Painwood Derby

Those of you that used to be in Cub Scouts, or had friends or family in scouts, undoubtedly have heard of the Pinewood Derby. This is a father/son project designed to take a block of wood and turn it into a functioning race car, for a big derby race that takes place this Saturday (at least for us). Unfortunately for my son, I'm just not a handy guy.

The instruction sheet shows tools like a hand-sized hacksaw, chisel, and sand paper. Using these tools, we're supposed to design, craft, and paint a car for the competition, within the specified rules. Yeah, right. Of course, we could buy one, but that kind of defeats the whole purpose of this father/son bonding experience. There's nothing like showing my son what I'm like at my absolute worst, in order to teach him the lessons of life.

Fortunately for us, however, both my dad and my father-in-law are capable woodworkers, and they have access to these fancy tool thingies (or to me, modern implements of torture). Therefore, my son and I are at least able to reduce our duties to sanding, painting, assembling the wheels, and getting the correct weight. The car has to weigh 5 oz. After shaping it, the last two years, it's weighed 3.5 oz. exactly. The problem is, it's hard to add weight to the car without destroying it (at least if you're me). Last year, we stuck the weights on the sides and at the front end, and I asked my son to use his imagination, and pretend that we had a cool car with duel-exhausts and a crumple-resistant bumper. I wasn't going to get away with that this year.

So, I come home, with exactly one hour and forty-five minutes until the official weigh-in and collection of the racing vehicles. Knowing that I can't just stick the weights on the bottom (they would rub against the track, and the car wouldn't run), I decided I would embed them in the wood this year. Of course, without budgeting enough time, without the proper tools, and without any know-how, I was poised for success. I like a challenge. Many years ago, when my dad and my father-in-law came down to "help" me assemble my swingset (I was the designated nut/screw finder), I observed the art of countersinking. Digging through my like-new toolbox, I was able to find the countersinking drill bits, and make a hole for some washers in the bottom of the vehicle. Lucky for me, I didn't drill all the way through the car, nor did I splinter it (since I left myself plenty of time to fix any mistakes, LOL). A trip to the post office (to use the scale), 7 washers, and a little superglue later, I had my car at the perfect weight. Now, if I can only figure out how to get all four wheels on the ground at the same time...