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Post by 3cubdad on Jun 19, 2008 21:29:15 GMT -6
Below are a couple of pictures of my first "Limited" car. My wife had always complained that she "became a pinewood derby widow" a couple of months a year..... then I found proxy racing!!! ;D soooo, in deference to her, I'm thinking of calling this one either the Widower or the Widow Maker Haven't decided if I'm sending it in for the July race. I won't be able to be online for the July race and I'd kind of like to watch it race it's first time! Let me know what you think Steve oh yeah, I still need to work on my photo skills!
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Post by ProQuest on Jun 20, 2008 0:29:05 GMT -6
Well done Steve. Good looking shape and paint. Hope you decide to send it in for the July race. Best of luck with it.
Steve H.
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Post by Slow Steve on Jun 20, 2008 9:38:04 GMT -6
Very cool car Steve! The spider graphic adds a very neat touch, and I like the flames too. How did you paint the flames? Or are they a sticker? I can relate to your spousal situation... I started building a Limited car last night and didn't get to bed until 3:15 a.m.... I must have inadvertantly woke up my wife when I finally slipped into bed because right at 6:45 a.m. this morning she wife woke me up with a rather grumpy demeanor exclaiming "Wake up derby boy, now it's my time to wake YOU up!!! Time for work! See what happens when you stay up all night playing with your little cars???". Somehow I don't think she appreciates the whole Pinewood Derby experience... ;D I can SOOOO relate to your "Widowmaker" concept! (Maybe I should call this car "Divorced husband because of his obsession with Pinewood Derby cars!") ;D It was a blast racing with you and everyone else last weekend, and I look forward meeting up with you again this month (at least there will be two of us rookies in the limited class). I'm not going to have time this month to make another "Stock" car (after finishing in 4th place with Old Yeller I tried to figure out how to get it to go faster but I finally gave up and am salvaging the weights from that car) but hopefully I can get the new Limited car painted this weekend, test it next week and have it ready to go. I won't be able to attend the July or August race in person as I'll be on vacation with the family both weekends, but I ought to be able drop off the car with Warren before we leave next Friday. My "Stock" class experience last weekend was fun and a great learning experience. I have to say wow... some of these guys can really build a fast car. "Humerus" really smoked my Old Yeller car... I don't think Humerus has ever lost a heat. I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to make a car faster... each car seems to be able to run at a certain speed whatever that may be but then I can't improve upon it. Maybe these other guys change wheels and/or axles and that's what makes their times improve? Looking back at the records in each class, I noticed that many of the cars got faster and faster each successive month. Obviously many of the good builders seem to be able to learn from the previous months race; this is something I obviously haven't figured out how to do. In the Limited class Wasabi seems almost untouchable; it beat the second fastest car by almost .035 seconds! I believe Wasabi is another car that has never lost a heat. Whatever the little white thingies are on Wasabi may be part of the key Wasabi's total domination in the Limited class but I'll be darned if I can figure out exactly what they are. In any case, it will be good for both of us to race against such a dominant car to benchmark where we stand. I'd LOVE to run within .04 seconds of that car! Best of luck with your new car! Steve B.
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Post by Lucky 13 on Jun 20, 2008 9:43:26 GMT -6
Nice looking ride Steve !! Good luck in the limited class, it is a fun and challenging division !! I really enjoy racing in it. Lucky 13
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Post by Slow Steve on Jun 20, 2008 9:59:10 GMT -6
A question for anyone regarding the "Limited" rules... (once again my build of a car is fraught with problems). Last time it was paint issues (I painted over enamel with lacquer), this time the car has a 1/2" wide "nose" sticking out front from the front axles and I discoved late last night that even though the nose over the car would go over the laser beam/sensor area (whatever you call that) on my K3 timer and seemingly totallly cover the light beam, the timer would not stop/register the car until the front axle area of the car hit the beam.
I did this very slowly by hand (inched the car body past the finish line) just as a double check and was very suprised by this. I can only assume that the light beam that shoots up from beneath the track may? reflect/refract off of the insides of the hole the beam shoots through and scatter a bit such that it somehow goes around the 1/2" wide front end of the car. I tested putting my finger over the hole as well and had the same result - putting one of my fat fingers ~1/2" above the hole would not stop the timer (even though the hole from which the light is emanating is only 1/8" or less in diameter).
