Piña Wood Derby

As a youth, I ultimately grew up with my three older brothers. I liked what they liked and did what they did, generally speaking. But one thing I never had the opportunity to do was scouting, and I thought it was atrociously unfair. The campouts, excursions and merit-badging... I wanted it all. And the Pinewood Derby? Oh man. That was a big deal, and I dreamt of making the most incredible, sleek and perfect car, and was most likely annoyingly at the elbows of my brother as he slaved away on his. But I never got to make one. I never had a good reason to... until just a few days ago.

As it turns out, our church is having a powderpuff derby race and macho man bake-off next week, and I just couldn't wait to get started on my car! The rules were: absolutely NO help from your spouse. And the Skill Saw still scares me, and I was beyond nervous to make the initial cut to make my wooden block more aerodynamic, so I was super tempted to break that rule. With the help of some massive C-clamps and a bit of tinkering, I figured out how to secure it in such a way that my hand wasn't anywhere near the table when the saw blade came down. Phew! 

Shaping it with the stationary jig-saw was a lot more enjoyable, and I started getting excited when the shape was nearing completion. I was so impatient, that I did a horrid job of sanding and jumped straight into painting it, which as you can imagine, wasn't the best idea. I ran into all kinds of problems, including fragments of sawdust that kept clumping up on the surface. The initial base coats of yellow and green had me second-guessing my decision to make a pineapple... it was SO ugly! And then I added the orange stripes and I was like, uh-oh. So then I lightened the orange stripes dramatically, changed the orange polka-dots to a more playful pink, and then carefully started adding the wee details. As soon as I painted the black rim around the glasses, I was in love. And the tiny white details were the icing on the cake! After a few clear coats to protect it, it was ready for assembly.

I watched a ton of YouTube videos and totally nerded out on this one. I learned the science behind it. I polished the axels and "canted" them, which makes them look awfully wonky, but who says wonky can't be fast? I carefully raised one of the front wheels off of the ground to reduce friction. I found its center of gravity and chiseled out a place for the weights (which I have yet to buy). I honestly have no idea how it will fare on the track, but I really don't care. It's so darn cute I'm already proud of the thing!

Now the true entertainment will come when Jordan starts making a cake! After years of seeing me decorate cakes, (plus I have all sorts of handy tools and gadgets for cake-making) I'm thinking he has a really good chance of knocking it out of the park, and I'm excited to see what he comes up with! Wish us both luck!