Lego Catapults

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

Which Lego catapult flings a brick the farthest?

[veevers24]

Wouldn't that greatly depend on how hard/fast you hit the handle?

Probably the spring loaded ones though

[quaraga]

sounds like some science is nesesary, how about you get a weight, a few catapults, a universal projectile, and a yard/meter stick. then applying only the weight of the weight measure how far the projectile goes.

and what spring loaded catapults?

[veevers24]

I was referring to the spring loaded projectile firing thing that came with some Knight Kingdom I sets

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

sounds like some science is nesesary, how about you get a weight, a few catapults, a universal projectile, and a yard/meter stick. then applying only the weight of the weight measure how far the projectile goes.

What logical thinking. I took your advice, and measured the two catapults that I actually do have. These were from set numbers 6030 and 6193. I made a 2 ounce weight out of a lump of modelling clay wrapped in aluminum foil. I lined up a couple of yardsticks from the fulcrum of each catapult and dropped the weight from a height of 12 inches -- using a single 1x1 cylindrical brick for ammunition. It wasn't easy to get particularly consistent results, so I took the average of the five longest shots. Here are the results.

#6030: 50 inches.
#6193: 62 inches.

Since 6193 was so easy to adjust, I moved the lever arm back one notch (from what is shown in the official instructions), and this increased the range to 70 inches. But I didn't attempt to make the same adjustment for 6030. I still think it would be interesting to compare results if anyone else has any other catapults they could test.

[JoshWedin]

I still think it would be interesting to compare results if anyone else has any other catapults they could test.

This was interesting. I'd be interested in that too. Now you are almost getting me to rebuild some of older sets....almost.

Josh

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

Now you are almost getting me to rebuild some of older sets....almost.

Josh

Do it! The world wants to know... Or at least I do.

[Legoorci]

I would say it's the vikings catapult. A friend of me owned one and it could fire very well!

[quaraga]

I concur I had that one and it worked pretty well.
the one piece catapult (like in kcs) probably sucks

[TheFlarbar]

I found that the catapults with wheels rolled too much to hit their target.

[JoshWedin]

I found that the catapults with wheels rolled too much to hit their target.

Did you try holding them still? I've never had this "problem".

Josh

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

I can't remember -- I think I took the wheels off of the one I tested, and attached it to a base plate.

[rogue27]

On most of the recent catapults, the arm swings too far and tends to fling the brick into the table unless you put in a stopper.

[SevFalcon]

On most of the recent catapults, the arm swings too far and tends to fling the brick into the table unless you put in a stopper.

Great suggestion and makes perfect sense. I like the new catapult in the Outpost Attack set but it suffers from this problem....

[Velliscig]

I found that the catapults with wheels rolled too much to hit their target.

Did you try holding them still? I've never had this "problem".

Josh

Perhaps just place a "wooden" wedge brick underneath the back wheels? You gotta think, what would a minifig do, you know.