Overture
The design of the Overture is from Fryer's Kits. I printed the plans on office paper and glued that to oaktag. The payload is $1.04 in pennies. The normal projectile is a grape that can be launched between 12 and 15 feet. The axle is 6.5 inches off the ground and the throwing arm length is 7.5 inches.
Assailer
The Overture worked so well that I decided to make a LEGO version of it. It was built to the same dimensions as the paper trebuchet and used pennies as counterweight as well. The Assailer's range is slightly less than that of the Overture, but it excells in accuracy. It can hit a magazine-sized target with a die at a range of 12 feet 80% of the time.
Bombardier
Inspired by the success of the Assailer, I decided to construct an additional LEGO trebuchet. The wheeled Bombardier is the only fixed-counterweight hurler in my arsenal. Inside the heavy LEGO cage lies a D-size battery. The results were quite good. The siege engine can fire a die between 15 and 19 feet — not great at accuracy, but it's the longest-range of my small scale units.
Aggressor
Tired of flinging dice, I finally built a larger trebuchet. This one is ridiculously overbuilt, but to paraphrase ripcord.ws, it's better to appear as if on steroids than to fall apart on the first firing. The counterweight is a number of stacked iron weights totalling 45 pounds. The Aggressor has sent baseballs and softballs flying over 100 feet thru the air, and can be calibrated to launch water balloons up to 60 feet. Axle height: 3 feet.
Ravager
This is the latest in the never-ending quest for larger hurlers. The Ravager has an axle height of over six feet and the counterweight is 220 lb. It's made almost entirely out of logs, connected with wooden pegs in hand-drilled holes. Four 25 kg test weights make up the counterweight, suspended by a heavy chain. It has sent a 3-pound log nearly 200 feet and large water balloons 120 feet.
