NationStates Jolt Archive

My son's scout pack's pine wood derby car race is coming on Wednesday night. Its supposed to be a project that father and son take part in design and building of the car. Of course, the boys arent supposed to use power tools, but I had my son do a lot of work on the car with a dremmel rotary tool-with safety glasses, leather gloves and a dusk mask, he did a great job. He is sanding it almost completely himself. I'm going to see if he is able to paint it, but he will sand between coats.
Other dad's I've spoken to are doing most, if not all of the work. Some of them are super competitive. Is this a boy's race or a dad's race?
Of course I want my son to win, but not with a car he had little to do with. He has done so much work on this car now, if he wins, the victory will be so sweet.

Any of you involved in the pinewood derby, or similar parent/child projects? Does it annoy you when the parent does the lion's share? And the kids simply get the reward/grade? Where will it leave these kids when they get older and cant tackle a project?

acutally, funny you should mention it. My daughter is in AWANA and they are doing a pinewood derby in March, next month they are having a "work day" mid-Febuary, so that everyone can share their tools to make the cars. I haven't been invited since my daughter said "it's a daddy-daughter thing mom"

I get to go watch her race it though, I hope she wins:D

and we still have my husband's pinewood derby car from Boy Scouts, it's 22 year s old and still looks beautiful.

I remember the pinewood derby we had back in 1993 in Port Aransas. My brother was in the local Cub Scout den, see (I was way too young).

Anyway, it was definitely competition for parents. One kid's dad rigged their car with lead weights. Another's had used a woodshop to make theirs.

After all of the disqualifications, my brother ended up winning.

The boys in my troop have to make them in my workshop, not at home.

Dad participates - but I'm there watching. And I have a lot more equipment than the other dads, so there's no complaining about a shortage of tools.

My son's scout pack's pine wood derby car race is coming on Wednesday night. Its supposed to be a project that father and son take part in design and building of the car. Of course, the boys arent supposed to use power tools, but I had my son do a lot of work on the car with a dremmel rotary tool-with safety glasses, leather gloves and a dusk mask, he did a great job. He is sanding it almost completely himself. I'm going to see if he is able to paint it, but he will sand between coats.
Other dad's I've spoken to are doing most, if not all of the work. Some of them are super competitive. Is this a boy's race or a dad's race?
Of course I want my son to win, but not with a car he had little to do with. He has done so much work on this car now, if he wins, the victory will be so sweet.

Any of you involved in the pinewood derby, or similar parent/child projects? Does it annoy you when the parent does the lion's share? And the kids simply get the reward/grade? Where will it leave these kids when they get older and cant tackle a project?when I was involved with the Boy Scouts, I designed the car, but my father did cut the wood. While I would've liked to use those nice big powertools, I do understand why it couldn't be.

I did everything else with him offering advice.

(won second place :D )

acutally, funny you should mention it. My daughter is in AWANA and they are doing a pinewood derby in March, next month they are having a "work day" mid-Febuary, so that everyone can share their tools to make the cars. I haven't been invited since my daughter said "it's a daddy-daughter thing mom"

I get to go watch her race it though, I hope she wins:D

and we still have my husband's pinewood derby car from Boy Scouts, it's 22 year s old and still looks beautiful.

Good luck to your daughter.

I still have my cars from 30 yrs ago. I won two years in a row and my mother recently gave me the box with the cars, trophies and newspaper clippings. My older son came in second when he was a scout-I dont know where that trophy or car are now.
It would be nice to win again.

Who cares about winning? Just make a cool looking car and win the cool looking car award as well as the awe and respect of all the other scouts.

Any of you involved in the pinewood derby, or similar parent/child projects? Does it annoy you when the parent does the lion's share? And the kids simply get the reward/grade? Where will it leave these kids when they get older and cant tackle a project?

The car, the race, and the trophy mean nothing.

Whats important, is that you and your son are spending time togther, and enjoying each others company, while furthering the bond between you.

