Hi do all you pro's and non pro's alike! Our scout race is fast approaching, and in typical Duck fashion, I am WAY over thinking things, and making myself nervous! We had a tech day Saturday, the 22nd and my goal is to see how our cars do and hope for the best.
The problem is with a strict rule set, I don't feel like there is much I can do to fix any problem. Must use slots providing, no drilling. no bending. Each wheel must ride flat on the ground. All four wheels touching. Must use axles that come in kit. Must use wheels that come in the kit. How do you fix a wobbly wheel or misaligned rear end with those rules?
Needless to say, I've spent HOURS obsessing and working on these little cars with little to work with, trying to figure out how I can get it to run correctly without breaking the rules. This is how I set them up to run:
4" drift over 4', with one wheel floating. It still turns, technically touches, but just barely. Then I took 4 feet of plastic test track and let them ride down that. All of my cars scrapped the rail with the back wheels! They shouldn't, should they? I spent painstaking hours to get them to not to. So now they run 4" over 4' and on a 4' test track, at the end of the track the back wheels center the center lane. They also all seem to run down my tuning board fast, comparative to other cars I've worked on. I'm confident they are fast.
Is this right? Or would I have been better off leaving the back wheels as is, scrapping the rail. I'm worried that I've gouged and turned and pushed and pulled the axles into submission in there slots and slowed them down too much! They still seem to be fast, minimum wobbles, not erratic...but...
Overthinking this!
I guess basically what I'm asking is if I set my cars to drift 4 inches over 4 feet, and finagle the axles so that at the end of a 4 foot test track, they are center on the rail...should I be good?
Or would I have been better off leaving the back wheels as is and taking my chances. I don't want a back wheel to be fighting a front wheel for alignment at the cost of speed, but also don't want to scrap the rail with the back.
By the way, i'm TERRIFIED our cars won't pass inspection! After all the adjusting, and above all else, after dealing with the imperfections of the slots, it took maddening amount of times just to get 4 wheels touching! The stock slots...not a single one of them...when you insert the wheel, they do NOT like to be flat, not perfectly. Or straight for that matter. I just don't see how they can expect ANY scout to be able to get a car to touch all four wheels and be flat on the ground...when I can't even do it!
It's all good. My kids and I have made three cars so if one fails, next up in line. My sincere hope though is their main ones, the ones we spent all our time on and I feel will be the fastest. The ones going 4' over 4" and avoiding the center railing....that those pass.
Thanks you guys in advance for easing my fears, or heightening them.
PWD God's be with me now!
The problem is with a strict rule set, I don't feel like there is much I can do to fix any problem. Must use slots providing, no drilling. no bending. Each wheel must ride flat on the ground. All four wheels touching. Must use axles that come in kit. Must use wheels that come in the kit. How do you fix a wobbly wheel or misaligned rear end with those rules?
Needless to say, I've spent HOURS obsessing and working on these little cars with little to work with, trying to figure out how I can get it to run correctly without breaking the rules. This is how I set them up to run:
4" drift over 4', with one wheel floating. It still turns, technically touches, but just barely. Then I took 4 feet of plastic test track and let them ride down that. All of my cars scrapped the rail with the back wheels! They shouldn't, should they? I spent painstaking hours to get them to not to. So now they run 4" over 4' and on a 4' test track, at the end of the track the back wheels center the center lane. They also all seem to run down my tuning board fast, comparative to other cars I've worked on. I'm confident they are fast.
Is this right? Or would I have been better off leaving the back wheels as is, scrapping the rail. I'm worried that I've gouged and turned and pushed and pulled the axles into submission in there slots and slowed them down too much! They still seem to be fast, minimum wobbles, not erratic...but...
Overthinking this!
I guess basically what I'm asking is if I set my cars to drift 4 inches over 4 feet, and finagle the axles so that at the end of a 4 foot test track, they are center on the rail...should I be good?
Or would I have been better off leaving the back wheels as is and taking my chances. I don't want a back wheel to be fighting a front wheel for alignment at the cost of speed, but also don't want to scrap the rail with the back.
By the way, i'm TERRIFIED our cars won't pass inspection! After all the adjusting, and above all else, after dealing with the imperfections of the slots, it took maddening amount of times just to get 4 wheels touching! The stock slots...not a single one of them...when you insert the wheel, they do NOT like to be flat, not perfectly. Or straight for that matter. I just don't see how they can expect ANY scout to be able to get a car to touch all four wheels and be flat on the ground...when I can't even do it!
It's all good. My kids and I have made three cars so if one fails, next up in line. My sincere hope though is their main ones, the ones we spent all our time on and I feel will be the fastest. The ones going 4' over 4" and avoiding the center railing....that those pass.
Thanks you guys in advance for easing my fears, or heightening them.
PWD God's be with me now!
Strict rule set. Here is the part of the rules that forbids it:
