We have the budget and (possibly) transportation and storage sorted ....
.. but is there anyone out there that can make (in a reasonable amount of time) a piece of working artillery for us ??
Have you asked Len Morgan? I think he has made some of that artifacts.
What size, and what period?
Quote:We have the budget and (possibly) transportation and storage sorted ....
.. but is there anyone out there that can make (in a reasonable amount of time) a piece of working artillery for us ??
Where's your sense of adventure??? Get some wood, rope, etc. and start experimenting. Researching and constructing items adds to your skill set and is more rewarding than buying off-the-shelf. There are certain components like modioli and ratchets you may have to outsource. Working with local craftsmen and suppliers to make them builds interest in our hobby. Storage and transport are major concerns. My workshop is getting awfully crowded and I'm just stating on my ballista. If you choose the do-it-yourself approach, be sure to keep us up to date on your progress.
What is a reasonable amount of time? Indeed, Randi is correct. I'm in Legio III as well, and am building a manuballista and a scorpio. I expect the scorpio, which is about 60% done, will have taken a bit over a year from start to finish. The manuballista is taking considerably less time, but not a 1-week project by any means!
The single largest cost will be the metal parts, unless you are good friends with a machinist, or learn to cast metals like I have been forced to do.
Hey Dane, any chance you'll have some tutorials up for the scorpio?
You can get some good info from books and working models from mangonel DOT com.
IN one book there are results from contests, and a catapulta of some sort (onager, I think) threw a 100lb (~45kg) stone 700+ feet (~255m). Dang! That's some force!
Yeah, I had one of those mini-scorpios...was kind of a piece of poop. I'm the kind of guy though who needs something like matt amt's site to make one of the darn things though! Heck, I'd even be willing to pay a reasonable price for someone who has plans on how to make one.
Well, the models are more useful for looking at how things work than actually copying. They sell a paperback book that comes as close to blueprints as I've seen anywhere. It's under 20 bucks IIRC.
Few will give exact specifications, at least around here, because if you build something exactly (or sort of exactly) to someone else's plan, and something goes wrong and a person is injured, they can sue you for giving them faulty paid-for advice. So most will direct you at some point to math formulae, or lists of types of lumber instead of giving a specific set of criteria.
You can't just scale up the model, of course, to make a larger version. Too many factors are not straight line expansions.
Yeah...I can't be bothered. I wish there was someone willing to put actual kits together or something.
Quote:Hey Dane, any chance you'll have some tutorials up for the scorpio?
Salve. Mmmm...tutorials?
I will post occassionally, maybe even start a new thread, as I accomplish significant steps. Kind of a build-along.
Some sort of manual of building massively deadly ancient weapons in your own garage might be a nice thing to have. I am not sure if I will ever do something like that, but maybe a kind of basic guide to tools, techniques, how to make sinew rope and linen rope, design possibilities, etc. might be kind of neat. Let me finish both the manuballista and scorpio first, though!
For now, let me show some shots I took about two weeks ago of what I have done with the wood framed manuballista / scorpio minor (still not sure what to call the thing). Please keep in mind, one, I am not going by the future-to-be-released Xanian paper of the 2000 find, so my machine will not be a precise replica of the original or that replica either. Two, I have some latitude in a great number of areas, so my own ideas may not be what someone else thinks is proper or possible. In that case, build one yourself, eh?
What you are seeing here are shots of the roughly finished spring frame and rough cut stock, with dovetail slider groove. I just fitted the stock into the frame, but it has a ways to go, but will give you some idea of what the two components will look like later.
I left a great deal of wood on the stock, and will work it down as I fit the pieces together. Also, these are not perfect mortice and tenon joints (my first ones), but are still very, very strong, much more so than I expected. Once the bronze plates are cast and attached, it will make it that much stronger a structure. I have no doubts at all that this will not explode when I get her up to full power.
Second shot. I haven't posted photos to this site before, so forgive me if I am missing able to post multiple shots on one posting.
Last shot. Hope you like them.
Dane
Looks like pretty darned good woodwork from this distance, bro. Keep it up!
(of course it's worth a laud point)
Thanks so much for the kind words and the laude. I hope to have the slider finished by the end of this weekend - partially done now, more planing and then the bolt / arrow groove will be cut in. I can then begin to fit the stock into the frame, a bit tricky but straight forward, and get the belly rest rough cut out.