Post by roosclan on Mar 3, 2012 18:10:41 GMT -6
My 4th son is a Tiger this year, and he was so excited to build a "real" PWD car this year (I've built him a "fun" car a couple times when helping his brothers build their cars).
As is pretty typical of Tigers, he wanted to to look like a car. I'm just glad I have a dremel with router bits! We were running short on time this year, but managed to pull it off fairly well. I ran out of time and didn't get to take the Pro Wheel Shaver XT to the wheels or burnish the bores, but we polished the axles to 1 micron and got it aligned pretty well on my alignment board.
I also helped another scout -- a new Webelo -- build his car, as his dad has to work out of state frequently and had limited time, no PWD knowledge, and none of the tools needed. When his dad was in town they would come over and we would work on his car. It's quite impressive also.
The big difference this year is that we managed to get it done in time for the Test & Tune that the hosting pack holds the Thursday before the races (one pack in town has a 42' Best track and hosts the races for all the packs in town on one weekend with the district race on Sunday -- tomorrow). Instead of just aligning it to what I hoped was aggressive enough, we were able to run it down the track and adjust the steer several times until we got all of the fishtailing out of it.
I needed about 15 minutes at the Test & Tune to get Seth's car tuned, and about 10 minutes to get the Webelo's car tuned. The rest of the 2 hours was spent helping other parents who didn't know a whole lot (I took my alignment board). I think a couple of them were from my pack, but a few weren't. One of them from a rival pack had never placed before, and after I helped the mom, her son placed 3rd in his pack race last night. I hope my son can beat him at the district race tomorrow, as his times were excellent.
My son's car:
the Webelo's car:
Seth's results from the pack race:
Seth took 1st in Tigers and Pack Grand Champion this afternoon at our pack race. The Webelo took 1st in Webelos and 2nd in the Pack. A 2nd scout I helped this morning took 2nd in Webelos. That car needed a lot of work, so I'm glad he did as well as he did. I already have a couple parents lined up for next year to come over to my house so I can help them.
Two years ago I wrote a speed guide and put it on the pack web site for any parents to use. It was obvious which parents read it, as there were quite a few fast cars.
Seth's times weren't great, but they were good enough to win, ranging from 3.022s to 3.060s when the graphite started to wear out. Needless to say, he is ecstatic!
As is pretty typical of Tigers, he wanted to to look like a car. I'm just glad I have a dremel with router bits! We were running short on time this year, but managed to pull it off fairly well. I ran out of time and didn't get to take the Pro Wheel Shaver XT to the wheels or burnish the bores, but we polished the axles to 1 micron and got it aligned pretty well on my alignment board.
I also helped another scout -- a new Webelo -- build his car, as his dad has to work out of state frequently and had limited time, no PWD knowledge, and none of the tools needed. When his dad was in town they would come over and we would work on his car. It's quite impressive also.
The big difference this year is that we managed to get it done in time for the Test & Tune that the hosting pack holds the Thursday before the races (one pack in town has a 42' Best track and hosts the races for all the packs in town on one weekend with the district race on Sunday -- tomorrow). Instead of just aligning it to what I hoped was aggressive enough, we were able to run it down the track and adjust the steer several times until we got all of the fishtailing out of it.
I needed about 15 minutes at the Test & Tune to get Seth's car tuned, and about 10 minutes to get the Webelo's car tuned. The rest of the 2 hours was spent helping other parents who didn't know a whole lot (I took my alignment board). I think a couple of them were from my pack, but a few weren't. One of them from a rival pack had never placed before, and after I helped the mom, her son placed 3rd in his pack race last night. I hope my son can beat him at the district race tomorrow, as his times were excellent.
My son's car:
the Webelo's car:
Seth's results from the pack race:
Seth took 1st in Tigers and Pack Grand Champion this afternoon at our pack race. The Webelo took 1st in Webelos and 2nd in the Pack. A 2nd scout I helped this morning took 2nd in Webelos. That car needed a lot of work, so I'm glad he did as well as he did. I already have a couple parents lined up for next year to come over to my house so I can help them.
Two years ago I wrote a speed guide and put it on the pack web site for any parents to use. It was obvious which parents read it, as there were quite a few fast cars.
Seth's times weren't great, but they were good enough to win, ranging from 3.022s to 3.060s when the graphite started to wear out. Needless to say, he is ecstatic!