Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Pinewood Derby Neckerchief Slide Project

So we just had our Pinewood Derby this past weekend, it was postponed a week due to 22" of snow that came down on the original date. Our Blue and Gold Banquet is coming up this coming weekend and we just wrapped up our most recent tiger adventure as a den, so we need something to do this week, we can start a new adventure the following week.

I've had it in my mind for a few weeks now that I wanted to make up custom neckerchief slides as a project, so Saturday night after the Pinewood Derby I was checking out Google Images and stumbled upon a few variations of pinewood derby car neckerchief slides. The ideas was good, however I had a few improvements I wanted to make on the actual execution. The basics for most of the designs I liked were that you find a piece of molding that has a similar profile to a car and cut it into little pieces that you then paint up and decorate, often using black thumb tacks as the wheels, and then attach a piece of pipe to the back of it to make it into a slide.

The molding wasn't hard to find, I actually found something with an egg and dart detail that when I cut it it the right spots gave a neat profile for the vehicle. I went to Home Depot but you should be able to find something similar other places. (Pictured is one of the slices of molding.)

A slice of the molding next to a quarter for size comparison.
A slice of the molding next to a quarter for size comparison.


Black thumb tacks however turned out to be very difficult to find. As one post had suggested, I wanted two different sizes, it looks more like a race car with a larger wheel in the rear. I was able to get regular size thumbtacks all over, but not in black. After going to four different stores trying to locate large ones I finally went online and found that Joann Fabric and Craft Stores has them, but they are called quilting tacks, and are with quilting supplies. I'd assume that other stores I had been in might have actually had them as well if I was looking with the quilting supplies.  These were actually even bigger than I was looking for, but they will work out well. I then painted them all black so they will look like wheels.  Unless you order stuff in advance this is probably easier than trying to find ones that come in black.a



Tacks before paint.
Tacks before paint.
Tacks after black paint.
Tacks after black paint.

The biggest hurdle has been coming up with a way to attach a ring to make it into a neckerchief. The other posts all seemed to use a piece of PVC pipe hot glued to the car in a vertical configuration. I would prefer to leave the car in a horizontal configuration. I also would rather not use hot glue and pipe, I'm concerned it won't hold up to repeated usage. I decided to try using a key ring as the loop. Attaching the key ring to the car though proved to be challenging. I wanted to cut a slot to glue a quarter of the key ring into so I tried using an oscillating saw and a Dremel tool did not have much luck. I picked up a slot cutting router bit that I will attempt to use in the morning and see if that works better.

As it stands now I have one coat of paint on the cars, the second coat will go on after the rings have been glued in.

The cars cut out and an initial coat of spray paint applied.
The cars cut out and an initial coat of spray paint applied.


If all goes well tomorrow morning, then tomorrow night the boys will be attaching the thumbtacks and decorating their cars so they have their new neckerchief slides to wear to the blue and gold this weekend.

So I got that slot cutting bit at Harbor Freight last night and tried it out this morning, there might be a better solution out there, but this will certainly achieve what I was looking to do.


A 1/4" trim router with the slot cutter installed.
A 1/4" trim router with the slot cutter installed.

I cut a slot into all of them and then inserted the rings.  I cut the slot tight, in this case 3/32" so that the keyring was snug even without the glue.  My hope is that the glue will prevent them from being able to pull out, and the snug fit will prevent them from developing a wobble over time.

The car with the slot cut, ring inserted, and wood glue applied.
The car with the slot cut, ring inserted, and wood glue applied.


The cars with 2 more coats of paint.
The cars with 2 more coats of paint.



Once the glue had dried I sprayed the cars with 2 more coats of paint.  I then used an awl to make indents for the location of the thumb tack wheels.  I made up a demonstration one by inserting the tacks and using a silver Sharpie to add some detail.  The boys will work with their Tiger Adult Partners tonight to put in the tacks on theirs and then decorate them with  paint pens and puff paint.  The prep for this project is time consuming but the materials are cost effective.  I was only doing a dozen this time, but if I were going to do it again it would be more efficient to prep enough for all of the dens and then some, the additional cost in materials wouldn't be significant and I could probably do 4 times as many in only twice the amount of time.


With awl marks for the tack tires.
With awl marks for the tack tires.

A decorated example.
A decorated example.

A decorated example.
A decorated example.

Testing the ring.
Testing the ring.



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