Building a DIY Pinewood Derby Display ShelfBuilding a DIY Pinewood Derby Display Shelf

Why let your kids' cool car designs sit in a box when you can showcase them with this easy-to-build shelf?

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

May 2, 2022

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The finished shelf on the wall with a display of Pinewood Derby racers.Image courtesy of Dan Carney

Many of us have had kids go through Cub Scouts’ Pinewood Derby competitions. This is when boys (ostensibly) use a wood block kit to create cars for a gravity race.

A good time is usually had by all, even if some over-involved dads sometimes forget that it is the children who are expected to build the cars and race them!

A lot of creative effort goes into the cars’ creation, whether they ultimately go fast or not. In our family, we had quite a collection of cars built by all the kids thanks to competitions at corporate events.

It seems like a shame for the kids’ hard work to go forgotten after the race. So I scanned the interweb for a display solution. I spotted Etsy vendor Warforged Products had a shelf for Hot Wheels-sized cars that looked nice, so I asked about a kit for the larger Pinewood Derby cars.

Thankfully, Warforged was able to quickly adapt the design for the laser-cut wood kit for the bargain price of $37.

The documentation that accompanies the kit makes sense after you’ve put a kit together, so I found that looking closely at the finished product was helpful because there aren’t that many pieces.

The wood panels interlock so the floors slide into notches in the sides and center support, while those parts slide into notches in the back panel. It is just a matter of getting the assembly order correct. I test fit everything, then disassembled it and went through the assembly process again, applying glue to all the contact surfaces the second time.

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The laser-cut wood has a cool rustic look, with bare wood framed by edges blackened by the cutter. For the Pinewood Derby cars, however, I thought the style is a little rustic, so I opted to paint the pieces before assembling them.

I used black for the floors and back and green for the sides and divider. This does seem a little on the dark side, so maybe consider using lighter colors. I’m thinking phase two of this project might be to add some LED lighting. For now, I’m happy to have the family’s creative car designs on proper display.

And if you don’t have Pinewood Derby cars, this shelf will also work for 1/32 scale slot cars. And of course, Warforged has its original 1/64 scale Hot Wheels-sized shelf, which looks so cool that I wish I still had the collection from when I was a kid to display on it.

 

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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