In this part of the tutorial we finish things up by making the crossbow bolts. And then we fire this thing off!!

Let's Make the Crossbow Bolts

Cut yourself some straws to about a length of six inches.

And cut some Q-tips in half.

This is a little tricky to see but put some glue in the end of the straw then insert the q-tip right in there. Put it so the q tip puffy part is sticking right out.

Hot glue gun is terrific and easy for this.

Now put a solid amount of glue into the straw at the other end. Fill it up. This forms a solid plug that the rubber band will slam against. But wipe any excess around the edges. If it is too bloated it won't slide through the guide.

Make as many of these as you want!

And you can make yourself a quiver for the bolts in any number of ways such as a little cardboard box or cut a cup to make it thinner.

Now the only thing remaining is to paint the things up! We painted pretty much everything brown.

And added some ornamental decorations.

Sealing the crossbow

You can preserve the color and keep your hands cleaner if you seal the whole thing with something like a spray sealant or a gloss gel.

You load the crossbow by pulling back the rubber band and putting it over the back of the trigger popsicle stick. You can adjust that stick up or down.

Optionally you can do this without the trigger at all. Just pull back and release.

The crossbow is loaded and ready to fire... errr. after I put a bolt in there!

Before firing it you can dip the q-tip (cotton swab) in watery red paint. This way it leaves a mark on your target. Often it will cause the bolt to stick!

There you go! It stuck right to the target!

Make the Leonardo Da Vinci Catapult

This is an interesti ng little project that is based on the designs by DaVinci. All you need is an embroidery hoop as the source of kinetic energy to fire the catapult. Make the DaVinci Catapult

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