Richtee Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 OK not amazing at all...but it's got Swede's glue stuff as a rising red comet on it. It stuck itself there too! Just some flying fish, and a few emerald green and bright red stars, 3" 12 G lift on about a 75 G shell. Home made QM and lift. A weak 3" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankie Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I was thinking about making shells such as saturn or ring an bowtie, my only problem is that I only have potassium nitrate as an oxidiser, are there any potassium nitrate based formulas that dont have a tail?p.s. i also have some permanganate but I would like to stay away from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Nice bright red comet there, richtee. Looks like it burned for a while after the burst, too. If so, I'd say it was one tough comet. And the shell wasn't bad either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Nice bright red comet there, richtee. Looks like it burned for a while after the burst, too. If so, I'd say it was one tough comet. And the shell wasn't bad either.Yeah, that IS some tough stuff! I used the 75-25 mix of perc and the poly glue, added a bit of mag powder and stront. nitrate, thinned it with acetone to a soft putty. Then rolled a "cigar" of it and stuck it to the shell base. Pressed some large grains of BP into it while soft for a prime. It's like a rock after a few hours. Here's a similar comet, but I left it "au natural"..it is a bright white. The green stars are the glue compound modified with the "emerald green" star comp listed elsewhere here. The poly as a binder wipes out a bit of the green, but not too badly. On edit: Leads me to maybe believe a salute could be constructed with stars using the stuff...without shattering the stars...maybe? 3" white poly riser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraafVaag Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I was thinking about making shells such as saturn or ring an bowtie, my only problem is that I only have potassium nitrate as an oxidiser, are there any potassium nitrate based formulas that dont have a tail?Hi there,A bowtie using only PN based comps can look very cool. You can make a rather white star by using a lot more sulphur and just a tiny bit of charcoal in your comp.I mostly use a comp with antimony trisulphide in this case, since the white is brighter. (64/14/18/4 PN/Sb2S3/Sulphur/binder) If you don't have Sb2S3, try 59/30/11 PN/Sulphur/Meal Powder. It should have a very sparse charcoal tail and rather attractive white stars. It might be a good idea to prime this mix with one containing more charcoal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYMark Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Seeing as I am based in Australia and colors are difficult to make (lack of chemicals here) I had to try that above comp. Its great! I burns fairly dirty (kind of expected due to the ratios or fuel and oxidizer's) but the white is pretty good! I experimented with a few different ratios. More meal powder, or KN. More meal powder gives it a orangy flame and more KN made it into a faint (well not "that" faint, but not very vibrant) purple - which both of these are expected. So sticking to the 59/30/11 is best (good color). Also you would definatly want to prime these. Despite being a BP star they are hard to light. Thanks for the comp GraafVaag! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Richtee, I am tickled to see those red and white comets formed from the poly glue comp. Like you noticed, it is freaky tough and can handle all sorts of abuse. I'll bet you could in fact load primed poly-glue stars in a salute. If you could get them to ignite, the spread would be incredibly fast and huge. As far as I know, you are the first to use the stuff in a real shell. All I've done is piddle with star guns and such. Nice job! I hope to be making larger stuff soon. All I need is a place to fire them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nath0r Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 The white stars that Graaf posted are really nice considering their simplicity to make, i've only ever made them once and wasn't expecting too much out of them but i was really supprised with the outcome. They were really bright and have a long burntime so you can make loads of stars from a small batch of comp. I highly recommend them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskarchem Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 It's a shame I didn't come across that formula earlier, I was also looking for white stars so I made Buells electric white which are nice and bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Richtee, I am tickled to see those red and white comets formed from the poly glue comp. Like you noticed, it is freaky tough and can handle all sorts of abuse. I'll bet you could in fact load primed poly-glue stars in a salute. If you could get them to ignite, the spread would be incredibly fast and huge. As it's my birthday... I think I need to finish the salute trial for tonight! the Emerald Green, and the Red I used for the riser. I gotta get into blues soon. I want a red, white and blue salute! Or...just a cool shell! OK got a cannister, have perc, will travel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 As it's my birthday... I think I need to finish the salute trial for tonight! the Emerald Green, and the Red I used for the riser. I gotta get into blues soon. I want a red, white and blue salute! Or...just a cool shell! OK got a cannister, have perc, will travel! Well, I din't get it done. I did manage a cannister of bourbon, so I'm officially out of the running tonight. Just to be sane about it, which ain't easy in my condtion. Will attempt sson tho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Eh, one cannister is as satisfying as the next. Was it good Bourbon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Hi, need some helpI tried to launch a 7.5" 2 days ago and it flowerpotted. The spoulette was attached really good with a lot of hotmelt glue. It had 9 layers of reinforced pasting. anyway Did anyone had success with launching such big shells? maybe it should be top-fused? any advices? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Hi, need some helpI tried to launch a 7.5" 2 days ago and it flowerpotted. The spoulette was attached really good with a lot of hotmelt glue. It had 9 layers of reinforced pasting. anyway Did anyone had success with launching such big shells? maybe it should be top-fused? any advices? You answered your own question there, such big shells should be top fused (if using spolettes), I personally would never go above 4" when firing bottom fused shells (spolettes) and even 4" is pushing it with a canister shell, round shells are OK though. Anyway, the spolette most probably blew through meaning the powder core was pushed into the shell. Top fuse the next one, should prevent any further flowerpots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 It was a round shell not a canister. And how does the top fusing work? it ignites like a comet? just some good prime and thats it? So much work got down the drain or should I say up the sky 2.5 kilos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Either way, if you are using spolettes, for anything above 4" it is reccomended that you top fuse it. You ofcourse can bottom fuse if you want but the risk is too great, you can flowerpot the shell and lose the mortar. For top fusing you might want to check here:http://www.apcforum.net/forums/index.php?s...indpost&p=21473It's a double break canister tutorial that shows how top fusing is done. This might answer your question. Leaving the spolette up on the shell like a comet may not be very reliable so i personally would not use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hashashan Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Thanks, I wish I would see that before I tried to fire my shell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nath0r Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 As much as it's a shame when something you have spent time and effort on fails, We all learn from our mistakes! Better luck for your next one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FREAKYDUTCHMEN Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Perhaps your lift was too powerfull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudmanc5 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I just received my 8" plastic ball shells I was planing on bottom fusing with 1/4" time fuse is this not a good idea ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyboy25 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 That will work fine. I don't think I've ever heard of top fusing spherical shells. I saw a video of a guy making a 16" spherical paper shell and he used 1/4" Japanese time fuse. The only difference was he used two fuses as a sort of "insurance policy." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty green flame Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 That will work fine. I don't think I've ever heard of top fusing spherical shells. I think this primarily goes for Spolettes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 The only ball shells I have ever seen top fused were the incredibly large, 24"+, spolettes or not. An 8" shell should have at least an inch and a half if not more of a powder grain. To me it sounds like some manufacturing problem or oversight. I don't want to start taking shots at hashanan's abilities, but mistakes and oversights do happen. Big shells like these can and will flower pot if the components inside are not packed extremely well. The force of compression from slightly lose materials during lift can set these things off. Most people have enough experience when they get to the bigger ones that this is not usually a problem. If too much spolette was sticking out, it can be cocked to one side and lift gases can enter. Poor pasting of paper around the spolette can also be at fault. Too wide of a spolette could be a problem. Most ball shells are built with the cord type of time fuse, so it is difficult to say. It could have been an anomaly such as twisting in the gun and the spolette striking the side of the wall and breaking the seal, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karlos Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 Hallo.Which composition with aluminum, is the good for perfect golden chrysanthemum with long-life golden tail? Must have more light than charcoal fire dust stars. I love silver wave, but i need golden variation. http://www.katakai.org/07/09kanreki.wmv thanks, Karlos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick2354 Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 I have only two types of "strings". One is a Nylon type string and the other is Gardening Twine. Question: Can any of them be used for spiking or do I just have to try it out and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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