Wether he wins or loses, wont matter in a few years.
What will matter, is his memories of how he and Dad, made it together.

For that....you rock.

The boys in my troop have to make them in my workshop, not at home.

Dad participates - but I'm there watching. And I have a lot more equipment than the other dads, so there's no complaining about a shortage of tools.

I'm certainly no craftman and just have the basic tools-chisels, rasps, filesetc. This rotary tool does a great job if you learn to control the amount of wood you remove. I also feel its safe enough for him to use with my supervision. We practiced on the first block,which came out terribly lopsided. l
The second one will race though. We styled it after a 60s Cobra. He wanted to bring the unfinished car to school today to show his friends, but I told him after the race. Wood putty over the weights is drying under a lamp now-then more sanding and then painting. I'm polishing the axles-I'll be doing that as I'm having a tricky time with getting the burs and crimps off.

The car, the race, and the trophy mean nothing.

Whats important, is that you and your son are spending time togther, and enjoying each others company, while furthering the bond between you.

Wether he wins or loses, wont matter in a few years.
What will matter, is his memories of how he and Dad, made it together.

For that....you rock.

Thanks- my kids and I do a lot together already. I work from home, so I'm lucky enough to be involved in a lot.
Watching a movie together is good, going on a hike or playing with GI Joes (and now Barbies with my daughter) in the yard is fun, but actually designing and creating something together-especially something other people will look at and judge is really great.

You're right. At this point-I already feel like a winner.

A trophy will just be the icing on a really great cake.

Who cares about winning? Just make a cool looking car and win the cool looking car award as well as the awe and respect of all the other scouts.

If we hadnt already used the backup car, I wanted to make a second car for the cool car competeition shaped and finished like a cigar.

Good luck to your daughter.

I still have my cars from 30 yrs ago. I won two years in a row and my mother recently gave me the box with the cars, trophies and newspaper clippings. My older son came in second when he was a scout-I dont know where that trophy or car are now.
It would be nice to win again.
yeah, I think she is just excited about getting to participate. I think it would make it so much better for her if she wins though, they are giving out trophies for 1st 2nd and 3rd in her age group and ribbons for other stuff like "most creative design" ect. I think she will be happy if she wins anything, but I really want her to get a trophy.

When I was in Cub Scouts, it always pissed me off when someone's parents did most of the work for him. I always made mine myself, carving it completely by hand with my pocket knife. Our pack allowed weights, but your car had to be under a certain limit or you were disqualified. If you could get it down to weight before the race started though, you could re-enter it. I figured out that I wasn't very likely to win the race itself, so I started going for best design. I won at least once, but I can't remember if I won more than once. Now that I think about it, I think they had different divisions for "scout with parents" and "scout alone" but I don't remember if that extended to the race itself or just the design awards.

yeah, I think she is just excited about getting to participate. I think it would make it so much better for her if she wins though, they are giving out trophies for 1st 2nd and 3rd in her age group and ribbons for other stuff like "most creative design" ect. I think she will be happy if she wins anything, but I really want her to get a trophy.


Of course-I want a trophy for my son too. We always want the best.

He is already pretty damn happy about the whole thing though.

I suppose it is against the rules to rig your rockets with a couple "D" model rocket engines to your car? It is needlessly restrictive rules based on silly things like "safety", "fair play" and "not setting yourself on fire" that kept me out of the scouts.

