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Hi Guys-- I was roaming around one of my favorite sites a while back (MakeZine http://makezine.com/) and came across a blog about trebuchets and their performance. One email led to another and John (one of the editors) and I agreed to have me build one of their mini desktop trebuchet kits (which comes stock without wheels) and evaluate the kit and performance. Then add some wheels and compare the performance. This page outlines this project. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Trebuchet, it is a medieval siege engine; used to trash castles and fortresses by hurling huge stones, rotting carcasses, just about anything, into or over the walls. (see wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet)
5/10/10 Recieved the kit last week and finally was able to get started today, with the help on my daughter, Melissa, and her boyfriend, Sam. Photo below shows the kit as it comes out of the box.
 I was very impressed with the way the kit was designed -- its a wooden version of the plastic model kits. All pieces are routed out of a solid plank of hardwood (poplar, maybe -- I will find out). Each piece is left in place by a couple of tabs that need to be cut in order to free it. The kit comes complete with everything you need, all you need to supply are simple hand tools, glue and 88 pennies for the counter-weight. The instructions provided are clear and well-written.
The tools we used were:
scissors
xacto-type knife
wood glue
88 pennies
rubber bands
small clamp
hacksaw blade (available, but not used)
 Since we had the three of us, I had the teenagers remove the pieces while I got started on removing the tabs left over. A simple sanding with an emery board (regular sandpaper will do) made quick work of it.
Once the pieces were loose, the Sam & Melissa began gluing parts together. The entire process probably took all of about one hour.
 Even though we followed the directions for making the basket, it did not seem to work as well as I wanted. To help the basket hold the projectile, we added some staples to give it a more "bowl" shape. I think I might find myself a small piece of cloth or leather to make the basket out of, instead of the netting that is provided in the kit.
I deviated from the instructions a bit when it came to adding the pennies to the counterweight assembly. I was having a bit of trouble getting the two halves to come together to my satisfaction (pennies were moving around), so I added a spot of super glue between each penny as I stacked them -- worked like a charm.
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