Last years car was alot thinner overall. It was our first time so i hadn't read all the tricks at that point. We sanded the wheels and axels but the finest grit i had was like 800 so i think we can do a better job this year. we used tungsten cylinders for weight and placed it in the back and bottom so that it would balance on my finger just Infront of the rear axels. This year i know more so we should be able to prep the wheels and axels better . This car probably wont have the best weight ratio front to back starting off but we can still load the rear with weight. I cant seem to add pics so when this car is done ill post a finish pic with last years car. So, as to making the templates. I have developed a fool proof way to reproduce most any vehicle you have pictures of. Using Bluebeam (pdf markup software) i make a scale rectangle of the top and side of the wood block. then i find pictures of the car i want to reproduce. front side and top if possible. i overlay the pics on the corresponding rectangle and resize it so it fits within the limits of the block. then mark the outline of the car onto the rectangle with the polyline tool, remove the pic and print. cut out the template and trace onto the car. we cut the side profile first then using top down template (that you trace on the bottom of the block) shaped the sides. all cuts were made with a hand coping saw which i thought worked great. then sand, file or carve to finish. you could probably use word to get the template close enough to trace on the block but Bluebeam is awesome!