Ancient Engineering SeriesCatapults.info
Ballistic Technologies of Antiquity
Click Here For a complete list of all our models and kits

Trebuchet Plans on CD

Includes plans for all these models!


A big variety of Trebuchet plans in PDF Format on one big CD-ROM! Plus this bonus material: You'll also get plans for our Mangonel model and the two e-books: The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients, and Catapult Design, Construction and Competition too!

On this CD you'll get the complete and full versions of these:

  • Warwolf Trebuchet Plans, The full-scale machine was like the atomic bomb of medieval times. This 1/10 scale version reaches over 5 feet tall and can hurl a whopping one pound missile over 100 feet

  • Floating Arm Trebuchet Plans, Also known as the FAT-2000. An original design invented by trebuchet expert Ron Toms, standing 3 feet tall, this super machine can hurl a golf ball approx. 300 feet!

  • Tabletop Trebuchet Plans, It's small and portable, but this little desktop-sized machine can hurl marbles clear across the room- 20 feet and more!

  • PVC Plans, The plans and instructions to build your own Trebuchet from PVC pipe and fittings.

  • Onager Plans, The plans and instructions to build your own working model of the Mighty Roman Onager.

  • "Catapult Design, Construction and Competition", The e-book that describes the national catapult and trebchet competitions of the 1960s and 70s. Includes design specs, competition rules, result records and personal reflections.

  • "The Projectile Throwing Engines of the Ancients", originally published in 1901, by Ralph Payne-Gallwey, and based on his extensive research, this book defined much of what we know today in the catapult arts. Excellent bibliography!


Tools you will need:
For all projects (except for the PVC model) you will need a table saw, drill press, screwdrivers, carpenter's square, scissors, needle-nose pliers (to bend wire) and if you have a router, that would be useful too. But these can all be made without a router.

If purchased separately this bundle would cost over $80.00 !! This is a special deal for one CD-ROM with all of these PLANS at one special bundle price.
$39.95
Our Price: $9.95
Buy Now or Add To Cart

<< Previous Item | Next Item >>

[ Click here to see our complete line of models and kits. ]
Tell your friends!

    Price: $39.95
    Our Price: $9.95
    Minimum age: 8
    Availability: In stock.

    Buy Now or Add To Cart
    Item code: 99011


Links


Definitions

Catapult

A catapult is any kind of device that shoots or launches a projectile by mechanical means. In England, a catapult is what we call a slingshot in the US. A catapult is also the part of an aircraft carrier that launches airplanes off the deck.

But for our purposes, a catapult is any of the ancient types of artillery, including Onagers, Scorpions, Trebuchets, Ballistae, Springalds, Coullards, Bricoles Perriers and more.

But most people tend to think of a catapult as the one-armed torsion machine used by the Romans. This is also known as the Onager or Mangonel.

Mangonel

The word Mangonel derives from the ancient Greek word "Manganon", literally meaning "engine of war". The Romans called it a Manganum. In pre-medieval French the word Manganum was changed to Manganeau, and the English changed that to Mangonel in the 1300s.

The history gets a little sketchy in the middle ages, but some historians believe that "mangonel" was shortened to the word "gonnel" about the same time that cannons were being developed, and later still, "gonnel" was shortened to "gun." And still today, in the military a "gun" is strictly a piece of big artillery.

Onager

Onager is originally the name for the wild Asian donkey. This donkey bucks like a bronco if anyone gets too close to it, and it is known to kick stones at people and predators too. So when the Romans needed a name for their one-armed torsion catapult, they called it the Onager!

The Onager (catapult) has a single arm that is powered by a large skein of twisted ropes. The ropes were usually made from hair or sinew for their elastic properties.

Trebuchet

The word "Trebuchet" is originally French, and meant something like "to fall over or rotate about the middle" as in a see-saw rotating on its axle. It also seems to have meant a big, heavy beam. Today a Trebuchet is any kind of catapult that is powered by a massive counterweight on one end of an arm, and a sling on the other end. This includes Perriers, or "traction" trebuchets which are powered by a mass of people pulling one end of the arm with ropes.

Ballista

This is a two-armed torsion device invented by the Greeks. It works similar to a crossbow, but instead of a flexible bow, it uses two stiff arms powered by twisted rope skeins like an Onager. The ballista predates the Onager by several centuries and was used to hurl stones (lithobolos style ballista) and also bolts or darts.

Obviously, this is where we get the word "ballistic".