Aerial Shells

[firetech]

Damn Fluorescien! Nice job! Please share that silver streamer comp!

[Steps]

Sweet shows Fluorescein!

On the vid of your New years show. Did the last shell featured have some sort of red strobe stars cause they seemed to twinkle, looked beautiful either way.

[Fluorescein]

The silverstreamer on the videos are either a little modified mixture from the pfp database

45g KNO3

20g 1,5µm Al (german dark)

20g 45µm Al (325mesh)

10g S

5g dextrin

 

or the titanium streamer

100g meal bp

20g titanium 450-1000µm

6g red gum

 

I didn`t use red twinkler in my 180mm but we film through a tree so there are some red twinklers^^

The stripe in the middle of this shels were the best AFN blue (80%ammonium perchlorate/20% copper benzoate) with 10% titanium.

 

Unfortunately the titanium tail was too bright and the shell had a bad position in the moment of the break so you can`t see the blue.

 

But this mixture is recommended for small shells, roman candles, mines etc. In the next time I will try iron instead of titanium because of the darker tail.

[psyco_1322]

That 180mm shell was freaking amazing!! I don't care if it was tree assisted strobe, it looked great on video. I bet it was twice as good in person. I thought the ring had a blue hint to it.

[y73]

4in-farfalle shell:

[TheSidewinder]

Very nice shell!

 

Good symmetry and effects. Good job!

[Seymour]

Certainly an impressive first post!

 

Well done, and Welcome to the forum!

 

Neat addition with the salute finish on the inserts.

[PyroMan LTU]

Some new shells, turned out pretty good -

Especialy this one I liked, It had ti lift:

 

Greetings

 

PyroMan

[optimus]

Especialy this one I liked, It had ti lift:

 

Very nice. For this one, IMO, you could do better with more, smaller stars for the inner pistil.

 

Overall though, all very cool shells

[PyroMan LTU]

Thanks, optimus, yeah I also thought that smaller stars would work better, but soon I'm getting difrent size starplates 6mm,10mm right now the only one I have is 14mm

[psyco_1322]

Nice shells with nice breaks. I liked them all.

 

Do remember that pistils are not to be confused with pedals. Pistils are meant to only be a splash of color to create a center off set or sometimes a focal point. Your stars I think were big enough they were really thrown with the break, if they had been smaller, they would likely have burned up while still close together and would have been a bit better appearing. Just throw some small 1/8-1/4" cut colored stars in the center of the shell like you would with your booster. If you try to make another sphere of stars, you will get more of the inner pedal effect.

 

y73,

 

Great farfalle shell, I also like the added salute touch to the ends.

[marks265]

Here are a few shells from the weekend shoot. I had 4 ea. 6" shells one of which was a shell of shells which turned out to be a cough, cough, ahemm, a mine, ya. I gotta think I had a gas leak somehow but who knows. Anyway the 3 aerial shells (as in approx. 600 feet) were 2 ea. tigertail stars (about 3/4" cut) one with pine charcoal I made and one with my willow charcoal. And the forth was a 1-1/4" splitting comet.

 

Still trying to edit to a usable video file then I will add additonal video. I hate this shit! edit went to UT.

 

Pics

 

 

video

Edited May 12, 2009 by marks265

[inflames]

Here are some pics of my first attempt at a 4" shell, and first time pasting. Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

4" paper hemisphere

1 1/2" time fuse primed

Blesser Red stars, cut and primed 3/8"

meal coated rice hulls, 5g break bp, 2g whistle mix

8 layer pasting using 3 strip method (you can see a bulge at the top, I think my strips were a tad too long)

 

275g total shell weight

I'm going to use 23g lift bp, (pressed/corned) which is 1/12th the shell weight

 

I will probably also add a rising effect to it when I get time to make some

 

I hope to fire it in the next couple of weeks, I have to drive a little over an hour to the shooting site.

Edited May 12, 2009 by inflames

[Mumbles]

A few comments:

 

Are you sure they're 3/8"? They look huge. Based on a rough calculation of the number of stars it takes to go around the circumference of the hemis, they appear to be at least about 5/8 to 3/4"

 

Use a layer of tissue paper between the stars and the burst. It help to keep everything tight.

 

Coat your hulls better. They are brown, and should be noticeably black.

 

Try rotating poles to prevent the buildup on the two ends.

[inflames]

A few comments:

 

Are you sure they're 3/8"? They look huge. Based on a rough calculation of the number of stars it takes to go around the circumference of the hemis, they appear to be at least about 5/8 to 3/4"

 

Use a layer of tissue paper between the stars and the burst. It help to keep everything tight.

 

Coat your hulls better. They are brown, and should be noticeably black.

 

Try rotating poles to prevent the buildup on the two ends.

 

The stars are 3/8" to 1/2" more or less, the tool I used to cut them with did not do as well as I had hoped when I purchased it. It's one of those cheap plastic grout knives, 8" wide. It turned out to be a little too blunt and when I cut the stars they became kinda pillow shaped, you can't see it too well in the 2D picture. I knew I was forgetting something.. the tissue paper "liner" slipped my mind. I may need to add some extra dextrin to the meal before putting it on the hulls, it didnt seem to want to stick real well. Thanks for the comments.

[Mumbles]

Well, when I calculated it, it came out to be 7/8". I rounded down to account for spaces. Those look pretty big even for 1/2". It does take a bit to get a hang of cutting stars though, so I know what you mean. Don't worry. Before long you'll be able to cut perfect(ish) cubes in your sleep. You'll get that rounded top a lot if you cut in a single slab though. I use a metal painters edge, and get the same thing.

[psyco_1322]

I would guess them to be 1/2"-5/8", maybe some at 3/4". That's what my acetone wetted stars come out looking like when I cut them, or at least parlon ones. It odd when cutting stars, you think it looks like your at about 3/8" and they end up 1/2" when there done. Its an art all to itself.

