On the precipice of making this functioning (Too much thinking and not enough work time...)

I would've, should've, could've done more but for now here are some ideas and a base 1st(ish) prototype. 

Also (you can skip this part if you want as its just more background info on why I chose this,) I guess I should go a bit deeper on why I chose this thing in the first place. Building, creating, and overall figuring things out was my go-to as a child as I never really could communicate well, its easier saying stuff online because maybe it's not face to face? But also in general people don't really read these things. But in the end, I didn't have many friends because of this so being alone and doing these type of things was my comfort. So coming back to this thing is almost like me trying to thank it in return. 

Though it looks simple, functionality really adds a level to it so aesthetics kinda take a step back. And then added back again later once its all fun and done.

Progressing with ideas

It does not work at the moment but once I do all the things I say below I should be able to begin the testing stuff, hopefully. 

So, scoring with the paperclips did not go well with my hand function so I decided to find a better solution that worked for me. First off I wanted to go get a tweezer from my dad's office to apply pressure to the tabs when glueing as the boxes were hella small. I came across this curved tweezer that when using the blunt side, did not tear the paper when scoring. But that was his so I bought a pack of different tip tweezers and the stuff that came also helped a lot (for me that is). 

The usage of these dowels is mainly for function alone. They provide a bunch of physical properties that cardstock (unless like hella messed with) cant replicate easily. The main usage here is to be an axel, arm, and 'bow' arms of the catapult. The bow arms themselves are going to be a major challenge in this as they need to be flexible, strong and give enough pull back on the string to provide the movement of the catapult. 

The main problem with this catapult is that it is basically a bow. If you have ever pulled back a bows string its somewhat hard depending on stuff but mainly its a bit difficult (or you could be super buff or something idk). The og design of da Vinci was never meant to be used with paper as when in designing used what materials were around and would work (aka wood). Another thing is that the hollowness of the entire thing really increases its ability to fold under stress. 

Okay, so basically why not use paper as the arms and just glue them right? No, the type of glue would need to be accounted for as normal glue when hardened is brittle. I was recommended some type of shoe glue but I need to test it out. I was told the shoe glue basically was dried into a rubber-like texture? but that needs to be tested. Also the type of paper. I was trying some of the illustration board but it did not provide enough torque (is the word torque, but basically pull strength). Maybe a mixture of the two could do something?

Dealing with stress (not in that way)

So while doing the cylinder on the axel one thing came very apparent, that the amount of stress placed on it was greater than anything on the catapult. So midway I scrapped the old cylinder I made and printed and cut out a new one with the 'bird bone' idea implemented. I was going to place them in a sporadic manner but then I remembered that tension is evenly distributed and blah blah blah I won't go lecture about this but to the main point, it mattered. 

I used this one technique as the measurement of the length was a bit wack (aka not a pretty number) that I learnt in perspective class. Basically, make x lines over and over again to find the centre of a square so I did just that to do a placement of 7 inner 'bones'

A problem (one of many) was that the paper would warp do to numerous factors even before trying to make the catapult functional. The one I focused on was the stress warp which the more I build this I see to be needed almost  e v e r y w h e r e (not fun). Another thing, I remember I heard my professor during one class say something along the lines of 'loss length due to folding' to a student focusing on a somewhat cylindrical object. It's with that, this first prototype must be reevaluated for just a bit for quirks like these. I think the solution was something like splitting the cylinder vertically or something like that. 

Here is the 'bird bone' inside of the cylinder. I placed the glued lines 90 degrees from the connection point of the outer dodecagon. I alternated the thumbs in direction to provide a more stable connection, there are some wider gaps between for the 'dowels' to be placed into. 

Also, I made the thumbs just triangles as the previous ones were hanging on by a thin thread.

 

As adding these bones to the boneless catapult would somewhat fix the warping factor, it basically also shifts the idea more to a solid shape as there is more support (more so like a bridge with supports and such) but still hollow, so in the middle. I want to do a drawing for this but its 9 am and I'm tired. But with this, I can look more closely at the original and I saw a similarity in both in terms of stress levels. 

This shows so much about what's happening, when put under extreme stress we are able to see the limits and working of the frame. First of all, that dowel is holding on for dear life so reducing stress on that would help with the integrity of the paper frame, the reliance on the bow arm alone be shifted to the string being more elastic should help dampen the effect to some degree. Also, I was thinking of adding a second thin layer over where the dowels would be to replace it. Almost like a Zim & Zou decoration but for functioning. I thought of this as the dowels used in this manner only work because there is so much surface area to work with in terms of sticking rather than a hollow shape. Yes, there will be the bone interior but reliance on that could be detrimental so placing these extra precautions are needed greatly.  

Another thing is that I could completely get rid of the gear as the only reason it there is to provide a stopping place for the stopper so that someone could load whatever onto the catapult. The only problem this would provide it constantly holding the arm down while loading and releasing. Also, the shock absorber would absolutely be destroyed within a few trials when I place it within the simulator of my mind and like logic. 

New-ish Templates (needs more bones for other things)

Would write more but I don't have reference photos for the ideas so bye-bye.