NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Da Vinci Model Kit - Catapult Kit for Kids, 3D Puzzle Building Toy for Boys and Girls, Wood Building Kit for Kids, A Great STEM Project, Engineering Model Kit (Amazon Exclusive)

The catapult: Easiest to assemble of the lot and shoots incredibly far for its size. It will launch its little bolder 10 or 12 feet. It functions smoothly and without fail.The ballista: A couple of complicated steps in the build for a kid. Shoots very well, probably 8 feet or so and with enough force to sting a little if it hits you (not that you should do that). :)The cannon: Its the toughest build, but my 10 year old still only needed help on 4 or 5 steps. It's the least functional of the three though. It does shoot, but not very far. The trigger mechanism is difficult to manage and it's easy to force part of the machine out of place when trying to fire it.Overall, good buy and a lot of fun for my kids. I'd do a similar set again with them for sure.

Well made. The assembly of each of the 3 projects was easy. You might need a few drops of a better quality wood glue to hold all parts together after you sand off the burrs. It’s a great STEM project for older children. It’s incredible just how far the projectiles can launch, so be sure you have an open area without people or delicate objects.Definitely, a win for inquisitive little inventors.

The Catapult works amazing and is fun to launch. The Ballista was a good idea but the launcher bar broke while putting it together. Bombard (cannon) works very similar to the catapult. Catapult projectiles are pretty small so be sure to keep away from smaller children. Depending on age of child, adult definitely needs to help with the build

I gave to my 10yr old grandson. It was too difficult so his uncle helped him build one. This would be a good gift for 12+ and maybe even older. These things are awesome when built! Don’t forget to give to your girls too.

These are VERY cool. This set comes with 3 DaVinci inventions; catapult, bombard, and ballista.The catapult chucks little dime sized wooden "balls" across the room.The bombard chucks nickel sized wooden "balls" across the room.The ballista chucks a little wooden dart across the room.This set is pretty nifty in that its an entire "battalion" of siege weapons. We purchased this for our 12 yr old son who enjoys building legos and other crafty building sets. Each of these took him a few hours to get together. Each set is packaged separately and comes with plenty of ammo. As these are balsa wood sets, some care and sanding is required when popping out each piece. Our son did break a few pieces here and there but nothing that was irreversibly damaged or a little wood glue fixed 'er right up.I would say this kit should have some adult supervisor for any kids under 10.These are proudly displayed in my sons room on his desk and I enjoy firing a couple salvos across his room from time to time. I'm impressed at how far and hard these things shoot. DO NOT shoot at faces or animals. Once assembled, these are actually pretty sturdy models that handle being fired pretty well. I also enjoyed the little write ups they had for each of these weapons in the booklet.Definitely recommend for your kids that are starting to advance past the Lego phase of building.

My 8 year old does not usually like STEM toys or Legos. He was very engaged with these. They worked better without glue. I’d use glue at the end if at all.

This was a gift and all three models were put together fairly quickly.

The models turn out decent and they shoot the projectiles a good distance. There are some problems with the wheels on two of the models that have them. Some wheels did not have holes drilled and some did not fit the dowel well and broke the dowel. I have the tools and extra dowels so I was able to fix these issues, but most people especially kids would not be able to complete the model.These require wood glue and patience so they are not great for younger kids or people without basic building knowledge.