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You
are in luck! This is a pinewood derby design idea guide. Whether
you are building a pinewood derby car for a Cub Scouts race, Awana
Grand Prix, Royal Rangers, WIRL or any other pine wood derby organization,
you need to start your car design with an idea.
Car
design is one of the more fun parts of pinewood derby. You can design
a creative, funny type of car or a super slick racer. I suggest
letting your (or your child’s) imagination work before narrowing
down to something you can actually build. The steps below will guide
you to through the Pinewood derby design phase.
Before
you start
If you are building a car with a child, be sure to let them do as
much as possible. The more they do, the more they will get out of
it. The design stage is a great way to get them engaged in the project.
Have fun brainstorming car designs. Let your child be creative coming
up with whacky ideas before picking the final car design.
Pinewood
Derby Car Design Idea Themes
Every year I always started our pinewood project by asking my son,
“What is your design “theme” for this year?”
(Aside from “Dad, let’s make it fast”!). A theme
got him thinking and usually helped me look for ideas in the area
he was interested in.
My
son usually gave me simple design ideas like, “I want a bubble
on top”. Another year he wanted grooves on the sides to “channel
the airflow”. Still another year he wanted a "tapered
look so it was aerodynamic". Once again, it is important to
try to incorporate the child's ideas into the car design so they
feel good about it. And yes, one car had a bubble, another had air
channels behind the wheels and the third was aerodynamic.
Oh,
don’t worry too much about making a car design that is not
aerodynamic. Pinewood Derby cars are not going fast enough, nor
long enough for aerodynamics to affect speed in any way. It is far
more important to get the wheels, axles, weight placement and other
speed improvements correct (See Winning
Pinewood Derby Secrets).
Your
child may want a design theme like a military theme, animal theme,
cartoon theme, race car theme, or “something totally cool
and different.” The table below lists about 100 pinewood derby
car design ideas that will help you select a design theme for your
pine wood derby car. Something should jump out at you from this
design list. If not, then email
me your car design and I'll add it to this list. Better yet,
email me a picture of
your car and I'll add it to our picture
gallery.
Pinewood
Car Design Idea Theme |
Pinewood
Derby Car Ideas
|
| Cartoon
characters |
Batman,
Superman, Pokemon, The
Flash, Inferno,
Hulk, batmobile derby
plan or batmobile kit |
| Military |
tank,
plane, or rocket, cruise missile, sword, knife, bazooka, nuclear
submarine, battleship, fighter plane, space shuttle, |
| Bugs |
spider,
scorpion, ladybug (for girls), ant, praying mantis, beetle |
| Animals |
snake,
lizard, cheetah,
lion, rhino, lynx, fox, shark, dolphin, rabbit, turtle |
| Trucks
or busses and trains |
police
car, firetruck, tanker truck or a pine wood log truck, school
bus, train |
| Race
cars |
NASCAR,
Formula One, funnycars,
dragracers, street
rods |
| Food
Car |
hotdog,
banana, strawberry, grapes, hotdog, canolli, pizza, red hot
chili pepper, asparagus, coke bottle |
| Objects |
Pencil,
redwood tree |
| Death
and Destruction |
Hearse,
skull, lightening bolt, radiation, cross bones, rotton tooth,
bloodshot eyeballs |
| Patriotic
|
Flag,
firecracker, American Eagle, Abe Lincoln, Soldier, world trade
towers, liberty bell, statue of liberty |
| Cub
Scout Cars |
Tiger,
Bear, Wolf |
| Sports |
Baseball
bat, hockey stick, Olympic torch, arrows, snowboard, skateboard,
ski |
| Non-car
car designs |
Toothbrush,
pencil, peanut,
fire hydrant, rope, dollar bill, clothes pin, cactus, tree stump,
comb, candle, key, |
| Funny
or comical cars |
Spam
car, smiley car, toilet paper, cigar, dirty sock, clam car |
| Girl
scout themes |
Flowers,
candy cane, hearts, shamrock, dove, girl
power car, seahorse, unicorn |
| Symbols |
Olympic
torch, arrow |
Other places to look for car design ideas
-
Pinewood Pro Pinewood Derby Car Picture Gallery
-
Cars
on the street or in parking lots
-
Model
cars
-
Our
favorite - my son’s extensive collection of
over 100 matchbox cars!
Sketch Your Car
Once you have settled on the car design theme it is time to draw.
The drawing stage is also fun and creative for a child. You can
let them draw freehand or take the pine wood block and trace it
on a piece of paper. Trace the side view and the top view so you
get an idea of what it will look like from each angle.
Pinewood Car Design – What NOT to do!
Inevitably, my son would choose a design that was too complicated
(eg, the Batmobile!) Unless you are a master craftsman (or real
good with a dremel), your imagination can be much greater than what
you can actually build.
At
this point you need to scale the design back to something you feel
can be done in the time you have available. One alternative to save
time is to purchase a pre-cut
pine car that has lots of wood on it. Most of the cutting has
already been done, like the stock
car from pinewood pro, but you can still modify it to your custom
design.
Finalizing
your Pine wood Car Design
When you have the final car design picked, you should again draw
the top and side view on a piece of paper. You can then use this
drawing as a template to cut the pine block. To create the cutting
template, cut out the car design that you drew on paper, place it
on the side of the pine block and trace it on the block. Do the
same for both sides and the top of the block. You can then cut out
your cool car design along the lines that you drew on the block.
Pinewood
Derby Design Made Easy
If you don’t want to start from scratch, the following will
help you design your pine car faster. They are ordered from fast-easy-simple
to do-it-yourself experts.
Pinewood
Derby Help
|
What
is does for you |
What
it offers |
|
|
Choose
from Stock Car, Sport Coupe, Speedway Racer, Street Car, Cheetah,
Axe Blade Racer |
|
-
How
to build your car step by step
-
Can
also be called, “pinewood derby for dummies”
|
Pinewood
derby beginner’s guide, includes a bonus section on Essential
Speed Tips, plus three cut-out car design templates |
|
- Guides
you though the car build process with step-by-step Illustrations
in
- The
Inferno and The Flash
are 3D rendered images!
|
How-to
build it yourself pinewood car design plans. Choose from The
Inferno, The
Flash, The Spider, Police Car, Green Hornet, and Star fighter,
and more! |
|
- How
to design your car for speed
|
Contains
a pinewood derby car design guide plus my complete list of over
30 winning speed secrets to make you the next winner! |
Time
Management
Consider combining the above options to save time. For example,
you could save time by purchasing a car design plan (or pre-cut
car) and putting your time into making your car go fast by following
the tips in Winning Pinewood Derby Secrets.
I hope this pinewood derby car design guide helps you.
When
you have your cool car design, please send
a picture so we can add your car to our Pinewood Pro
Pinewood
Derby Car Picture Gallery!
If
you found this Pinewood derby design guide helpful, please consider
linking to this page
so others may benefit.
|