My son participated in the Pinewood Derby four times, and for his third race we eschewed the fancy band saw and instead simply cut off one end slightly (about a 1/4 inch) to achieve the proper weight. Then painted it bright yellow and added graphics (from a Hallmark greeting card) make a SpongeBob SquarePants car!
It was not in the least bit aerodynamic. He was instead going for best-looking car. But we did make sure the wheels were on straight and added graphite to the axles.
My son didn’t win an award for best-looking car. But he did get an award for speed, coming in third place for his age group. I guess the wheels make the biggest difference.
Oh, and he also got his picture in the local paper holding his car, with the caption “Just a block of wood.”
I know you’re not the OP, but for some reason I thought you were in my general area (Wisconsin/Illinois), in which case, you might be near an American Science and Surplus. If you’re still mourning the loss of Radio Shack, it might be worth a pilgrimage to see if they can help fill the void.
My grandnephew put headlights and taillights on his car a few years ago. Details are sketchy, but I believe he cut a hollow space under the seat and put two micro flashlights (Photon Micros or something similar) facing to the sides. He then drilled holes from the ends of the car lengthwise and inserted “light pipes” of the appropriate color (white, orange, and red). This was pretty easy, as the pipe (which was actually some kind of PLFA, I think) was about 1/4" in diameter. He’d remove the seat, turn on one flashlight and insert it facing to the left, then insert the other facing to the right, and put the seat back. I don’t think he used any actual wiring. It was pretty bright, but didn’t flash or move sequentially or anything like that.
Thank you all for the suggestions, but I need to further clarify:
I am looking for an answer on how to power a small strip of this type of led lights. They can be cut to size, and are extremely bright. The power source must be able to fit on or in a pinewood derby car.
The boys are not looking for realism, or small head/tail lights. They want a bright beacon of light rolling down the track.
Having been involved in Cub Scouts for about seven years now, the general rules are that it has to meet the dimensional requirements (height, width, length), have the original wheels and axles, and weigh no more than 5 oz total. Most packs require only graphite as the lubricant, but that may vary.
Otherwise the sky’s the limit. We typically use a fair amount of balsa wood, super glue, and wood filler for my boys’ cars, along with a fair amount of sanding and painting to make it look decent. Also, Lego men are always popular as drivers/pilots.
As far as cool looking goes, we got a lot of oohs and aaahs using this paint. It’s that kind that shifts from say… purple to turquoise depending on what angle you’re looking from.
No gallery, but I’ve been meaning to update my printables profile with my makes so I have the pictures online somewhere other than imgur.
Here’s a picture that I posted in the What Made You Smile thread. Most of the lights in this picture aren’t solid, but moving/dancing around, but the LEDs look terrible on video.
I’ve been meaning to start a general 3D printing thread (or looking to see if one exists already) so I don’t overwhelm that thread with all my prints.
This will give a regulated 12 Volts from the battery. So not too high from a freshly charged battery, and not too low from a partially drained battery.
I guess the wheels make the biggest difference.