Back when I was in scouts I had to widle my car out of a pinewood block and then used sand paper to make it smooth becouse we didn't have any power tools. My dad just gave me the knife and advice. (scout knives are awfull thats why I used my Fathers folder)

funny enough i have my old car it was carved like a 38 packard town car. course it was the 3rd one i made. my older brother actually helped me since dad was a navy man. every time i brought one in one of the dads would look at it and it would "Fall" apart on them. ( i still think trevors dad broke the car cause all he could do for his son was spray paint the car after he made it look like a gnarled wedge,) but any who long gone are those great days, and yes i did my share of Extra features on my cars, once i put a set of spring loaded spikes on the sides of my car so that once the wheels pulled enough the rubber band would release the spikes that would either 1 knock the cars that are beside mine off the track ( i always wanted the middle lane) 2 act as a horrible barrie and push the cars ahead of mine further forward or 3 if mine was in the lead, kept mine in the lead by preventing the other cars from passing, Ahh yes the great shadow... how i wish a upset parent never broke her on the pavment with his car after he rolled over it 5 times before it snapped.

Ahh I remember my derby cars. We tried diffrent models every year, but it never quite worked out. It was fun, me and my dad did the building together. :)

I made it all the way to Eagle Scout myself.

Ahh I remember my derby cars. We tried diffrent models every year, but it never quite worked out. It was fun, me and my dad did the building together. :)

I made it all the way to Eagle Scout myself.

Eagle Scout- thats an accomplishment. Good for you.

I stopped at Boy Scouts. I hope my son will continue to get a lot out of it and stay in as long as he is happy. I'll stay as a leader til he is no longer in.

Participated in my first pinewood derby in 1960 or 1961. I think it's always been primarily a father against father thing in reality. Even though I did more and more of the actual labor (I participated in 3 derbys), Dad was pretty much in strict control of design, closely monitoring my every move during consruction. I was allowed to choose the color the car was painted.
All-in-all I thought it was a very positive-bonding experience.
Scouting was a very rewarding experience. I did quit scouting as a life scout because I became an atheist and just really couldn't deal with the religious undercurrent of the Eagle ceremony. It never ocurred to me back in those days to make any waves about it. However, I look back at scouting as one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

The what now?

I suppose it is against the rules to rig your rockets with a couple "D" model rocket engines to your car? It is needlessly restrictive rules based on silly things like "safety", "fair play" and "not setting yourself on fire" that kept me out of the scouts.

At least you didn't get molested. :D

Heh, good luck to your kid.

I did mine in 2000, when I was a Webelos II scout. Mine would have won, but due to a misunderstanding when we read the rules, I made the front entirely flat like a car grille instead of coming down like an F1 racer. :(

It still won best looking, though. :) My uncle helped me out a lot, though -- there were things I designed that I simply could not do with a scout knife and a regular paintbrush.

I suppose it is against the rules to rig your rockets with a couple "D" model rocket engines to your car? It is needlessly restrictive rules based on silly things like "safety", "fair play" and "not setting yourself on fire" that kept me out of the scouts.

So? I did that to a car once in Scouts. I also sword-fought with other scouts and created a miniature explosive device.

All outside of the eyes of the scoutmaster. :)

And look at me now! I'm Senior Patrol Leader, almost Eagle, and my troop fears me cause they think I'm psycho. :D

Wow that brings back memories.

Yes it does annoy me by the fact I lost first place to a car that was obviously done by an adult. Mine looked like a kid done it. Bad yellow paint with a red stripe that was obviously done by a finger! :D I wanted the a red stripe and the paint had dried too much.

The winner had a car the looked like a rocket and it even had two wind foils. The painting was obviously spray painted.

Ahh well. It goes on everywhere.

Little league would have been soo much more fun if certain parents were banned. ;)

So? I did that to a car once in Scouts. I also sword-fought with other scouts and created a miniature explosive device.

All outside of the eyes of the scoutmaster. :)

And look at me now! I'm Senior Patrol Leader, almost Eagle, and my troop fears me cause they think I'm psycho. :D

Eagle Scout myself. Was Senior Patrol Leader, Quatermaster and Assisten Scout Master.

Make sure you finish it. It's easy to get disracted.

