Thanks all

[davet]

My boy took 2nd in Pack yesterday to a guy that wins every year. Last year we had 3.01, 2.99, 2.99 and a 2.98. This year we hit 2.95, 2.96, 2.95 and 2.95. Would've been good enough for 1st Place last year. This year the other guy hit a 2.91 on one run. He's always killin' everyone else. He had weights stacked behind his rear axle so he had a type of shallow spoiler behind the rear wheels. What's that all about? Thanks for all your help over the last 2 seasons.

We got the kit in November. Started right away and still ended up polishing a new set of rear axles 3 hours before check-in in order to try and fix a rear wobble. This is his last year of Scouts and we're running stock kit axles.

The league racing is interesting but these builds have really been to see the smile on my boy's face. Also, my kitchen table the morning of the race looked like we were trying to reverse engineer a nuclear reactor...with wheels. It's cleaned up now and my wife is still asking me to fix the leaky kitchen sink. I guess I can tackle that now.

Thanks again all.

 

[GravityX]

Congratulations on the great finish! Ahh.. the other guy had to be cheating. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

Also, my kitchen table the morning of the race looked like we were trying to reverse engineer a nuclear reactor...with wheels.

You had me rolling with that line.

 

[davet]

Congratulations on the great finish! Ahh.. the other guy had to be cheating. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

Also, my kitchen table the morning of the race looked like we were trying to reverse engineer a nuclear reactor...with wheels.

You had me rolling with that line.

Thanks. I'm sure the reason you thought it was so funny was because you probably have found yourself looking at the same mess and wondering how it got to that.

 

[Knotty Racing]

That was us last year at 8pm the night before Mid America while being 8 hours away from Omaha!

Can definitely relate to that one!

 

[GravityX]

Congratulations on the great finish! Ahh.. the other guy had to be cheating. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

Also, my kitchen table the morning of the race looked like we were trying to reverse engineer a nuclear reactor...with wheels.

You had me rolling with that line.

Thanks. I'm sure the reason you thought it was so funny was because you probably have found yourself looking at the same mess and wondering how it got to that.

That's true... but the look on my wife's face was even better. Ahhh... great memories for sure!

 

[davet]

After the race my wife says, "This is his last year of pinewood derby right?!" with a disapproving-of-how-much-time-I've-spent-on-it look.

It's for the boys right?

 

[IAE Racing]

It's for the boys right?

YUP! Congrats!

 

[ngyoung]

Congrats. You did some great work using stock BSA parts. You happen to talk to the winning car's dad? Maybe he does some lurking on here /images/boards/smilies/sneaky.gif

I am sure you could gain more speed with oil and 92x axles if you wanted to take a run at beating that other car at districts or council. You also have a local speed shop that you could visit that runs your council race.

Now that your son is done with scout derbies, the PWD itch will start growing, come join us at NPWDRL to relieve it.

 

[davet]

Congrats. You did some great work using stock BSA parts. You happen to talk to the winning car's dad? Maybe he does some lurking on here /images/boards/smilies/sneaky.gif

I am sure you could gain more speed with oil and 92x axles if you wanted to take a run at beating that other car at districts or council. You also have a local speed shop that you could visit that runs your council race.

Now that your son is done with scout derbies, the PWD itch will start growing, come join us at NPWDRL to relieve it.

We're running oil. At the Pack level is the only place we race him. He's a different rank but I watch the times from Districts and Council. We beat his times last yr at Districts and Council but he's just a good builder and gets it right the first time. We tune ours basically by seeing how it runs on race day, writing down our specs then making changes for the next event.

I just complimented him on his car and his building skills but didn't ask anything specific. He mentioned that he uses oil which is why his car gets faster each heat but I didn't ask what kind. He did say he knew someone that talked to me at Council race last year. His cars are so good I've often wondered if he's here. He may race in Rosemount here locally but I'm not sure. For all I know he may have given us great advice here or somewhere else and I don't even know it.

 

[ngyoung]

I think if you used aftermarket wheels and axles you your car would be neck and neck with that one for time. So the NSC council only races per rank and doesn't do a grand champ for all ranks? I assumed they ran each rank and took the top qualifies from there to run against each other.

 

[LightninBoy]

In the NSC, PWD is a nuclear arms race. Its fueled by the PWD shop/league in Rosemont, web sites like this, and the best scout rules in the nation. So yeah, if you run bone stock parts with few mods, you will eventually get crushed. If not in the pack, then the district. If not district, then council.

In the council race, the top 10 in every rank get a trophy. Even with that generous policy, if you get one of those it is something for which to be immensely proud. If you get there with stock parts, then that's even more impressive.

There is no runoff of all the top cars across the ranks at the end, though some have requested it. The problem is logistics. Its already an all day event, but the ranks are scheduled for specific times so nobody needs to stay all day (unless they have multiple scouts).

Edit: BTW, Web IIs can participate in the council race this year. Not sure about next year though.

 

[ngyoung]

Not to get further off subject but with the new cub scout advancements, the new restructure starting June 2015 throws out all the beads and arrow head patches and replaces them with belt loops for all requirements and electives. Tiger Cubs will now be just Tiger scout, using an adult tiger symbol instead of a baby cub. Weblos II will be a separate rank, Arrow of Light. Weblos I and AoL will still share the same book but Weblos patch isn't required to earn AoL if someone joins as a new scout at that age.

So is NSC just not having AoL or moving it into a Boy Scout rank under Tenderfoot? I know in our area it is customary that the WBII/AoL scouts cross over to Boy Scouts at the blue and gold ceremony in February. This then allows them time to do some important BSA outtings that happen before the school year ends. They are still invited to participate in the PWD. I have heard some people are concerned about the new AoL program being too hard to complete by Feb. but BSA claims that rank was never intended to be finished by then. Which is funny since some their own literature for advancement scheduling for the old program has them crossing over at B&G.

