Derby Time!

We have a new scout this year, so we get to build TWO cars!

They drew out a couple of ideas, picked their favorites, and sketched them onto the blanks. I cut 'em out on the bandsaw and cleaned them up a little on the sanders, but left some sanding for them to do.



This is always my favorite part. Got the mill all set up and then let them run the carriage back and forth.





Tater, wearing my "angry eyes".



And some paint. Older bro just about has painting down pat- he's done it 3 times now. Had to help him a little on a practice piece, but he pretty much did the primer all by himself. Younger bro needed some help... He'll get there. Had one pretty good gob where he pushed the button and forgot to move the can.









Let them dry for a bit while we worked on smoothing up the wheels and they shot the final color. I *might* have touched them both up a bit. (okay, I did the silver paint with some "help" from him. That paint is like water...)





Got some stripes in the plans it sounds like. Be interesting to see how they turn out!

Time for some pretty stuff... STRIPING!







Got the wheels all polished. Need to figure out the final weight amount and just put them together.


Finished 'em up. New rule, we have to use "white" graphite. I've always used an actual OIL in the past, worked okay for me. This stuff seems to suck. Oil soaks up a lot of the wheel wobble, this stuff almost seems to make it worse.



Pound some nails.





Spent some time getting the weights right and glued 'em in.



Ta-da!





  Hope they do okay! 

Race Day!






Some of the competition:



The orange one in the middle was FAAAASSSTTTT.

Instant replay:









And of course, they had to try the loops of death.



The blue one never made it, but the silver bullet made it every time.

Gobs of happy campers.



and for fun, a video. The ONLY race one of 'em came in first place.






Neither one placed, which is sorta good because it means we don't have to go to districts. They had a "white graphite only" rule this year, and the graphite SUCKED. They decided after a practice round to allow the regular stuff, but the damage was done. Ah well, better luck next year. They had fun and they did a great job on their cars. Some of the others- well, Dad did a great job on their cars and the kids had fun at the races. For me, its more about the journey. :deal