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In lugnet.castle, Bill Jackson writes:
> Wow. That was one piece of work. All those creative uses for pieces,
> especially the round towers and the rock raiders canopy, really gave it a
> realistic look. I'm gonna round the towers on my castle now. And is that a
> Trebuchet in two of the pics or is it just a crane? Because I've got a huge
> Trebuchet in towards the right wall of my castle. I don't have many soldiers,
> so until I do, I'm going for the defensive approach by building a Trebuchet
> the size of the state of Rhode Island. If you don't know what a Trebuchet is,
> it's like a catapult except that there are usually pieces of wood lashed
> together in a triangular form on either side to form the base. The
> counterweight is suspended between these. The firing arm is tied down,
> loaded, then the counterweight drops and the payload is rocketed a great
> distance. Since my giant trebuchet is immobile until lego makes some
> elephants or something to pull it, it's mounted on a rotating circle. I'm
> trying to get it to be able to go up and down, too.
I just watched the Siege Weapons edition of the Nova "Secrets of Lost Empires"
miniseries on PBS. Basically, the hour-long show focused on the efforts of two
groups of people to build two slightly different trebuchets using medieval
methods, and knock down a typical rubble-filled masonry-shell wall.
It was _very_ inspiring.
I just finished building my own Lego trebuchet, using the mast from the Amazon
River Expedition set as the throwing arm. It swings freely through 350 degrees,
has a huge counterweight (equivalent to 64 1x1 blocks) instead of a basket, and
managed (once) to throw a 1x1 brick with a peg hole in it about 10-12 feet.
It is 10.3 bricks high without the mast, which has its axis of rotation a bit
more than halfway towards the counterweight side. It rolls on four of the thick
4x4 wheels--which I strongly recommend, since allowing it to move increases the
range by up to a half. Also, it's really cool to watch it roll backwards in
steps as the counterweight swings.
Actually, I'm not having a lot of luck with the sling part. I'd rather not cut
up a net to make a smaller sling, but it's looking like that's my best option
(folding the net does not work at all). Right now I've got a chain doubled over
with a rubber band (from Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins) which I wedge into the hole
of the 1x1. This isn't a great solution, cause it's really hard to make it
release at the right time.
Oh, by the way, for defensive purposes I recommend a ballista instead of a
trebuchet. Nothing quite like being able to spear an entire unit with a
sharpened tree trunk. ;)
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Jason Catena wrote:
> I just watched the Siege Weapons edition of the Nova "Secrets of Lost Empires"
> miniseries on PBS. Basically, the hour-long show focused on the efforts of two
> groups of people to build two slightly different trebuchets using medieval
> methods, and knock down a typical rubble-filled masonry-shell wall.
Just read an article (I think it was in Smithsonian magazine) about this
"experiment". I can look it up if anyone missed the special.
> It is 10.3 bricks high without the mast, which has its axis of rotation a bit
> more than halfway towards the counterweight side. It rolls on four of the thick
> 4x4 wheels--which I strongly recommend, since allowing it to move increases the
> range by up to a half. Also, it's really cool to watch it roll backwards in
> steps as the counterweight swings.
Have you observed the range difference with a rolling and non-rolling
LEGO model? The article mentioned that they found that the rolling did
in fact make a difference, just curious how observable that was in a
model.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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In lugnet.castle, Jason Catena writes:
SNIP
>
> Actually, I'm not having a lot of luck with the sling part. I'd rather not cut
> up a net to make a smaller sling, but it's looking like that's my best option
> (folding the net does not work at all). Right now I've got a chain doubled • over
> with a rubber band (from Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins) which I wedge into the • hole
> of the 1x1. This isn't a great solution, cause it's really hard to make it
> release at the right time.
>
> Oh, by the way, for defensive purposes I recommend a ballista instead of a
> trebuchet. Nothing quite like being able to spear an entire unit with a
> sharpened tree trunk. ;)
Personal recommendation, don't even try for the sling approach. It will
require a stout crossbar to stop the throwing arm, but put one of the catapult
buckets at the end and make it a hybrid. If you don't put in the stop, the arm
will just keep going and centrifugal force will make the release very
unpredictable.
Either that or go with a NLS (non-Lego solution) with a bit of string and some
cloth and make the sling yourself.
Happy Hurling!
Lance
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In lugnet.castle, Frank Filz writes:
> Jason Catena wrote:
> > It is 10.3 bricks high without the mast, which has its axis of rotation a
> > bit more than halfway towards the counterweight side. It rolls on four of
> > the thick 4x4 wheels--which I strongly recommend, since allowing it to move
> > increases the range by up to a half. Also, it's really cool to watch it
> > roll backwards in steps as the counterweight swings.
>
> Have you observed the range difference with a rolling and non-rolling
> LEGO model? The article mentioned that they found that the rolling did
> in fact make a difference, just curious how observable that was in a
> model.
Alas, I was unable to get it to fire properly often enough to make that
observation. The figure of "by a half" I got from the wooden model they used in
the Nova special, which fired 30 feet when rolling, versus 20 feet when
stationary.
Another disadvantage of the stationary approach is that, according to the Nova
special, the model rocks anyway, jumping around a little bit. I didn't observe
this rocking or jumping before I put it on wheels, but I did have it firmly
attached to a very large brick base.
Once I get the thing to fire reliably, I'll post details on its default range,
as well as the effects of various counterweights and power assist (divine
intervention, in the form of my hand:).
Oh, I also need to make a firing pin, I've been cocking and releasing the thing
by hand.
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In lugnet.castle, Lance Scott writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Jason Catena writes:
> SNIP
> >
> > Actually, I'm not having a lot of luck with the sling part. I'd rather not
> > cut up a net to make a smaller sling, but it's looking like that's my best
> > option (folding the net does not work at all). Right now I've got a chain
> > doubled over with a rubber band (from Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins) which I
> > wedge into the hole of the 1x1. This isn't a great solution, cause it's
> > really hard to make it release at the right time.
>
> Personal recommendation, don't even try for the sling approach. It will
> require a stout crossbar to stop the throwing arm, but put one of the
> catapult buckets at the end and make it a hybrid. If you don't put in the
> stop, the arm will just keep going and centrifugal force will make the
> release very unpredictable.
>
> Either that or go with a NLS (non-Lego solution) with a bit of string and
> some cloth and make the sling yourself.
Hm. The trebuchets in the Nova special did not have crossbars, but in any event
I might be trying to do something a little too tricky for now. The catapult
bucket is a really good idea, and I did try to use the bucket-and-arm from the
Catapult Crusher set, but it turned out to be too awkward and heavy. I don't
have any of the buckets without arms, nor do I know which sets I could find
them in (except one or two really old castle sets). I tried Baylit, but the
piece was not listed as far as I could tell. :(
> Happy Hurling!
Thanks! Do you have experience building these?
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