This seems to be an endless train that I jump onto when I make a paper toy about a game for mobile phones that has been released in 2009.

So why did it take so long to make a papercraft?
Because I thought 3 years and 3 months about the mechanics, that is true. Non-stop and day and night.

Step 1: You Need:

Paper: After 21 years I recently learned that the weight of paper is measured in grams per square meter in every country of the world, so I can save a lot of calculating around. I use 160 g / m2, and especially for this model I highly recommend it.

Glue: Quick-drying. For your own best. You’re welcome.

Scissors: And other optional crafting stuff, like tweezers, pins, mini scissors, cutter.

A printer

A mouse to click the following link to download the template: www.kamibox.de/download

Step 2: The Catapult (Page 1)

Print the instructions. You don’t have to print every page, I admit I wasted some space, white space just looks aesthetic. 2 and 3 is enough.
The colors will come out better when you tell your printer that it prints on non-glossy photo paper. It won’t notice.

Before you cut everything out, you may want to scratch all folding lines with a cutter. This makes it look much better and is much more comfortable to handle, especially here where many parallel folds are used.

Start with the catapult arm. Fold the triangular tube and glue the 2 flaps on the other side on the grey areas. Before you roll the paper around the ends, you have to wait until the glue is completely dry.
Did you use thick paper?
Yes = great.
No = you may have to glue another layer of paper on the strips that are rolled to get enough power.

Fold and glue the basis like on the second picture and put the 2 spring-ends through the slits. Of course they will struggle, you don’t have to glue both at the same time like I did in the picture. The third picture shows how the mechanics work. Make sure that you also wrap the spring around itself twice, like on the picture, not three times, then the paper loses its strength. Close the front flap and your catapult should already be able to fire.

For cosmetic reasons, you have to add the basket and the slingshot, like on picture 4.

Step 3: The Birds (Page 2)

The birds are quite simple. Just put one over your finger or a pen and screw it up so that it reminds of an Angry Bird.
Same with the piggies.

The wood blocks are also quite simple. Just glue the 2 white areas together.

If you need more wood, you can print out the page 2 a few times, of course, also in bigger sizes.

Step 4: Fire

Stop the clock! I needed 23 minutes, and you? The power of the catapult depends on the paper quality. My slingshot fired the bird 3 meters. ("Well that didn’t look like that on the video." Yes, the video is faked. I hit the background because the bird flies too far. So I cut together how I hit the piggy. But showing how a 1 inch paper ball flies 8 feet isn’t that impressive on a 320 x 560 video.)
Do I have to explain the rules? Build a (more exciting than on the picture) wood-block-fort with the piggies and shoot them. And not your friends and family, please! This is more powerful than it looks.

Do you want to optimize the slingshot? Here’s what you can do (before gluing it together):
Change the length of the springs. Shorter springs, more power.
Glue another layer on the springs.
Change the launching angle. Therefore, you have to stop the catapult arm earlier. You can glue a strip of paper over the basis where the arm should stop for example.