Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Hacking Your Cub Scout's Pinewood Derby

 

Rocket-powered Pinewood Derbe for "Dads" Unlimited Competition

Back when my three sons competed as Cub Scouts, one year a bunch of us fathers got together and had an unlimited, no-rules, winner-takes-all-the-glory Pinewood Derby. I won with this little beauty. I got a nitrogen-powered rocket motor from a hobby shop and filled this baby from the nozel on the font. To make it go, you just pull the plug out the back.

First time down the track, it blew the left-front wheel right off the car when it hit the end of the ramp. It still won subsequent events with just three wheels. 

One of the dads had rubber-band-driven rear wheels. Another had an electric motor. "The fools!" as the A-Team's Mister T would say. Go get a participation award for best paint job, or futuristic design. Me? I won, baby. Ugly don't matter. This baby is almost 50 years old, and whenever I see her I still get a chuckle as she sits proudly on my bookcase in the Pirate Cottage.

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