[smed9182]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to kinda introduce myself here. I've been in the pyrotechnics hobby ever since I can remember, and have been attempting to create my own fireworks for about the last 5 years now. I've done A LOT of research over the years, buying many books, subscribing to passfire.com, and reading and searching through the enormous amount of valuable information on this forum. Over the years I've been trying to build and perfect aerial shells. I've tried everything both plastic and paper, many different burst charges, and over the last couple years, began to make my own stars. Unfortunately with my experiments, a lot of the times I am unable to achieve consistent results, this is mainly with the break of my shells. Currently I am experimenting with round plastic shells, and trying to get the perfect break. Unfortunately tho, I can't seem to conquer this feat. Most of the time my shell either breaks way too hard and the stars are blown blind, or the shell just pops open with a "poof". I can't seem to find the median between the two. I've tried fiberglass tape in different thickness and layers, and i am trying reinforced gummed kraft tape on my 4 inch shells. My break charges are always BP on rice hulls in a 4:1 ratio, with some sort of flash booster in the center (flash comp usually varies). The stars I am using range from different easy to light charcoal streamer pumped stars, from 1/2" to 3/4". I want to share with you my latest 4" failure.

 

The shell is a 4" plastic shell from cannonfuse.com. I used 3/4" "thin" Bright Silver Titanium pumped stars, the break was 4:1 BP on Rice Hulls with 2 grams of 7:3 perc/german dark al flash. The shell seemed very full (i had a lot of difficulty closing it, I know they are supposed to be hard to close, but this one was a pain!) I used xylene solvent around the equator, and allowed it to cure over night. I then wrapped it in 2 overlapping layers of reinforced kraft paper tape (not sure of weight, I think I bought it at Staples or OfficeMax) and allowed that to dry completely.

 

pic

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk141/s...erWaveshell.jpg

 

video

 

As you can see, everything goes great until the break. This is usually the weak kind of break I generally seem to get with my shells. Any input on my shell, or method of construction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Ralph]

plastic shells generally require more booster and you shells might not be breaking to hard but just right do you adequately prime your stars ?

 

maybe try using kp ( on page 223 or FAST by shimazu)for your break charge kp is more powerful than bp and burns hotter so should still ignite your stars

[Mumbles]

Well, it's a good thing you have experience with what you're talking about Ralph, otherwise it wouldn't be very helpful.

 

It's been a while since I've made plastic shells, but it seems to me like your seam isn't always dry. There should not be that kind of variation assuming relatively consistent manufacturing. I'd suggest making 2 identical shells. Fire one after 24hr, and fire one after a week to see if it makes a difference. Also hold off on pasting the shell with the fiberglass tape or paper until the seam is completely dry. You don't make it clear how long you wait before doing this. If you do it imediately, you might be trapping the solvent in there, and causing a weak seam.

 

A few other general things. You might want to try coating your burst with the flash instead of just dumping it into the center. This helps improve consistency. If you don't already, try using a tissue paper liner to keep the burst separated from the stars. Use a passfire of some sort to pipe the fire from the timefuse to the center of the shell. This drastically improved bursts for me.

[swervedriver]

Mumbles, I've shot several plastic shells the same day of cementing the hemis with methylene chloride. Even taped over the seam while still tacky too, but the shells are reinforced with strapping tape, so that may be why. The breaks and fire seal were fine, but without the tape, I don't know.

 

Smed, Your harder breaks that are blowing your stars blind in the past may actually be a perfect break charge, but the stars aren't taking fire correctly like Ralph said? Maybe try heavy green mix priming on cheap strong stars (eg- spider stars), and then after you get the hard break working, dial in the prime and stars...

 

For 3 and 4 inch shells, hot red gum BP pulverone (+8 mesh) breaks harder than BP on a carrier, but you're using a flash booster anyway.

[qwezxc12]

...snip, I want to share with you my latest 4" failure.

 

The shell is a 4" plastic shell from cannonfuse.com. I used 3/4" "thin" Bright Silver Titanium pumped stars, the break was 4:1 BP on Rice Hulls with 2 grams of 7:3 perc/german dark al flash. The shell seemed very full (i had a lot of difficulty closing it, I know they are supposed to be hard to close, but this one was a pain!) I used xylene solvent around the equator, and allowed it to cure over night. I then wrapped it in 2 overlapping layers of reinforced kraft paper tape (not sure of weight, I think I bought it at Staples or OfficeMax) and allowed that to dry completely.

 

Any input on my shell, or method of construction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

smed,

 

As I mentioned in my pm to you, there are a few things I've found improve my plastic shells:

I use MEK for welding the seams, because it dries much faster than Xylene. I usually let the shells dry overnight before pasting in.

For booster, I use 70:30 slow flash made with -350 Bright flake, not dark - I think the slower speed helps with star ignition and perhaps helps prevent shattering of the stars. A 4in usually gets 5g loose in the center of the burst and worked in with a chopstick.

I typically paste in with 3 half overlapping layers of 60lbs reinforced gummed tape (six effective layers) on three different axis on the shell for even distribution.

 

This 4in Blue & Ti shell was made in the above fashion. It actually broke a little too hard:

Edited May 15, 2009 by qwezxc12

[Mumbles]

Yes, but you're using methylene chloride (fast evaporation), and the other poster is using Xylene (slower evaporation). This was the thought that came into my mind when thinking about this, and suggesting the waiting period on a second shell.

[swervedriver]

Damn I hope my next shell is as good as yours was for the lady screaming in the background, lol. Nice shell man, that purple was beautiful. AP yes?

[firetech]

Nice work qwez. It did break a bit hard, but I liked it. Good quality too!