Budgets: from champagne taste to beer budget

Let think about budgets.  You can probably get away with borrowing everything from a friend as the necessary tools are not exotic. But then there are things that you can get which are a bit more exoctic, up to buying all the stuff online.

Don't buy this stuff yet, just know what you *might* need and so you know what you're in for. I rate them from 10 to 1, with 10 being the biggest help in speed and reduced risk of screwing up your project and helping you along. So a clamp isn't going to make your car faster, but it will reduce the risk of you messing something up and it is very handy. 

I then rate them from 10-1 terms of price (10 is cheap/1 is expensive). 10 is something can be found for free.  9 is less than a dollar. 8 is less than 3 dollars. 7 is less than $5. 5 is less than 20 dollars. and 7 is less than 50 dollars. 

So 3/10 is slightly helpful, but very cheap. 

Fast car basics

BSA car kit (10/3). 

Coping saw (10/8). Get one with a removable blade. 

Sandpaper, in increasing grit rating. I recommend 80/120/150/200/600/as high as you can find it (10/7)

Hammer (10/8)

Drill (10/5)

Cotton string (3/9). Must be pure cotton. 

Scissors (1/9)

Small magnifying glass (8/7). I use a small one from a toy science kit that is the size of a jewelers loop. 

Flathead screwdriver (8/8). You use this to pry up axles, NOT pliers. Pliers bend your axle heads and are tough to repair when damaged. 

Paint (2/7). Cheap acrylic paint. Any color. Use gloss. 

Car polish (2/10). Turtle Wax. You should have one can, which is a lifetime supply  

Graphite lubricant (10/6). Specialty hobby stores. But you NEED this. 

Lead fishing weight (8/8). Get the ones that are big and shaped as barrel like as possible. 

Ruler (1/10)

Sand (9/10). Finer the sand, the better. 

Metal polish (9/10).

Pencils

A metal nail file (10/8)

Drill hint:

The whole above kit without the drill and hammer is probably less than US$50. Drills run the range and you should be able to borrow one.  Here is something not so obvious.  Don't borrow a super awesome drill.  They are frankly too powerful for this job.  You actually need a low powered one. Don't buy a low powered one on purpose, but use a cordless one. 

Serious Dad Upgrades

Clamp (8/6)

Dremel + Barrel stone bit (10/6)

#44 Drill bit (8/8)

Metal ruler (upgrade to ruler)

Small vice grip (8/5)

Popsicle sticks (2/10)

Thin balsa wood board (3/8)

A protractor (8/8)

A wooden work board.  I use an Ikea step ladder, which I use to clamp on my vice grip, paint and do my work on.  I had it, so it was free, but having a work area is very helpful. (8/5)

A small wooden board & 4 nails (2/7)

Marbles (1/8)

Rubbing alcohol (2/8)

A truly flat board (like a new book shelf board from Ikea) (10/7)

A fingernail polishing block (2/7)

A fine metal file (2/6)

Without the Dremel, this costs about US$50 more. 

In It To Win It Upgrades

Tungsten cubes (10/5)

Tungsten powder (2/5)

Other stuff you buy from Pinewood Derby equipment sites (10/3)

This stuff works and it is really helpful, but this will start adding costs in $40 increments. 

I started off cheap and now I've got a lot more stuff.  The one big splurge I did was a Dremel, but I had a bunch of the stuff I already had. My son won 2nd in the Pack without us buying anything special apart from the Dremel.  This year, we bought Tungsten weights, a drill jig, tungsten sand, hub shaver, and wheel tread shaver  this year, so we should - in theory go even faster. But just read the basics because it should make you go really fast.

Once you have gone through physics and designs, THEN you want to buy the stuff because you don't need all of this stuff and your car design will depend upon which concepts you want to incorporate.