I am a Den Leader for 5 Cub Scouts at the US Air Force Academy and I took them to the NSRA show in Pueblo. They went nuts looking at all the cars. They all asked where the folks there bought there cars and that they had never seen them at the Ford "Car Store". I told them that they build them like you guys build your pine wood derby cars. Well that just got them more interested. They each picked up a program and I am sure they are hooked. My delima is I am thinking of putting down the money to get all the parts to build a roadster and have them work on it as much as safely possible. The goal is to have a comlete car that they can say they built and show it off at the next Pine Wood Derby meet. I really like these guys. They all go to school with my 9 year old son, they play together and are all in the same den with me as their leader. I feel for them also, I just got back from Iraq and at any given time their dads are deployed. Just looking for some opinions and advice. Thanks
I respect your motovation,however keeping 9yr olds busy and having them "build" the car,I think is going to be a great feat.
That is why I was thinking along the lines of Ok today we are going to take the next 20 minutes and put on the wheels and tires. Next week we will sand the body ( just let them sand what they can where the want to). Yeah there is no way to keep their attention in rebuilding a small block or running all the wiring. Small projects with would give them a huge sense of pride. I remember the meetings where their attention was on the game and snack at the end. It was a little rough teaching them things like ropes and knots.
I remember being quiet capativated by the building of an engine by my dad when I was young. However, body work seemed more than boring. I was a good tool fetcher. I would think you could have them build an engine (the assembly, not the machine work) if you can do it and have the tools to do it.
My 18 year old eagle scout son and I have had several father-son projects over the years that ended up being 90 percent Dad and 10 percent son. And he is even studying mech engineering now with an eye toward a career in the automotive field. As much interest as the Cub scouts show now, they all have other interests as well. It is difficult to sustain their interest. I had a similar experience with adolescent boys when I was medical director for a residential treatment program. they all wanted to build an electric guitar. So I got the wood and parts and they built it but never played it. It was a chore getting them to sustain interest past the first few weeks. You heart is in the right place but they need smaller projects than a street rod. It would be better I think to get them all Revell models of a 32 coupe and an X-Acto saw and teach them the difference between chopping, channelling, sectioning, etc. Then each scout could show his own version of cool at the pinewood derby show.
Damn.....this post made me get a tear in my eye! Good for you with the scouts! My dad also was our den leader and we did fun stuff like this. How about keep it small? Nothern Tool sells all the parts to build a go-kart from scratch?
Cool!!!! I never thought about a go cart. That way they coould build it and drive it. Maybe even customize it with stickers, paint lights ETC. I might be able to find a 32 roadster go cart some where.
My son the engineer is already drooling about the formula car tthe students build next year. A go cart is a good idea! I think usbodysource.com or something like that has a 32 highboy go cart body. that wouls be perfect since then they would take turns driving in the parking lot.
I agree with the go kart thing. My son ,now 8 years old, "helped" build our go kart. Really it was 95% me, 5% him. But he just glows with pride when asked about it or rides it. I think helping on the car is a bit much for a young child.
rougly, 10 years old is about right for learning about model cars (including engine swaps, paint jobs, etc). 12 is about right for rebuilding a (real) carb or messing with a go kart or minibike. 14 is time for engine rebuilding. 16 is about right for learning to rebuild transmissions. Building serious hot rods might wait until 17 or 18. at least that's what we did as kids...ymmv
Soap box derby cars might be an option too. They can actually ride in those but there's no engine and a lot less building to do. You can find a real tame slope so the speeds won't get out of hand. Maybe build two and let the kids match race, obviously can't build one for each of them. They obviously love the pinewood derby, this would just be life sized. GoKart would be my next choice, although 9 might be kinda young for motorized hoonage. Building a full size car would be awesome but hell, it's hard for me to stay focused and interested in a project that size and I'm 26. A field trip to a hot rod shop might keep interest high during your project.
Good idea, I never thought of using slave labor to get my projects done I vote for the go-kart. More rewarding beacause they get to drive it. Even if they don't get into to cars when they get older they will never forget that moment.
Yep going with a go-cart and body. Thanks guys. I will save the bigger project for my son when he gets older.
Flyin' Fred, i think you are really doing something good here. I went through my years of cubscouts, boyscouts and have my eagle award. Your idea of haveing them help build a car, a hotrod none the less is perfect. it may be hard to keep their attention, but let them dink around, at 9, that was what it was all about; have fun and maybe learn a thing or 2. you will be exposing these kids to something no one else is, and you already expressed how interested they are. they'll be tellin all their friends about the hotrod they're building, it'd be great. let them do as much work as you can, cause at that age they seldom get to do work like this, mostly just watch. just keep in mind that attention span, let 'em go throw rocks at eachother if they want. and for the record Flyin' Fred, i would have loved to have a scout leader that let me help build a hotrod with him. good luck, keep us posted. PaX
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