Psycho eh? Well many Eagle Scouts know how to get into trouble. ;)

My son's scout pack's pine wood derby car race is coming on Wednesday night. Its supposed to be a project that father and son take part in design and building of the car. Of course, the boys arent supposed to use power tools, but I had my son do a lot of work on the car with a dremmel rotary tool-with safety glasses, leather gloves and a dusk mask, he did a great job. He is sanding it almost completely himself. I'm going to see if he is able to paint it, but he will sand between coats.
Other dad's I've spoken to are doing most, if not all of the work. Some of them are super competitive. Is this a boy's race or a dad's race?
Of course I want my son to win, but not with a car he had little to do with. He has done so much work on this car now, if he wins, the victory will be so sweet.

Any of you involved in the pinewood derby, or similar parent/child projects? Does it annoy you when the parent does the lion's share? And the kids simply get the reward/grade? Where will it leave these kids when they get older and cant tackle a project?

Personaly I did bout 80 percent of the work on the car when I did it
My dad just added the little tricks and such to it

We were not always the prettiest but we always won (GO graphite Lube!!111!!)

Eagle Scout myself. Was Senior Patrol Leader, Quatermaster and Assisten Scout Master.

Make sure you finish it. It's easy to get disracted.

Psycho eh? Well many Eagle Scouts know how to get into trouble. ;)

I'll keep that in mind. :D

We once did a derby called the dirty derby. It was grand. Slick track insted of lanes, and the only rules were that it had to use the wheels from a regelur pinewood car (actually use them, my baseball with the wheels nailed on got DQ'ed), and fit through the starting gate. The winning "car" my time around was the head of a pick axe supported on the wheels of about 20 derby cars. Best derby ever.

So? I did that to a car once in Scouts. I also sword-fought with other scouts and created a miniature explosive device.

All outside of the eyes of the scoutmaster. :)

And look at me now! I'm Senior Patrol Leader, almost Eagle, and my troop fears me cause they think I'm psycho. :D
And the boy scouts paid me all summer to "sword fight" with scouts. I love my job.

Personaly I did bout 80 percent of the work on the car when I did it
My dad just added the little tricks and such to it

We were not always the prettiest but we always won (GO graphite Lube!!111!!)


I won first place twice as a kid and I think the powdered graphite was the reason. They were god cars too, but I beat everyone else soundly. I dont think graphite was that well known back then.

And the boy scouts paid me all summer to "sword fight" with scouts. I love my job.

Haha, nice. :)

Our summercamp around here is kinda like that. I won't work there, though. Not enough money to give me for killing my summer. ;)

My son won third place last night!!!!!

We are pretty damn happy! The 1st place car looked as if it was cast in a machine-it was perfect, symetrical and had a perfect finish. It beat every other car by a mile, including my son's.

The second place winner was clearly made by both a boy and his father, as was my son's 3rd place. My son is so happy and proud-he brought the car and trophy to school today to show all his friends.

I have no problem with third-to me it feels like second as it did to everyone that participated- the 1st place car was made mainly by and experienced man with all proper tools and know-how. I have a feeling his son may not have even been there for much of the build as I know them personally. I have nothing against them-no ill -will or grudge-no bitter comments. Our third place is a really happy win and my son will start the project next year with more enthusiasm and more exprerience.

Yesterday was a good day for our family.

Congrats, Carnivorous Lickers and son!

This brings back lots of memories. :D

Our pack allowed weights and whatever tools. Parents were allowed to help regular cubs, but not Webelos. And there were several people in the pack who had nice shops at home that opened their doors to anyone who didn't have tools or wanted help.

Both my brother and I went all the way to Eagle.

Any of you involved in the pinewood derby, or similar parent/child projects? Does it annoy you when the parent does the lion's share? And the kids simply get the reward/grade? Where will it leave these kids when they get older and cant tackle a project?


My dad made us do most of the work for this exact same project. However never won the race but I did get satisfaction out of actually building the car. Anyway good to hear you took the proper path on this. I also am glad to hear they still do this. Use to have alot of fun with these events...