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Cool and Collected

Collecting pop culture toys, comics, and collectibles collections

January 14, 2016 By Brian 14 Comments

I “may” have overdone it with this year’s Pinewood Derby car

As the father of a second- and fifth-grade cub scout, I’ve helped to build my share of Pinewood Derby cars over the last five years. The process has always been a delicate balance between letting my sons do what they can and grabbing the hammer from them screaming that they’re going to break something. My sons have never come close to actually winning a race, but fortunately, there is a “Best in Show” category for those unfortunate children whose fathers don’t have a masters degree in engineering and aerodynamics (people take this thing REALLY serious folks).

After holding my tongue and sitting on my hands all these years, our Pack decided to have an open-class competition for the dads. And so, with the gauntlet having been thrown down, I got to work creating the Pinewood Derby Car of my own twisted dreams.

A Pinewood Derby car starts with a block of wood that is usually cut and carved into the shape of a vehicle, but I decided an additive vs. reductive approach was going to work best. It’s amazing what can be achieved with a bandsaw and a belt sander! After making the various elements and digging through the junk drawer for parts, I glued them all together and this was the result…

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

Just after everything started to look good, I went ahead and attacked it with the Dremel…

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

The post-apocalyptic world is a rough place, and the car needed to show its battle scars. Once I had sufficiently beaten it up, a coat of black primer spray paint brought it all together and I started to get a sense of how it would really look…

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

After some detail painting, my vision became a reality. I present to you… Toecutter!

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

I painted the car with acrylic craft paints — one of these days I will relearn how to use my airbrush, but the paintbrushes did the job just fine. After everything was painted, I dry brushed the whole thing with white paint, which made the details really pop…

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

This necklace chain is probably my favorite addition. Corrugated cardboard makes for perfect metal roofing material armor. The taillights and back bumper were made from pieces of a drinking straw, and the spikes are bamboo skewers…

pinewood derby car - mad max theme

Of course, I had to make a base for this machine, so I swept up all the sawdust and bits off the shop floor and glued them down to a board. After adding a small plastic skull from a Halloween necklace, I spray painted the whole platform and called it a day.pinewood derby car - mad max theme

Now it is time to strike fear in the heart of all those 7-year olds!

 

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Mad Max

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MIke Bartley says

    January 15, 2016 at 8:42 am

    Certainly doesn’t Weeblow….sorry

    Reply
    • Brian says

      January 15, 2016 at 9:29 am

      After all these years, it amazes me that the BSA hasn’t reconsidered that name. 😀

      Reply
  2. Paxton Holley says

    January 15, 2016 at 9:05 am

    :-O

    That is kind of amazing. I bow down to your non-racing derby car construction skills.

    Reply
    • Brian says

      January 15, 2016 at 9:26 am

      Hey Pax, it won’t be long before you might be making one of these yourself. I look forward to seeing a car surfing Teen Wolf design. 😉

      Reply
  3. George (GI Jigsaw) says

    January 15, 2016 at 9:19 am

    This is a WORK. OF. ART!

    Awesome!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      January 15, 2016 at 9:30 am

      Thanks George!

      Reply
      • George (GI Jigsaw) says

        January 22, 2016 at 1:56 pm

        I was just thinking – even if there are no Mad Max action figures – Hot Wheels has been doing a lot of licensed series. A Hot Wheels line would be pretty cool. Until then – Pinewood Derby it.

        Reply
        • Brian says

          January 22, 2016 at 2:03 pm

          Yes! I would be all over a Mad Max line of Hot Wheels cars.

          Reply
  4. Chris (Stunt Zombie says

    January 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    Now that is one epic Pinewood Derby Death Machine! I wish we could have done that when we were scouts. I always wanted to add some sort of James Bond style gadgets to my cars. Apparently that’s against the rules though. Pssh..

    Reply
    • Brian says

      January 15, 2016 at 6:27 pm

      What are these rules you are speaking of???

      Reply
  5. Shawn Smith-Ford says

    January 15, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    you are a special kind of sick and twisted- I can respect that, Brian

    Reply
    • Brian says

      January 15, 2016 at 6:28 pm

      guilty. 😉

      Reply
  6. john gaither says

    January 15, 2016 at 6:14 pm

    Just epic!

    Reply
  7. Yelinna says

    February 10, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    It is amazing!! It actually looks like a vintage item from some old action tv series. I’m so envious…

    … so envious….

    Reply

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