Thread: 2023 Cadets Pine wood derby

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My sons are in a church program called cadets which is very similar to cub scouts. This year they are able to participate in the pine wood derby. We drew out cars and made them. They took them to their meeting night and the leader added their weight. They are allowed to weigh 5oz. The leader called me explaining there can be no decals on the bodies period, or Clint wouldn't be able to participate.

I had Clint's car painted nice shiny red and I used automotive pin stripe to add some stripes. On Colt's car I first primered it, painted it gold. Then I put 3 tape lines down and painted it a translucent blue. When I peeled the tape gold and some primer lifted too. I filled in the areas with a brush. So on Clint's car I knew the paint would lift and I used the pin stripe to save grief. What an odd rule but now we have stripped the paint and will repaint it. At least we have a couple of weeks to get it done. I told him I'll paint it when I paint the firewall for the 40. No more poof can.

Pretty "swoopy" lines on those cars! Great way to spend time with the kids. I know it's preaching to the choir but, if the cars are all weighted to one value, what's the difference?? Don't answer, I know you cannot! LOL. Good job.

I'm very familiar with Cadets, I was a group leader for one year
( I had the worst group of kids ever, seriously, they were the worst) Now that you mention it, I don't think any of our cars had decals either. Maybe it's to easy for the kids?? We won the turtle race. It had to be the slowest car yet still cross the finish line.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Pretty "swoopy" lines on those cars! Great way to spend time with the kids. I know it's preaching to the choir but, if the cars are all weighted to one value, what's the difference?? Don't answer, I know you cannot! LOL. Good job.

Oh but I can. It's about where you put the weight that matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RjJtO51ykY

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I'm very familiar with Cadets, I was a group leader for one year
( I had the worst group of kids ever, seriously, they were the worst) Now that you mention it, I don't think any of our cars had decals either. Maybe it's to easy for the kids?? We won the turtle race. It had to be the slowest car yet still cross the finish line.

I'm not really sure why decals matter. I was blown away that the painted stripes were okay but the stick on ones were not. Either way, luckily we have time to fix Clint's. It will be decal less this time. I really wanted to be a smart mouth and ask how they would paint the numbers on the cars? I'm certain they will put stickers on them.

Yeah, it's probably best to not be too sassy at church...

On the decals, they may be avoiding arguments about what's, "appropriate" for the church sponsored group. I expect some would be aghast at a Rat Fink hood decoration

last Wednesday night was the boys' local Cadets' club race. This past Saturday was their division's race. They are in the Hawkeye division which includes all the way to Moline Il. I was not ready for how big of a group was going to be there. The event is held in the Vermeer Pavilion right at the Vermeer manufacturing Corp in Pella Iowa. It was a very nice area. We got some shots of the Camaro in front of the country flags before we left.

I was very surprised to see all the awesome creations and the imagination people used in making these cars. I didn't think the boys would win anything. Colt's class was the 2nd to run. Once we arrived there the boys found their lead counselor. I told them to make sure they went and got checked in so they wouldn't miss out on racing.

Little did I/we know, the cars were already judged for best of show. The back row of each table had 1st-3rd place. 4th on up was the next row. Once we figured this out, Clint knew he got 3rd place. Colt already had his car picked up and tech'd in. He said his car was in the last row but he was nervous and wasn't sure. So we weren't really sure if he was or not. I told them they were lucky to get anything with how awesome the competition was.

Colt made it 3 out of 5 heats before he got knocked out. Clint made it 4 out of 5. While they weren't the fastest, at least they looked nice and were able to walk away with a trophy each for 3rd place Best of show in their age group. Luckily the groupings are by school grade.

This has been a really good learning experience for them. Clint got to learn that if you don't put the work in, you may not see the results you wanted. He had to redo some stuff because he chose to go play while Colt stayed and worked on his car. Next year we'll be better prepared and have better cars. I'm not sure if we can put out some of the awesome stuff we saw there but we will try.

This is really a great post, Ryan.

There is absolutely no substitute for spending time with our kids (and grandkids) as they will eventually model us and the behavior that is most often demonstrated as being important to us becomes important to them. Lots of lessons here – work equals reward(s), time at church with other kids can be a lot of fun and hanging out with dad (and other Godly adults) can be a cool thing.

My youngest (also Ryan) and I spent a lot of time doing "stuff" together as he grew up. He's 36 now, a new dad and we're still best buds. Believe me, investment in your kids is always the right thing to do.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Not to be taken as a guarantee by any means buy certainly good advice. You’re doing it right, Ryan – good on ya!

Congrats to both the boys! There was some serious competition and very creative folks there. Some of the "cars" just knocked my sock off.
Good on you for investing time with the boys!

What Glenn said!!!

There is nothing more special spending time with the kids (or Grandkids). It's experiences, lessons and examples that will last them the rest of their lives and ours.




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Congrats to you and the kidlets Ryan, always fun doing something with kids that starts as fun but has a huge bonus of teaching!

Congrats to the boys!