I want to build a medieval war machine scaled down to be about 6 feet tall as a fun project, and I'm wondering if I should go with a trebuchet or a catapult design. I'm leaning toward catapult because I don't think trebuchets would scale down as well because the counterweight would be limited, but I think catapults are likely to be more complex in terms of proper building materials and maybe more dangerous if the shitty modern lumber fails under tension and explodes. Anyone here have any valuable insights?
Trebuchet at that scale wouldn't need some of the more complex parts like a winch unless you wanted to add it. You could build it and manually reset it at that weight and size. Also its a more elegant display of physics.