Aerial Shells

[Mumbles]

I agree, plastic shells really need flash, or at least whistle in the burst. I haven't gotten anything very impressive with plastic and just BP. I have heard it is possible to use just BP or KP in larger plastic shells like 5, 6, 8".

[ewest]

This brings up an interesting question for me because I'm getting ready to really start into 3" plastic shells soon. I've made them before with BP and rice hulls as the break but they never worked right.

 

This time I mixed up some whistle mix on rice hulls. The formula I used was:

Potassium Perchlorate: 70

Potassium Benzoate: 30

 

I mixed 2 batches of whistle:hulls, one was a 2.5:1 and the second a 4:1 batch. I used a method to test it I saw Mumbles mention once. I took (2) 3/4"ID paper tubes and glued a plastic cap on one end of each. filled the cavity with the hulls and just pushed the second cap on without glueing. I stood the tube up with the unglued cap on the ground and lit it. The 2.5:1 coated hulls just made a barely audible "poop" and the paper tube shot up maybe 20'. The 4:1 blew up like a ground salute (scared the crap out of me actually).

 

Now I have 2 questions. First, I'm thinking I'll use the 4:1 coated hulls in my 3" plastic shells but would that be overkill and I should use the 2.5:1?

 

Second, seeing as how fast and hard the 4:1 coated hulls blew I don't think I need a flash bag, or do you guys think I should still use one anyway seeing as how the shell is still fairly small at 3"?

[Mumbles]

This is where the fun of testing comes in. I would say start with the 4:1. Using charcoal stars is a good place to start as you rarely have to worry about them blowing blind. Easy to tell the break pattern too. I think just the 4:1 will be fine, no flash bag, but thats just my opinion.

[Pyrohawk]

Actually Pyrohawk my shells function beautifully, but we're not really talking about the same thing here. With the extra confinement that paper affords, using flash is obviously unnecessary, but nothing else that I've used in the past has provided as wide and symmetric breaks with unpasted plastic hemis as flash.

I'm not talking about how wide or symetrical of a burst it creates, hard breaks like flash are most the time going to create a better break.

 

I had problems with getting all the stars to stay lit. What kind of stars are you using? My chrysanthemum and streamer stars which light easily were just fine with flash. But some of the harder to light ones like Green and Blue wanted to blow blind.

Also paper hemis should be harder to blow blind then plastic ones also....since there is better confinement and the flame is in contact with the stars for a longer period... But it still blew mine blind!

 

Hey, if it works for ya then stick with it. Everyones results are different in this hobby due to purity, technique, etc.... So what works for one person may or may not work for another, thus as Mumbles said the fun or not so fun of testing.

 

I use meal coated crispies as a filler with a whitsle bag...usually about 3g for my 3" shells. Makes a nice hard burst but not enough to blow my stars blind.

[Mardec]

Hey, I got 3 questions today.

 

1

My 3" ballshells are dry fully pasted. After the hemi's where united I taped them together with paper masking tape and them pasted 3 layers of kraft over them. They are dry now and pretty hard

 

But is 3 layers + paper tape enough?

 

How much layers do you put on your shells? and how much " where those shells?

 

2

My 3" can is very solid on the sides, but I am kinda worried the buttom part will blow out on break. What can I do if this is bad? It is allready spiked and pasted

 

3

When I make Chlorate stars and lightly coat them with cacoa powder, can I use them with BP, the BP will be between the stars so there will be contact.

 

 

U might notice that I am quite new to 3" shells, I just made my first 3 3" shells and I am pretty new to chlorate stars too.. So sorry if these questions might seem dumb.

[Mumbles]

1. 3 layers isn't enough for 3" shells. If they are plastic and glued then it may be enough. However it seems like you have paper. I suggest 10-12 layers. It really does depend on the thickness of paper. I think the 5" can come down a bit to 13

 

3" - 10 30lb

4" - 13 40lb

5" - 19 40lb

6" - 19 40 lb but they didn't break well

 

2. Nothing you can do anymore. If they do burst out the end, use more verticle spikes, stronger string, or use double strands.

 

3. No, that is still pretty unsafe. BTW, Cocoa powder has sulfur in it. I suggest finding a new prime. I would also suggest using charcoal stars until you get used to making shells and all that. They are easier to use, and more forgiving in terms of lighting.

[Mardec]

Thx Mumbles, your are a really big help for me

 

Yeah I have paper hemi's.

 

My shells get very thick very fast with the kraft I have, I dont know the lb of it.

 

Btw what do people mean with layers? How many times you cover the whole shell with paper is what I mean.

 

I think if I add 3 more the shell wont fit in the mortar anymore.

 

And the hemis had 7 mm of space in every direction before pasting.

 

Picture of the 3" ball shell after pasting

 

Are my pasting skills bad maybe?

 

 

And I have made Sulferless cacoa.

