The Last Tower

[Olaf The Viking]

Diorama 1:72 scale. It represents the siege of Costesti, dacian citadel.

Kit's used:
Zvezda 8513 Siege Tower
Zvezda 8014 Siege Machines No. 1
Zvezda 8015 Siege Machines No. 2
Zvezda 8013 Roman Infantry
Hat 8074 Imperial Roman Auxiliary
Airfix 01730 Romans
Italeri 6047 Roman Infantry
Orion 72008 Roman Siege Troops
Hat 8069 Dacians

[url:47hsg9pa]http://site.neogen.ro/macheteolaf01/files/pp_181392.html[/url]
I cannot put here the link to the pictures, they are too large. I think 500x600 pixels is too small.

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

nice!

I particularly like the wall - did you make that yourself?

C.

[aitor iriarte]

Very nice, Alexandru!
Notwithstanding, the depicted artillery machine could be somehow anachronistic. I would have used a two-armed stone-thrower for Trajanic period, rather than an onager...
In any case, the construction details of all stone-throwers are the subject of hot debate among scholars! :roll:

Aitor

[Olaf The Viking]

nice!

I particularly like the wall - did you make that yourself?

C.

Yes, stone by stone. I have made them from resin.

Due to the glue used for the grass the corners of the base have raised so I will have to move the whole diorama to another base. I'm going to add two more rows on the top of the towers to be to the same level of the siege tower and I'm going to buid the front wall of the tower.
And I find some Roman auxiliaries from Hat who will be some nice Dacians.

Do you have any drawings or reenact photos of a two-armed stone-thrower? I'm thinking of modifying this onager. Until now I decided to put two ropes and some unbloking mechanism. I think the hook need some modifications, too. A friend of mine told me this onager wouldn't fire because it is too much force on the hook and it couldn't be released.

[andym]

Great looking Diorama there!Nice to see some old Airfix Romans! :o o

[Sangue]

Was the "spoon" catapult really in use by the Romans? I've been told that it's an anachronism, because staff slings were in common use and it's a simple enough task to extrapolate when inventing the catapult.

A sling-using catapult is a lot better than a rigid-arm one. And any serious reconstructions I've seen (as well as some non-serious ones ) have used slings.

But if anyone have historical evidence of non-sling catapults to show me, I'll forgive all the toy makers (including LEGO) for their catapults, which up to now have been objects of my scorn.

Ooh, in the wiki article ([url:2ltn7l8a]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onager_(siege_weapon)[/url]) they claim that the fixed-bowl version was indeed used - in the middle ages from around year 1200 on! This means that I can forgive LEGO. But I still don't trust any Roman artillery with spoons.

At least, your machine has the right cranking mechanism and torsion mechanism as far as I can see. It might be fitted with a sling instead of the spoon, and become correct?

[Olaf The Viking]

Great looking Diorama there!Nice to see some old Airfix Romans! :o o

Thank you. The archers from Airfix fits well near the archers from Hat. Unfortunatelly they are the only Romans from Airfix I can use, the rest of them are awful (medieval spear and some strange armours and helmets).

It might be fitted with a sling instead of the spoon, and become correct

Yes, I think I can do it. Cutting off the spoon is easy D D
westair-reproductions
Another

Do you have some photos or link where I can see the corect one?

[Sangue]

Here's a nice treatise on some of the issues with onagers. Note that the "cup" catapult started as a first attempt of reconstruction; it's possible that the idea got stuck in some people's minds? bit.csc.lsu.edu/~pangburn/onager.pdf

As for pictures, here's my favourite engine in Denmark, with a simple yet effective sling:


Or for a better detail view: A larger closeup of the sling itself

[Olaf The Viking]

Very helpful, thank you. How about the wheels? I suppose they had wheels at least for transportation. But when they fired, were the wheels taken off?

[aitor iriarte]

Olaf, the only description we have of an onager is by Ammianus Marcellinus, in the late 4th century AD. From that description and his other passages telling about the weapon in action, we can conclude that the onager was mainly used in an static role for defending fortifications: No wheels needed! :wink:


Aitor