Now we begin the actual building of this catapult. It shouldn't take you long at all. Grab your tools and lets get started.

Layout one 36 inch piece of wood and place a 153 inch piece up against it as shown. The right edge of the 15 inch piece goes right to the 15 inch mark so that edge is 15 inches from the end of the horizintal 2 x 4.

Next place your triangle piece right on top of the 2x4's as shown. The 18 inch side is vertical here. Screw or nail it down securely to the two 2x4's. (Note that the picture above and below shows holes drilled. No need to worry abou them for now. We will get to those in a later step. )

Repeat this same process again to make the other base leg of the catapult. But, make sure it is a mirror image. They are not exactly identical, they are opposite each other. The picture below shows the correct orientation.

Now you have the two base legs of the catapult. Assemble them together by using two 15 inch long 2x4's. Screw these parts together very tight using long screws. Don't use nails for this part. Nails will tend to come apart under the press of the catapult when it is wound up.

Now let's prepare the swing arm

Now screw the 18 inch piece across the top of the catapult. Make it nice and strong. This is what stops the swing arm.

Grab your 30 inch piece (This is the swing arm) and measure 2 and 1/2 inches from one end. Drill a 1/2 inch hole here right in the middle. Drill through the side of the two by four as shown in the picture and drill all the way through it.

Screw the bottom part of a plastic cup to the other end of the swing arm. This is the end opposite the hole you drilled. This is the bucket that you put your projectile in.

Now measure 6 inches from the end of the catapult and drill a 1 inch diameter hole. make this hole approximately 2 1/2 inches up from the bottom. You want this hole toward the top so the swing arm has room to swing.

Okay, lets finish making this catapult