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Aerial Shells


Chris

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I'd just drill a third hole. You are going to get the symmetry from pasting it, so do not worry overly much. Remember that the two part hemispheres under all the pasting barely effect the burst. A few holes in them will not either.

Have fun!

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Seymour, rising effect was D1 please read description :)

YC, in 3" I use visco wraped with paper like u do, and in 4" - 6mm spollette, probably a third hole will work, I dont know what to say... I make my own hemi-spheres... ^_^

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YC, we really need to meet shortly so I can provide you some decent time fuse :P . Once you try, you'll never get back to visco timing stuff.
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Seymour, rising effect was D1 please read description 2smile.gif

 

I think you mean Richtee? I never mentioned your comet. However, that shell was fantastic!

 

Keep it up!

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So this should fit in here. The contents of this shell barely fit.

 

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/psyco_1322/S4024725.jpg

 

4" ball shell. Pasted with 1" wide 35lb gummed craft. Its contents: A ring of green stars, a pink pistle, 6 timed reports, a bottom shot.

 

Ya, its all in that ball. :P The reports are similar to the Mexican triangular firecrackers called palumas. The bottom shot is a salute made from 2 bottle caps. Reports in one hemi, with sawdust to take up most of the space, leaving 1/2-3/4" of space for burst. The other hemi contained the bottom shot, with sawdust around it too, and the same empty space. I filled the space with some red alder granular bp, and sprinkled in a little whistle booster. The stars were laid in the BS hemi, pressed into the burst. Fire was piped to the center of the shell.

 

The rocket was a 1lb whistle burning a potassium benzoate fuel catalyzed with copper oxychloride. Delay section was actually supposed to change pitches. I mix one fuel with another in different ratios so it eventually change from one to the other. I dont think it worked all that well.

 

Here is the unjust video:

 

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/psyco_1322/th_S4024726.jpg

 

For some unknown dumb reason my camera does not like star effects at long ranges or something. I even made sure it was off macro when I shot the video. I just need a new camera. Plus, the damn colors didn't come out!!! The ring was quite green, and the center a nice pink. I was impressed with the green actually. Its a barium sulfate green and I took the formula down from a respectable place, planing to try it out. When I tested some of the dry powder it was barely green at all and I thought I was going to have mint colored stars. They actually burn with a nice under par green hue. The pink is from United Nuclear I think. Its ok. Sorry for the wind, I was shooting this thing tonight or I was going to have some kind of serious medical issue associated with pyros not burning enough things over extended periods of time.

Edited by psyco_1322
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4" ball shell. Pasted with 1" wide 35lb gummed craft. Its contents: A ring of green stars, a pink pistle, 6 timed reports, a bottom shot

 

Pretty cool, man! The ring came out well, and the flashing reports were a nice touch too!

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Wooooow! That was excellent!

 

Paper hemis I'm guessing. Has anyone had any luck getting decent rings using plastic hemis? I haven't figured that one out yet.

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That was a VERY nice shell (AND rocket). I, too, liked the ring effect you produced. Good job!
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Thanks guys, the comments make you feel all warm inside.

 

Yes, paper hemis. They were some crappy ones I was getting rid of.

 

This a 4" plastic ball I made quite some time ago. It was fiberglass taped and about the 3rd 4" ball I ever made. It had two crossing rings of Lancaster Electric Streamer and a purple/Ti star I made. Sadly I got a bad angle on the LES ring, which I think came out about perfect. The purple one was odd, it seemed off to the side and was very large. The stars burn a long time but you could see the ring after it opened up a bit.

 

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n3/psyco_1322/th_S4023489.jpg

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I think you mean Richtee? I never mentioned your comet. However, that shell was fantastic!

 

Keep it up!

Yes, I apologise, I meant Richtee ;)

and, psyco_1322, that was awesome, cool reports! Once I tried making a ring pattern, but it failed... looked like mixed stars... -_-

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Hey, 2 questions.

 

First: Can anybody give me a list of the inner and outer diameters of round paper shell hemispheres? I've only found generic diameters, and I don't know if they're talking about the inner or outer...

 

Second: When I paste my shells using the 3 strip method, the shells end up looking like peaches after 10 times around. The breaks are very good, but people are always like "Why does that look like a peach!?". So if anyone could give me some advice on that... or maybe just another pasting method?

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Peaches? What part resembles a peach? You should be laying the first strip from the top to about 2/3rds down, the second should fall even in the middle, the third should be from the bottom to about 2/3rds from the top. Each strip should overlap the last by 1/2. That was when you go once around the shell, its actually two layers of paper on the shell. Its a very clean and efficient way of pasting your shells. I have using it with success many times.
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The shell when its done being pasted it just looks like a peach... as in the top of it is kind of pointy (Paper built up at the top and bottom). Maybe the strips of paper are the wrong size? What size would you use for a 3" shell?
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A good guideline is to use the diameter of your shell in length of your strips for 3 strip pasting. A 3" shell requires 3" long strips, being around 1/3" to 2/3" wide.

 

You don't need to have the ends of the strips at exactly the poles. If you get pear-ish shells, paste the next layer a slight bit more towards the equator. Keep track of how many layers you pasted and how far from the poles you did that. When doing that correctly, you can paste a shell with 100+ layers and still keep it perfectly round.

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Is there a minimum of stars that should be placed in a shell to achieve a good symmetrical break? (assuming the stars are fitted for that particular shell size)
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For a 3" ball I use stripes that are 1/2" wide by 2 3/4" long. This was calculated from ratios for the method on Passfire. It just happens to be that my roll of fiberglass reinforced gummed craft is 2 3/4" wide. So I am able to just cut off 1/2" stripes. Very convenient.

 

@ firetech's question,

 

Ya, you should fill the outer petal. Meaning there should be stars against the wall of the shell clear up to the lip in both hemis. This should give a "sphere" of stars when closed. If the stars are not making a sphere to begin with, they won't be making one in the end.

Edited by psyco_1322
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Well, the minimum for a symmetrical break would be 2. 2 points to define a line and thus symmetry.

 

The minimum for a good break is the amount that completely fills the shell. Any less, and your break will be lacking. It's why you can sometimes pick out the seam of a ball shell. That would be how ever much is needed to fill a canister, and however many are needed to completely like the hemispheres of a ball shell. There is no set number. If you're talking about star sizes, then there are charts around you can find. Basically 1/4" color for 3" and increasing 1/8" for every additional inch of shell, and starting at 3/8" for glitter and again increasing 1/8" every inch of shell. Thats a general rule given by the tables, or there abouts.

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There isnt an exact amount of stars. The shells should be very tightly packed. When you shake them all you should hear is a couple grains of break powder rattling around.
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Nice shells dude! Can't wait till I can make some 4"s in the future.
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Looks very good. Broken kind of hard for my tastes, but nice all the same. MCRH = meal coated rice hulls?
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