Cub Scout Project

[Tom Watson]

So, I'm out here sanding this Pinewood Derby Garage project, by hand, because it's a nice quiet Sunday and I don't feel like listening to a sander and don't want dust flying all around me and the shop.

Next, I'm going to prime the sticks and then later on knock the fuzz off.

Tomorrow night at the pack meeting there will be a dozen nine and ten year olds with brushes, slopping on some blue and gold paint.

Here's the deal; I already figured on taking the result of the cubbies efforts and treating their color coat as a build coat. That means that I'll be sanding their coat down smooth and shooting a couple of color coats in the booth, followed by a few clear coats, so that there is something to resist the graphite lube that gets all over everything having to do with Pineywood Derby stuff, as well as just making it look spanky.

They'll be doing this painting in the lunch room of the grade school, and the maintenance guy will be watching us like a hawk. Also, I'll need to be able to pack up the freshly painted sticks and bring them back to my shop without them getting all stuck together.

What I need to know is: is there some kind of super fast drying paint, maybe to be had from a craft store, that will be easy to wipe up when it spills and be easy to sand when it's dry.

The meeting lasts for an hour and I figure the painting will take forty five minutes. It would be lovely if the paint would dry enough to pack during the remaining fifteen minutes because watching paint dry is a little to much Zen for a Monday night.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Puckdropper]

Tom Watson wrote in news: [e-mail]:

*snip*

The Apple Barrel Colors available in the crafts section of Walmart and other such stores would probably work for you. They're cheap, and will probably be mostly dry in the allotted 15 minutes. (It depends on how thick a layer the scouts put on.)

This is based on both my medium (plastic) and casual observations, not hard data. So, YMMV.

Puckdropper

[CW]

Why don't you just cut the kids out entirely? Since you are going to redo everything they do, why let them do it in the first place? It would save you a lot of work. Better yet, why don't you and the rest of the parents just build, paint and race the cars yourselves? Don't bother getting the kids involved, they can't do it right anyway.

[Leon]

Water paint.

[Rick M]

"Tom Watson" wrote

...

Tom, I'm thinking Tempora paint ... my wife says it's quick drying, and water-based so it's an easy cleanup. It won't stain clothing unless you let it dry (and I found a hint that says to put a few drops of dishwashing soap in the paint to make the clothing cleanup much easier).

I can't find much right now on tempora (tempura), but I believe it's egg-based (egg protein as the binding agent). You can get this paint at most craft stores, school supply stores, etc ... or on-line. Some of our local school supply stores have this in gallon containers (I hate to think of a gallon of paint, little kids, and one adult holding them in check).

You'll be dealing with primary colors ... bright ones at that ... but we've found that a bit of white will tone down the color quickly ... be gentle when modifying colors.

Hope this helps.

Rick

[Tom Watson]

When I was a pup of about the age that these scouts are, my Dad was into whittling. He'd mostly do cowboys and horses and such. Some of the work was very, very good.

He'd let me help out a little bit, with him guiding my hand.

I'd over cut here and there but he told me not to mind that.

When he was done finishing it off, we'd take it into the house to show my Mom what WE did.

I still have some of those pieces. I'm still proud of them, even though I know that my Dad did a good bit of tuning up to cover my mistakes.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Tom Watson]

Dorkers would love this project.

I used a sheet of 3/4 AA Cherry ply, a sheet of 1/2 A1 Cherry ply and a sheet of 1/2 pre finished maple ply - and it all got painted!

(To be fair, the cherry was water spotted and couldn't be used for clear finishing. The maple had cross grained digs in it that were never going to be right again.)

Tip - SW Pro Bond Block Primer sucks down nice and smooth on a piece of AA Cherry.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Joe Bemier]

Let us know how things turn out

J

[Robatoy]

Sweet memories.... 12 kids, 12 slabs of clay, donated by one of the parents who worked at a roofing tile factory. Real clay. After "sculpting" some water would really help smooth out the clay.... imagine the rest.

>

[Leon]

Unfortunately the kids that actually do the work them selves get beat out by a parent that did the work. I remember when my son was in Scouts doing the same thing WE did the work on the car. I would help set up the cuts and make a test cut on a scrap and he would do the actual cut on his car. I burnished "a" wheel and axel with graphite and a nail in the drill, he finished it and the other 3 after watching me do it. He totally painted it and added the weights. He built the car.

