Cub Pack 1 Pinewood Derby

Cub Pack 1 Pinewood Derby

Report from a Cub and his Dad

Here is how I made a Pinewood Derby racecar with my dad. We had a lot of fun working on this project. He helped make it look nice, but he showed me how to do the really hard work. I learned a lot about how to use the tools, how to shape the wood, and how to work together on a project.

First we had to plan it. We drew 2 rectangles on paper which showed the wood block from the top and from the side.

Then we drew the shape of the car
over those rectangles.

Then we copied that design onto the wood that we would cut. We sawed the corners of the wood block as seen from the top.

The corners were could be rounded off with a rasp, a sureform tool, a file or a sandpaper block. We used coarse sandpaper to shape it and fine sandpaper to smooth it.

For longer shapes or shapes that are not cut straight across, we saw down to the level of the lines drawn on the wood block. We did this all along the shape.

Then, it was easy to chip away the pieces left standing with a mallet and chisel, or a hammer
and screwdriver.

We used sandpaper to round off and smooth the whole car. It took a while to cut, carve and shape. That was a lot of work.

Then I measured the axle slots to make sure they were deep enough. We had to do this because the axle slots that came on the wooden block were not straight. They have to be straight
if your car is going to roll straight.

After that I covered the car with sanding sealer two times, and I sanded it again and again. We painted green stripes on it. My dad could make stripes that were really straight.

Everything had to dry. Then we covered the car with polyurethane. Last we put the wheels on and then added weights to make it exactly 5 ounces.