Colossal Thunder King of the Whippers

[@rodneybever9583]

I'll bet that gave the people in the international space station a fright when it went flying by!😂

[@Hunter12396]

How many machines showed up for 2023? Do you think there will be more next year? I can't find hardly any information about it, except a couple of news articles that say it happened. Kind of sad it went from being on the discovery channel every year to this. It wouldn't surprise me if most of the teams disbanded in the 10 years of absence.

[@FingerAngle]

Yes it's very sad. There was only like 10 machines. We lost the field in Oklahoma. They are building an amusement park. Colorado punkin chunk is not going to happen either. I'm looking for a field in Texas to do the championships in now.

[@cobblerama]

That is an amazing..?... trebuchet? Could you imagine rolling up to a castle with that beast? Any idea on the distance for the one fired in the video? Looked at least a quarter mile.

[@FingerAngle]

Yes it's a Rolling Whipper Trebuchet. These shots were 3000 feet. I never heard the exact number. I'll ask the builder and report back. They hold the world record at 3482 I think. Over 3400 feet. Over 1/2 a mile. My little 15 footer will throw 5 pounders 2000 feet, and 10 pounders over a thousand.

[@FingerAngle]

2694 was their best shot. A bit off their mark.

[@NickKrush.DGandFit]

What's up Robert :) I've been out of the loop but it's nice to see this thing is still as powerful as ever. What kinda distances were they getting out there?

[@FingerAngle]

Hey, Nick! I only heard one number, 26 something. Weather was terrible, and I don't think we had an awards ceremony. The results were supposed to go out on the "live stream" that didn't work out because of the weather, that aired on Thanksgiving Day. I have not seen any results, but I got a trophy for second place, in my division. I only got 2 shots. I think 782' was our best shot with10 pounders, and 930 pounds of counterweight. High launch angle. Should have been around a thousand feet. Great to hear from you, Nick!

[@FingerAngle]

2694'

[@NickKrush.DGandFit]

@@FingerAngle some really good results all around! Some things never change and whippers throwing far seem to be included haha

[@NickKrush.DGandFit]

@@FingerAngle 782' is really good, high launch and and headwind is a nasty combo. The twister is punching well above its weight class

[@FingerAngle]

@@NickKrush.DGandFit Thanks, Nick. It threw 782 in Colorado too. I really needed my last shot. I wanted 1000 feet so bad! 871 feet would have won it for me. Next year I'll be running the old ACME Catapult, and at least 1 Whipper. Either this 15 footer, or the new frame 26 footer.

[@siegfried_artificer]

I wish I could participate in Pumpkin Chunkin one day

[@FingerAngle]

All you gotta do is get there! If you show up, you can be on my team.

[@markbroadwaywms1927]

Wow. So what's with the extra length in the CW arm?

[@FingerAngle]

It's a truss, and the extension gives an ideal triggering location.

[@FingerAngle]

@markbroadwaywms1927 The extension is not the cw hanger. It is a unique split hanger system with more of a crankshaft style main axle. It's kinda weird but works very well. The split hangers get the counterweight out from behind the arm, allowing for a much longer sling.

[@siegfried_artificer]

Holy shit, it's amazing! And how smoothly it operates! I always wonder how to get so much fundings for such machines. I must cost a fortune...

[@FingerAngle]

It was built by a welding school, so there was a lot of free labor, but there's still 10s of thousands in materials. I bet it would cost $200K for us to build.

[@siegfried_artificer]

@@FingerAngle So the school came up with the idea to build it? Neat! But yeah, it's clearly a next level amount of funding. Our "Hurricane" costed us "only" about 27k PLN (6-7k USD) which we got from our University and sponsors

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

How far did it throw and what was the weight of the projectile? Does anyone know what velocity it achieves?

[@fredjones7705]

She go's pretty fast and she go's pretty far.

[@FingerAngle]

Over 400 mph, 3400+ feet. 10 pound pumpkins, with over 5000 pounds of counterweight

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

@@FingerAngle Wow, thanks!

[@FingerAngle]

@@AndyFromBeaverton You're welcome

[@FingerAngle]

2694'

[@FingerAngle]

Actually that's not why it's named Colossal Thunder, but it's fitting.

[@Коля_Тляшев]

рано отпускает, поэтому и вверх летит больше чем нужно.

[@FingerAngle]

Мы слишком близко, чтобы увидеть угол запуска. Однако зависание длилось всего 14 или 15 секунд. Я видел, как он запускался более 20 секунд назад. Эта машина на самом деле является мировым рекордсменом: дистанция более 1100 метров с 3-килограммовыми тыквами. We're too close to see the launch angle. It was only 14 or 15 seconds of hang time though. I have seen it launch over 20 seconds before. This machine is actually the world record trebuchet, at over 1100 meters with 3 kilo pumpkins.

[@FingerAngle]

You're right, the last shot did look high.

[@Коля_Тляшев]

@@FingerAngle надо сделать такое же, только побольше размерами, сопоставимыми со средневековыми требушетами. Боевой требущет. Чтобы метать могло булыжники килограмм на 30-50. И попробовать им разрушить какой нибудь строение. Если грамотно всё построить и грамотно всё снять, я думаю, там будут многомиллионные просмотры.

[@gaulac]

Weather fine as hell.

[@FingerAngle]

lol 38 degrees, raining, with 30 mile an hour winds...

[@gaulac]

@@FingerAngle exactly my type.

[@miloanderson2903]

I got that same shot from the spectator side

[@FingerAngle]

Hey Hi! This is actually several shots. Are you coming back next year? Were you competing? Do we know each other? lol