[Leon]

You can use plywood and or a wood other than pine? We got checked on that. We had to use the wood that came in the kit.

[lwasserm]

I had similar thoughts but managed to restrain myself from expressing them. Now that you have opened the gate, so to speak, let me be the first to add, ME TOO!

[Tom Watson]

Dear Leon: (CheckYaSelfBefoYaWreckYaself) this is a discusion about building a Pinewood Derby Garage - not a Pinewood Derby Racer.

This thing is what the cars sit on between races and is essentially a display case.

Your point about the Dads doing too much on the racers is taken, though.

The thing is, most of the Dads in our Pack are Finance People and Electrical Engineers, so they can't do much to accelerate their kid's project.

Got one Plumber and one Electrician. I don't worry much about them.

We got a couple of carpenters, though. They're the ones that I keep an eye on. :-)...

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Tom Watson]

This project was initially intended to be thus:

Mr. Watson will design and build a Pinewood Derby Garage, using time and materials donated by Mr. Watson, so that the Pack would not have to get into their pockets to buy a retail version of same.

It was then modified to include input and participation by the Cubbies in the Webelo I Den that Mr. Watson's son is in.

It was then decided that there would be three meetings devoted to the Cubbies interaction in the process.

Design Phase:

Mr. Watson does a few sketches in a CAD program and runs a meeting on design considerations for the project. Cubbies express their opinions and Mr. Watson redraws based on their input.

Trial Assembly Phase:

Mr. Watson goes into the shop and cuts up the parts needed to make the agreed upon design. Mr. Watson pre-assembles the parts, then dissasembles them, so that the Cubbies can re-assemble them during meeting #2.

Pre-Finishing Phase:

Mr. Watson takes apart the assembly done during the previous meeting and sands everything with 80 and 120, then applies primer. Then Mr. Watson takes the pre-primed pieces to the final meeting, for color coating.

Post Cubbie Meeting Phase:

Mr. Watson will sand the color coat, shoot a barrier coat of shellac, shoot a couple of color coats of lacquer to even up the color, shoot three clear coats of water based poly.

Caveats:

We meet in the lunch room of the local grade school. There can be no cutting. There can be no sanding. Painting may be done but with such materials as will clean up without leaving any mark on the school property.

Benefits:

The Cubbies already have a sense of ownership of the project, even though they may not participate in every step. The end result will be something that they have contributed to in a major way.

KMHIA.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Leon]

Damn Tom, I had to reread PineWood Derby Garage Project 2 more times before I realised you were "NOT" meaning/saying PineWood Derby Project to be done in the Garage. You can lead some people to water.... Please accept my appoligies.

I am with you now. I never saw any of those way back when. Post poictures of the finished project.

I hear you. Our group were more Blue Collar, with rough hands.

LOL.. I bet.

[Tom Watson]

No apogees needed, Leon. I should have used some other terminology, to keep it clear.

Will do.

I sorta wish that we did, because these finance people ain't worth much on a camping trip and the EE's need a full set of drawings to find the slit trench. ;-)

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Leon]

Camping... ;~) I do recall one father and son that my son went to school with. Ok, my son did not go to school with his father but you know where I am going. ;~) The father was the president/key grip of one of the local Bank of America branches. The coons got into one of the trash cans one night and there were screams coming from their tent during the ruckus.

[Tom Watson]

Aw Hell, that's just one varmint going off when another one tries to get to the goodies before them.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[RonB]

This string of comments reminds me of the Cub days with our son (now 28). One year one of the dad's was an aeronautical engineer at one of the local aircraft plants. As his son looked on, he opened up a box and produced a nicely crafted, shaped and polished car; and mentioned that it had tested in the Wichita State University wind tunnel. Needless to say a lot of father's and son's jaws dropped.

That year the event was won by a young fellow who built his rather basic car with the help of his single-parent mom. The test car was eliminated early.

R>

[Rod & Betty Jo]

It is a nice project and really great the way your going to a lot of trouble to involve the group (kids and parents)....the naysayers here I think (and hope) simply didn't understand what the project actually was....a casual or non attentive first read lost the garage or display aspect...... Rod