The Space Derby is held at our November Pack Meeting.  Each Scout is given a balsa wood Space Derby Rocket Kit at the October Pack Meeting which the Scout and a parent glue, shape, paint and assemble and bring to the November Pack Meeting to race along with other Scouts in his Den.

We setup the “race track” in the school cafeteria and run 4 rockets down the track 4 at a time!  The race track uses taught heavy gauge fishing lines attached to a starting gate which allow the rubber band powered rockets to blast off and “fly” down to the finish line.

 It’s a great time and lots of fun for everyone.  Since it’s a school night, we try to keep the racing light-hearted (as compared to the serious racing of the Pinewood Derby!) and do not hand out trophies, but every racer does receive an award for participating.  We try to keep the Meeting to an hour, but this event always tends to run a little longer!

Some key things to remember about your rocket are:

1. There are a few very small parts in the bag - open it with care so they don’t get lost.
2. Glue the 2 balsa wood parts together as soon as possible.  Finally getting around to making the rocket with your son and finding that you haven’t glued them together will set you back for more time!
3. The propeller hub has a rounded side and a flat side that has a slight ridge.  The rounded side goes towards the nose of the rocket.  The rounded side should fit against the brass ferrule that is inserted into the plastic nose piece that in turn fits into the nose of the rocket.  The ridge on the flat side is what “catches” the bend you make in the propeller shaft.  If put on backwards, there will be nothing for the propeller shaft to grab and the rocket “motor” will not wind, causing you to have a very unhappy Scout!
4. The plastic piece that fits on the top of the rocket needs to have the rounded nose pointing towards the front of the rocket.  If not, it will be unable to fit into the carriage used to attach the rocket to the race track.
5. The more rubber bands, the more power it will have - but keep in mind the more rubber bands you use the less you can wind up the motor!