The catapult was a medieval weapon which Leonardo reworked and improved upon. As shown in the drawings on page 140a/br of the Atlantic Code, which represent six designs of a spoon-shaped catapult, the loading mechanism is activated by two large flexible wooden arms that increase launching power. The stone or metal projectile is placed in the spoon-shaped end of a long lever. The loading operation turns the large central pin and flexes the curved wooden arm. The safety catch is then released to launch the projectile straight at the target. The launching power is proportional to the length of the lever arm and so the energy involved in throwing the projectile is high, allowing the projectile to cover particularly long distances.

On page 945/r/ of the Codex Atlanticus, Leonardo da Vinci drew many devices for the plan of a mechanical paddle boat. One or more sailors can alternate working the pedals. The pedals transfer the alternate motion to a central gear, where it becomes linear motion, and a series of gears transfer it to the two big paddles on the sides of the craft. The central gear is drawn in more accurately on another page, 30/v/, and the mechanism works through springs hidden in the two main wheels that alternate

Sheets 90/v and 91/r of the Madrid Code include drawings of strange mechanisms that are not linked to the treatise on mechanics and often have no explanatory text. Analysing them led to the reconstruction of mechanisms enabling a mysterious animal, a mechanical lion, to move robotically. The lion, a gift from Pope Leone X and the town of Florence, was taken to Lyon, in France; on July 12 1515, at the end of a surprising, magical walk before the King of France, Francis I, it stopped knocking some lilies over. It can be considered one of the first animal-like robots ever built.

Scale 1 : 72 Model Set Box Size (mm) 290 X 190 X 45 Country United States

The Corsair is one of the best known airplanes of World War Il which fought against the entire array of aircraft used by the Japanese Forces in the Pacific theatre. After the war the Corsairs were set aside, together with other propeller-driven planes, to expect demolition awaiting replacement by jet aircraft. In 1950, at the outbreak of the Korean conflict, more than one hundred units were re-activated to combat the onslaught of the North Korean Forces. The Corsair still proved a viable airplane, robust and reliable, superior to the first, rather delicate jets which were to end the Corsair's life span.