Speed Building

[Kinser Racing]

I was informed yesterday that my nephew would be here today and he has a race next weekend. So we have about 4 hours today to build a winning car. I'm a little nervous because I'm an all or nothing guy and I'm don't know how dedicated he is to winning, or what kind of worker he is. I make sure the boy touches and is involved in every part of the building process. Thank goodness for Sharpies. lol

 

[Ryanh]

Im sure you can come up something. You can do him lime i did my son a few years back, start him on an axle and see how dedicated he his. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]OH ya NO pressure there...haha Best of luck to ya...Im sure he (you) will do well[/font]

 

[DNA RACING]

sounds like the night before the pack race, i had 7 different kids call and want help for the car. then when they get to the house they have a drawing on paper of what they want it to look like.......good luck !!

 

[MWDracing]

sounds like the night before the pack race, i had 7 different kids call and want help for the car. then when they get to the house they have a drawing on paper of what they want it to look like.......good luck !!

Sounds really familiar SQUATCH

MWD

 

[Kinser Racing]

Here's the car, that thing next to it is what his grandpa tried to carve for him.

 

[Resophonic Racing]

Here's the car, that thing next to it is what his grandpa tried to carve for him.

He has to be happy with that!

 

[Chief]

[font="times new roman, times, serif"]Im really glad you helped him...if you hadnt all the kids may have gave him a hard time about racing a peanut...nice job Kinser

I hope you didnt give it to much speed...[/font]

 

[Kinser Racing]

We had a good time together. He was very appreciative. He's a good kid. I didn't think it looked like a peanut as much as it looked like something worse. lol

 

[quadad]

Good Job !!!

I have a relative coming over next weekend. Similar deal, limited hours, all in one day, not sure how hard a worker he is. Being the nerdy type, I have a few simple designs ready and a schedule already laid out. Its his first car though and I am emphasizing to his parents that the car has to stay in the box after we are done until race time. Still trying to get the rules though ... big problem.

 

[oskiwow]

First post to this board /images/boards/smilies/smile.gif

So what did you do in 4 hours?

I was thinking of creating a video as a guide for our "last minute" parents for our Pack -- the goal is to at least show them that by allocating 4 hours with their son, they can build a good car.

Currently, I have outlined that they can

1. cut the car from the block.
2. one coat of sprayed paint
3. while the paint dries, they can do some prep with axles and wheels
4. attach axles and wheels and do some minor alignment
5. graphite wheels

 

[quadad]

oskiwow - Welcome !!

I am sure Kinser has this down to a science, here is roughly the order of what I did with a young relative in more like 6-7 hours (going for speed) recently:


Initial Body Work

Sand Block to fit Silver Bullet

Mark Block

Drill Axle Holes

Verify Initial Alignment

Trace Car Outline, Weight Holes

Cut Out Car and Wt Holes

Install Any Weights Going Thru Car Sides

Sand & Patch and Put Aside Until Dry



Axles

File Axles

Sand and Polish Axles

Bend, Slot RR Axle

Coat, Lube Axles as Desired



Final Body Work

Final Sand of Car Body, Seal & Prime As Desired

Paint Car



Wheels

Sand Wheels (if Required)

Prep Wheel Inner/Outer Hub, etc. as req'd

Prep Wheel Bores

Any Final Wheel Prep



Final Prep

Weight Car close to 5 oz.

Set Initial Drift

Initial Lube of Body and Wheels/Axles

Test & Tune (if Possible)

Final Lube (if req'd)

Glue Axles

Box for Transport


Not that much different from what you had, just more details. Some amount has to be customized obviously for your rules, tools, available parts (i.e. lathed wheels) and products (e.g. bore polish) and obviously time frame and what your goal is. Young kids get along well with the water based acrylic paints which dry quick. Some of the more pro steps like tuning the weight placement are likely not practical for what you are talking about.

There are a lot of posts in different forums about Workshops, check those out, including the one from 5Kids (I think) in PWDR. Since I had 4 kids at home making cars most of the time, our house was kind of like a workshop. You need to think that way a bit to move along quickly - for example, I have a plastic box with enough compartments for pre-cut axle sand paper strips, string and polish. I would lay out piles of successive grit for other sand paper for the body work, anything to help keep the idle time down because young kids have limited attention span. I always had pictures for kids to look at for shape ideas, as well as paper drawings of the blank car with wheels on it that they could draw their own ideas on.
Along the way I try to tell them about why we are doing these steps. I try to finish with a classic 'do your best' mini-lecture about how anything can happen on race day, congratulate whatever kid wins, etc., and then tell the kid and the parent about not touching the car until check-in. I show the kid how to hold the car so that he can present it for inspection.

Hope that helps.

 

[Kinser Racing]

When working with the boys I make sure they are involved with every bit of the process. We prepped wheels, got his block prepped with weight pockets, and filed and polished his axles. The latter took the longest, as we used the kit axles and had to groove them correctly. We needed to be really safe because we didn't have any rules that we were aware of, so we built it a little on the conservative side. He had to take it home that day so we Sharpied it, I hate paint. lol