My fear here was that if the prime came lose on a certain place the it would react with the BP where the stars where in.

[Cherbanov]

Today Iam going to fire my round shell up in to the air, it weights 156 grams and I am useing 35grams of lift powder, I did fire a dummy with 25 grams, dident go so hight. so i try with 35grams now.

[Cherbanov]

one word CATO

really big and nice starmine of my 2,5" round shell

[justanotherpyro]

Aerial shell star mines are scary. They are much louder with the flash powder and you're not expecting something that loud. Accompanied with the chance of blowing up the mortar makes them very bad. I've had a few of them, and its a good incentive to reinforce the bottoms of canister shells.

[joe609]

Heres a 2" canister shell i made with spider stars it weighed 50grams and i used 6 grams of lift to lift it. It was about 80 feet away.

 

http://www.apcforum.net/files/2inchspiderstarshell.avi

[Rocket007]

nice break. Was it flas? te timeing was maybe a litl bit to sort. you should try a biger shell, because then the spider stars are nicer.

nice try

 

LP, Rok

[weknowpyro]

I'm sure he can find a way of making the stars look better without having to get any bigger sized shells. You can get some good effects from 2" shells.

[joe609]

The break was bout a heaped teaspoon of my granulated, i didnt weigh it. Yer i guess the fuse should have been a bit longer as it went to soon.

[maximusg]

I agree, plastic shells really need flash, or at least whistle in the burst. I haven't gotten anything very impressive with plastic and just BP. I have heard it is possible to use just BP or KP in larger plastic shells like 5, 6, 8".

Ive gotten powerful breaks on 3" plastic shells with just BP. It was the fastest lift grade BP I make though. BP on rice hulls doesnt seem to work very well though.

 

Using my quickest BP i even had some stars get blown blind from the powerful break.

[delta_echo]

Does anyone know how to use falling leaf fuse or flying fish fuse successfully in shells? My guess is that breaking them with BP covered rice hulls and flash is way to hard judging from my past failures. This method seems only to light one or two pieces (in a 2" shell) which is obviously unacceptable. I normally cover one end of the fuse with a dab of hot glue to prevent ignition from both sides of the fuse. Is it necessary to prime each piece of fuse? There is obviously little room in a 2" shell as it is and extra prime just means less effects fuse. Thanks all.

[maximusg]

Yup! I use falling leave in salute shells for a little extra effect, as i don't have Ti sponge. It's pretty cool to see/hear and enormous boom and then a little water fall of falling fuse

 

What i do is cut the fuse into 20mm lengths, prime one end in BP slurry, and either wrap the wrest in tape or dip in hot glue to stop it from lighting half way through the length of the fuse. It seems to light <90% of them.

[ewest]

maximusg, thank you. Just like delta_echo, I couldn't get them to work right either and I've been thinking of the exact same method. I was going to prime one end and dip the rest in wax. But tape is less messy, so I'll try that.

[Rocket007]

hi

 

joe609 what formuar do you have four your spider stars, i can find only 1 formular on the net?

 

Lp

[joe609]

Rocket, I used formula 2 posted in the compositions section by Rooster its as follows,

 

Formula 2

Potassium nitrate - 15

Air Float Charcoal - 9

Sulfur - 2

Dextrin - 2

 

I used pine charcoal and pumped the stars.

[Mumbles]

Just a quick note on that formula. I've had problems with using commercial airfloat in the stars. They burnt way too long. Using it with probably 3/8" stars would probably be acceptable for larger shells, 4,5 maybe even 6". The 5/8" stars I had probably burnt for 5-7 seconds. The star of the same size with cowboy charcoal burns for 1 1/2 seconds maybe.

 

It is by far my favorite star.

[ravaz]

Just a quick note on that formula. I've had problems with using commercial airfloat in the stars. They burnt way too long. Using it with probably 3/8" stars would probably be acceptable for larger shells, 4,5 maybe even 6". The 5/8" stars I had probably burnt for 5-7 seconds. The star of the same size with cowboy charcoal burns for 1 1/2 seconds maybe.

 

It is by far my favorite star.

If Spider Web stars take 5-7 seconds to burn with commercial airfloat, I'd probably make up another batch and pay close attention the amount of chemicals you're using for the formula. Everyone I know uses commercial charcoal from Service for these stars. My 1" Spider stars take around 2 seconds to burn. 5-7 seconds for 5/8" sure sounds like too much charcoal was added.

[joe609]

The stars i made were about 1/2" and burnt fully in about 3 seconds

[ThaYankee]

I've made a nice 3" shell this week.

Mostly I make 2" shells and this is my first 3"

So I hope he will work out nicely, my 2 inchers do, so I think this one will also do.

 

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m318/ThaYankee/Shells/Shell3inch1.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m318/ThaYankee/Shells/Shell3inch2.jpg

[ravaz]

That is a nice looking shell there. Please share a video !