So to all of you builders out there, while this may not be true with all tracks/timers, with my MicroWizard (Piantedosi) aluminum test track and MicroWizard K3 timer, you need a pretty wide front end to trigger the timer (a 1/2" wide front end positioned directly above the light beam/aperature is NOT sufficient to trigger the timer).
So back to my question... can I glue on a front "wing" of some type of plastic to ensure that the front end of the car triggers the timer? I don't see that this is prohibited, but I felt it better to check first.
Thanks for any insight any of you can provide!
Steve B.
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Post by Da Pine Racing on Jun 20, 2008 10:56:27 GMT -6
So back to my question... can I glue on a front "wing" of some type of plastic to ensure that the front end of the car triggers the timer? I don't see that this is prohibited, but I felt it better to check first. Thanks for any insight any of you can provide! Steve B. Hey Steve, Should not be an issue. Have done the same thing. Rules allow the addition of plastic or metal to a car as long as it is securely fastened. Great looking car 3cubdad 8-)Good luck with it.
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Post by Mr. Slick on Jun 20, 2008 11:01:02 GMT -6
On the K3 the EMITTER is on the top cross piece and the DETECTOR is on the bottom under the track.
The symptoms you describe are usually due to IR coming from a side angle. . . do you have more than one lane and the second emitter si bent towards the lane you are testing in?
You may need to use a black marker to color the inside of the hole in the track.
Were you doing this outside? may need to provide a sun shade for the finish line area to reduce the IR. . .
I like the setup on the betacraft tracks where the detectors are actually buried in a 1x2 with a hole drilled in it. This limits the range for the IR sources that it detects. Warning: making the hole too thin or deep requires the emitters to be carefully aligned. :-)
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Post by 3cubdad on Jun 20, 2008 11:45:13 GMT -6
Very cool car Steve! The spider graphic adds a very neat touch, and I like the flames too. How did you paint the flames? Or are they a sticker? Thanks for the comments! The flames and the hourglass under the spider are actually paint. I've heard the technique referred to as "ghost flames". Basically, most flame stencils have both the inside and outside of the flame. For standard flames, you lay down you base color, the put the stencil on, and then paint the flames, basically painting inside of the lines. For "ghost flames", there's a couple of ways to do it. Basically you put down the base color of the flames first. (something high contrast like a white, or in this case, a metallic silver.) Then you cover only the flame part, and paint the rest of the car. Then you remove the cover of the flames, and paint a couple of light coats still letting the contrast of the flames come through. (you can also lay your whole car base color, paint the flames on, and then a couple of coats on top of that. That's how I did the "hourglass" so that it has some depth to it). The spider is from a standard scout derby decal kit. We've got parts from a bunch of them hanging around because the kids love them on their cars! As to your issue with the timer, MaxV had a great article on "Is your timer accurate" and what affects it's readings. Couldn't find the link, but you can search on his site for the newsletters. Basically what we've found, and thus require it for all of our pack and district races, is that you need at least 0.75" at the nose to ensure tripping the beam. This also accounts for the car shifting to one side of the lane or the other. Consequently, all of our cars have at least that, including this one! I'm looking forward to seeing how it runs, even against Wasabi!! Steve
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Post by docb on Jun 20, 2008 14:19:38 GMT -6
Great Looking Car 3cubdad Nice Design!!
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Post by F.A.S.T Racing on Jun 20, 2008 19:34:21 GMT -6
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Post by Slow Steve on Jun 20, 2008 21:50:58 GMT -6
Warren, I had the failure to register the nost of my car last last night in my basement so there was no sun or bright lights. When I got home from work tonight I covered the opposite lane emitter with tape (I hadn't really examined the timer before) and that was the cause of the problem... the lane 1 emitter was being received by lane 2 unless the nose of the car covers a 3/4" wide area or so. To be safe for future runs on a variety of tracks, I will keep the nose of my cars at least 3/4" or so (and narrow the track of my front ends so the middle of the car stays in the middle of the lane, which is probably a good idea anyway for a rail rider).
Thank you for your explanation; your advice allowed me to quickly understand and remedy the issue.
Steve b.
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