Some of the main problems with reconstruction the Kestros

I will here talk about some of the design decision Menhir, the sculptor, and I had to make.

Since there is no remains left of the Kestros, we don't know what it looked like. There are no pictures or archeological remains. But what we have instead is a description in both Livy and Polybius. Great you say, two independent sources, that should make our task easy.
Unfortunately no, they are not independent of each other. Livy's description is taken from Polybius (if I remember it correctly).

So when Menhir and I talked about how it would look like we looked at a lot of different pictures and films before we settled on our version. I have to give Menhir most credit for working out which version to use. And of course a big thanks to Pillager on Fanaticus forum for some very helpful comments. The result is very different from earlier 28 mm wargaming miniatures.

Problem 1. The English translation of Polybius claims that the dart is 2 cubit long, that is 90 cm or longer. But it looks like it was mistranslated; it should be 2 palms (30 cm).
Source: See paragraph 11 and note "a" here: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/27*.html

Problem 2. Earlier the Kestros has been shown as a staff-slinger. But the staff was pure speculation as it is not mentioned in Polybius/Livy's text. I suppose people thought there was a need for a staff if the darts was 90 cm or longer (see problem 1).

So I think we can rule out both long darts and staffs. But still there is more uncertainty. What about the sling? What did it look like?

Problem 3. In what way was the dart and sling connected to each other? A lot of reconstructions show the kestros with a sling holding the dart at the feathers (see pictures).

The reason I don't believe this is correct is that Polybius says "The thongs of the sling from which the missile was discharged were of unequal length". This suggests at least two thongs, one longer than the other. The above has only one thong, or they are of equal length.

Still there are at least two more variants of the kestros. Both have two thongs, the difference is how the thongs are connected to the dart. One reconstruction has the first thong somewhere between the dart's point and the feathers and the second at the end of the dart (se picture). This is how Xyston is making their kestros.

We settled on the fourth version, where the first thong is actually holding the darts point.