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Use the bonus code on our shopping cart to activate free shipping. Free shipping is offered for a limited time only, for standard ground shipping (no express orders), to destinations within the USA and only for orders including one or more of our catapult kits listed below.
To get your free shipping, simply add one or more of the kits below to your shopping cart, and anything else you wish to order from our many web sites, (see the list at the top of this page) and then use this bonus code on the shopping cart: sci-news-fs
This free shipping offer expires on July 31, 2008.

The Stirling Warwolf Trebuchet This highly detailed kit includes a working, historically accurate winch, trigger, trolley-block system, authentic half-lap and mortise and tenon joinery and more!
$189.00 more info

X-treme Onager Modeled after the Roman Onager, this torsion-based machine can hurl golf balls and tennis balls over 50 feet!
$59.00 more info

Floating Arm Trebuchet™ model 3000 A fascinating machine that converts potential energy into kinetic and uses it to throw a ball, this machine is only 34 inches tall, 18 inches long and 12 inches wide (including the steel counterweight boxes) but it hurls a golf ball over 200 feet.
$169.00 more info

TK3 Model Trebuchet The TK3 Trebuchet Model Kit is an ideal science project machine! Use the hanging counterweight bucket for variable weights, or convert it to a fixed counterweight machine, wheels, or no wheels. The choice is yours!
$59.00 more info

Greek and Roman Ballista The Greek and Roman Ballista is the granddaddy of all field artillery. This display quality model is fully functional and really works!
$79.00 more info

The Desktop Trebuchet Defend your desktop! The mere presence of this striking machine on your desk will induce fear and respect among your peers. Take charge and besiege your opponents with a fully functional, genuine trebuchet for your desk!
$34.95 more info

The Desktop Onager The Mighty Roman ONAGER, Now available in a desktop model. This display-quality model really works and can shoot missiles up to twenty feet.
$26.95 more info

BONUS! Get free shipping on any of these products too!

The Compound Gear Train This Gear-Train model kit is a great way to demonstrate how compound gear ratios can reduce or increase torque and the effect that has on power and speed.
$24.95 more info

The Warren Truss Bridge A Warren truss bridge is strong, lightweight and easy to build. This model is 22" long, 7" wide and 7" tall, and can support up to 100 lbs.! It's perfect for O and HO model train sets.
$29.95 more info

Perpetual Motion Machine The classic "overbalanced wheel" perpetual motion machine, as designed by French Architect Villiard De Honnecourt in about 1235, and studied extensively by Leonardo Da Vinci in the late 1400's.
$98.00 more info

Leonardo DaVinci's Self-Supporting Arch Bridge No glue! The unique structure of this bridge holds itself together without any fasteners or connectors. All parts are precision cut from high-quality hardwood. The finished model is 36” wide, 10” tall and 5-1/2” wide.
$21.95 more info

The Cable-Stayed Suspension Bridge A cable-stayed bridge is a more elegant variation of a suspension bridge. This model was engineered with HO-scale model trains and match-box cars in mind. It's a great looking bridge kit and easy to build too!
$49.95 more info

Notes:
Why should a kid
build a catapult?

Because the world needs good engineers and scientists, and because the kids who will grow up to become engineers and scientists need a way to get hands-on experience with physics, math and engineering.

In this age of 200-plus channels of TV, the Internet and computer games, kids are also spending far less time building tree houses, tinkering with engines, or designing downhill racers. We believe those are important skills to have. They help form the basis for good problem solving skills and an innate understanding of the real, physical world that you just can't get from a computer game, no matter how good its physics simulation software is.

Ballistic motion was one of the key players in the development of the science of physics. The word "engineer" even originated as the builders and designer of Siege Engines

Why is a budding engineering student expected to take a year or two of calculus in high school, but she isn't expected to have any real-world experience in building or working with machines and materials? Pencil and paper (or computer screens) are only one part of the learning experience. Where will she apply all of the stuff she learned in geometry and trig? Without physical projects to touch, feel and see, the lessons become abstract, their utility questionable.

A catapult project gives students a chance to see that science and engineering really can be fun, and it's a lot more than just numbers on paper. The real payoff for an engineer is in the field, where she can see and enjoy the results of her ingenuity. And it may seem counterintuitive, but engineering projects not only help kids learn math and science, they are also great at getting kids back outdoors, away from the massive over-exposure to video games, TV and the Internet.

Why all this interest in getting kids to study science and engineering? Because it's important to our society, and it's great mental cross training regardless of what field of work the kids eventually go into. Most people develop a sense for what they want to do in life while they are still in high school or even earlier. A catapult project is fun and interesting enough to inspire some kids to study the science behind how they work, and then go on to become the engineers and scientists of tomorrow.