Are they still running the Lion cub pilot program and does that rank even participate in PWD? I remember when I was a cubscout that Tiger cubs was kind of separate from cub scouts and we raced hotwheels cars at the PWD events. They only had tiger t-shirts

 

[MOFAST]

Congrats Dave! Sounds like he won his rank, if not the overall.

 

[davet]

We took 1st last yr at District and 7th at Council with stock axles and wheels and tuned on our kitchen table. All with the help of you guys here and elsewhere though. This year's car is .03-.04 seconds faster than that one.

Thx MOFAST, good to hear from u again. Thx for getting us here.

 

[davet]

Not to get further off subject but with the new cub scout advancements, the new restructure starting June 2015 throws out all the beads and arrow head patches and replaces them with belt loops for all requirements and electives. Tiger Cubs will now be just Tiger scout, using an adult tiger symbol instead of a baby cub. Weblos II will be a separate rank, Arrow of Light. Weblos I and AoL will still share the same book but Weblos patch isn't required to earn AoL if someone joins as a new scout at that age.

So is NSC just not having AoL or moving it into a Boy Scout rank under Tenderfoot? I know in our area it is customary that the WBII/AoL scouts cross over to Boy Scouts at the blue and gold ceremony in February. This then allows them time to do some important BSA outtings that happen before the school year ends. They are still invited to participate in the PWD. I have heard some people are concerned about the new AoL program being too hard to complete by Feb. but BSA claims that rank was never intended to be finished by then. Which is funny since some their own literature for advancement scheduling for the old program has them crossing over at B&G.

Are they still running the Lion cub pilot program and does that rank even participate in PWD? I remember when I was a cubscout that Tiger cubs was kind of separate from cub scouts and we raced hotwheels cars at the PWD events. They only had tiger t-shirts

Regarding all of the above stuff. My concern isn't that my boy misses out on a last derby or having enough time to complete the rank. If he wants the rank he'll have to work it into his homeschool day. My big concern is why the rush to get these kids involved with the older kids so soon. We just went to a camp day with a troop and I wasn't impressed. The Troop leader touted how he lets the older scouts run the troop and he likes to empower them rather than lead them.

Sounds great except he was also touting his paramedic skills and how safety is his main concern and how he treats every kid like he's his own. I'd like him to treat my boy like he's my boy because I don't know how he treats his kids. We went into the lodge where the Boy Scouts slept the night before. 3 exits in entire building, 2 were completely blocked, no carbon monoxide alarm, 1938 electrical wiring but they had 3 t.v.s, at least 2 game systems going and the circuit breakers kept tripping. The cots were stacked 3 high and they built a fort. The cots were on the verge of tipping over as kids climbed up them to get into the fort they made with them.

Scouts playing fighting games on the game systems with blood everywhere. I told one of the adult leaders about how we don't let our kids play those games and he says they don't either. I told him about the bloody video game they were playing (where I heard one scout say to the others as they were picking game characters "No cleavage players"). He said he didn't know anything about it but would certainly look into it. Turns out the kid that said that was his own.

I can keep my boy home for free and know he's safe and let him fail on his own all day long. I have him in scouts to be led by example and guided as he matures. Visiting another troop this weekend.

 

[ngyoung]

That would put me off too if I saw that touring the troop's camp out. I guess at 5th grade I was playing Mortal Kombat, just never in front of my dad /images/boards/smilies/wink.gif. The troops that I have observed around here do pretty good keeping electronics put away at camp.

NSC is the only one testing out changing the crossover point. Different councils will test program changes before BSA roles them out nation wide. My coworker is a long time scout leader and he had the same response about the kids being too young when i told him about NSC's plan changing the crossover time. I think I am in the same boat and they dont roll that out nation wide. The time they cross over now they're pretty young as is. Boyscouts are supposed to be scout led but leaders should still step in when appropriate. It is the time for them to take turns to practice being leaders but they're still boys and still get caught up doing dumb stuff.

 

[Crash Enburn]

Continuing the off-track...

Check out Trail Life USA.

Emphasis on God and manhood. Plus, our troops in ABQ are continuing Pinewood racing through *all* ranks -- not just the cub level. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[davet]

I think if you used aftermarket wheels and axles you your car would be neck and neck with that one for time. So the NSC council only races per rank and doesn't do a grand champ for all ranks? I assumed they ran each rank and took the top qualifies from there to run against each other.

In the Pack Championship series of heats on Sat we raced against him in one heat. My boy said we were ahead until they tripped the timer where he edged us out. The MC called it a photo finish. We had a 2.95x and he had a 2.93 I believe. Could've been that we went with 4" of steer instead of 3 1/2" for all I know. He had weights stacked behind his rear axle which made a type of short spoiler behind the wheels. What is that? Super thin hollowed car, even between the front wheels, front and rear fenders.

If we qualify again for Council I think we'll arm-up for the nuclear race at Mall of America. My boy has already shown that he's willing to work so maybe now we put the big guns in. I really hate to do it though. Anyone seen the true story movie "The Last Indian" where the old guy hand builds all his parts including pistons and tires in his garage for an old Indian motorcycle he races on the Salt Flats? That was us last year rolling into the MOA race with a car with oblong axles and wobbly wheels that never saw any track tuning. We're running without a cage or seatbelts and the brakes are bad. I'll miss this forum too!

 

[davet]

Continuing the off-track...

Check out Trail Life USA.

Emphasis on God and manhood. Plus, our troops in ABQ are continuing Pinewood racing through *all* ranks -- not just the cub level. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

That looks really interesting. I'm looking into it further. Thanks.