Help with plans for catapult

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Are there complete plans on the web for a Mangonel type catapult? Perhaps like the type of catapult in episode 1 (UK). Any help would be appreciated. My son is looking for a summer project and this will be part of his research. THANKS!

-- Joseph Holman (tjholman2@jps.net), March 19, 2001

Answers

Hi Joe, If you go to Yahoo and type in 'Trebuchet', you'll get about 10 hits that'll take you to several sites that have plans for all types of siege weapons, some of the sites are just full of links to info on these amazing bits of engineering. I took the plans for a treb, modified them some, and first built a treb that'll hurl an orange 130 feet, then I upscaled it a bit and built one that'll hurl a grapefruit 220 ft. I have a perfectly straight 12 ft post that's going to be the arm in the next one I build. Tell your son that they're easy to build out of odds and ends of wood you have laying around and he'll have gobs of fun hurling things. I have even seen plans for table top models on one of the sites. Good luck, and find a big open area to try it...ken

-- Ken Sklorenko (the3rdwits@yahoo.com), March 20, 2001.

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