Weapon Masters
Weapons – the technology of warfare – have shaped the course of human history. Many of the most awesome designs are hundreds, even thousands of years old. In this 10-part series, the most high-powered weapons of all time are getting a makeover.
Chad Houseknecht is charged with the task of utilizing new technology to put a new spin on the ancient past. One part engineer and two parts mad scientist, Chad gives his unique spin on engineering design and life in general…
Co-host Mike Loades attempts to guide Chad and keep him on the historical straight and narrow. A British weapons historian, Mike ventures around the globe to reveal how these ancient weapons were used and made.
In the jungles of Peru he meets a tribe who still make blowpipes, on the plains of India Mike takes on a tribe of razor sharp disc-wielding warriors, and high in the mountains of Japan he witnesses the birth of a genuine Samurai sword.
On some of these trips Mike brings Chad along, but for the most part Chad inhabits the “Big Pile of Rocks” – his ramshackle workshop in Washington DC.
During the course of 10 episodes Chad designs and builds amazing and frightening machines: a napalm-spewing boat-mounted flame thrower, a compressed gas-powered repeating crossbow, an electrically triggered dueling pistol… and he’s just getting started.
Each program ends with a showdown – a finale in which Chad proudly pits his weapon against a series of challenges devised by Mike. These (literally) test the metal of Chad’s modern interpretations of the super weapons of the past – most of them work, but they’ll all go off with a bang!
