simple plan for a 2-4 lane track? not too long, i would say 9 feet? i could even prop it up on a wooden horse if needed. its just for a day. noting too complicated.
3. decals: how long do decals take to dry? could i have the kids put the decals on and then let them dry for about an hour then race? would stickers work and if they do, could anyone point me towards a site or hobby shop that would have them?
4. area: Im in queens, NY. sunnyside area actually, if anyone is from around there and could provide any help, I would really appreciate it.

thanks

louis ardolino
[e-mail]

[phildefiant]

Hey Louis,

My kids & I have used most of the available kits and found the easiest for the kids when they were younger were the Awanas kits. These kits came with a one-piece axle that made assembly pretty simple. Pinecar, available online or at most hobby shops, has one-piece axles available separately that will work with their kit or the BSA kits. Pinecar also has a number of pre-cut car kits for $5-6 range. If you have access to a scroll saw, you can cut a basic car pattern in a block in just a couple of minutes. A little sanding, followed by some Testor's spray paint will have the basic cars ready pretty quickly. Note, allow a couple of days for the paint to dry. Otherwise, you may gum up the wheels.

This age group should be able to insert the one-piece axles, place the wheels and the wheel hubs, and put on the decals with minor adult help. The decals can be peel-off sticky types, also available from Pinecar or BSA. If you use nail axles, more adult help may be needed.

Some cheap track I've recently found is a BSA practice track, 1-lane, plastic, 10 feet long, for about $10. Not very robust, however. You can tack it down to some plywood or MDF for added rigidity. I've constructed a simple track from 4" wide MDF board. It was fairly simple to construct and works fine for non-competition activities.

Hope this helps!