Swinstead the medieval warfare master (aka geek)

Yesterday I made a Trebuchet. For those not in the know a Trebuchet is a medieval warfare device something like a catapult - you will have seen them in films being used to hurl huge rocks at castle walls and stuff.

It was made from paperclips and it could take very little weight without falling to bits.


It managed to fire about 5 times it's own length but only a few times before the axle bowed and the whole thing died. It was good for nothing more than a proof of concept.

So then I whipped out the bamboo, the hacksaw and the wood glue and took things to the next level with attempt number 2.

As you can see attempt number 2 is much larger and more sturdy.

This model could fire around 5 feet compared to being a foot long. Then I made some structural changes (not pictured) and it now fires to well over ten feet! I'm convinced I can get it higher when I get around to making a heavier counterweight, but now I've had my fun I probably won't bother.

Instead, my next plan is to make a bigger version, roughly 4 feet tall, which will be awesome. It will be so awesome that it's second name will be awesome and people will say "Hey have you seen that trebuchet John Awesome and his 2 kids 'Totally Awesome' and 'Frickin Awesome'?"

Anyway. Other stuff I did yesterday was look into steampunk modding some things. Steampunking makes everything cool, see below.

And also I was looking at pictures of some of the coolest tattoos I've ever seen:



And the pièce de résistance, without a doubt my favourite tattoo ever:


And to top off my online meanderings I was looking at galleries of a lego artist who makes actual artistic sculptures out of lego. And this is my favourite:

And there we go, a day in the life of someone too skint to go out on a Friday!

Luckily tonight I shall be leaving the house instead!