braddsn Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 In hopes that this will help some guys that have just started... here is a little info that might save you some time. I am by no means an expert, I have only fired maybe 100 4" shells since I started this hobby. But I want to share a little something that might save you some time and frustration. If you cut corners on anything, make sure it's not pasting. Improper pasting will almost certainly cause more problems than any other shortcut you take. If you don't paste enough layers, then: 1) Your shell won't reach altitude, 2) Your breaks won't be symmetrical, 3) Some of your stars may not light, 4) You won't have nice solid, hard breaks. Simply put, make sure you paste properly, and as a general rule, use 2 layers per inch of shell diameter. In this case, a 4" shell would require at least 8 layers pasted. This info is everywhere out there, easy to find.. but I never realized how important it was until I encountered some of these problems. When I started, my thought was.. "just paste it enough so that it builds pressure, that's plenty". But that's not the case at all. I found that with proper pasting, everything else falls into place nicely.. and you don't need to "boost" you breaks with whistle, flash, or anything else. I am far from having perfect shells, but proper pasting has gotten me a WHOLE lot closer. Cheers!
dangerousamateur Posted January 17, 2015 Posted January 17, 2015 Do you also spike your shells, or do you only paste them? And what shells are you talking about, canisters or balls? I always mess up the spiking, somehow i am not very good at this. I wonder if i can get away without that.Pasting works nicely... When using the mortar, weight is not very important so thick pasting is no problem. With rockets the weight is a big problem though.
braddsn Posted January 17, 2015 Author Posted January 17, 2015 I am sorry, I should have stated what type of shells. I only make ball shells (for now anyways).
dynomike1 Posted January 18, 2015 Posted January 18, 2015 (edited) Dont feel bad dangerous my spiking isnt perfect either, but getting better every time. That was dam good advice brad. One thing shortcuts usually don't work. Edited January 18, 2015 by dynomike1
gregh Posted January 18, 2015 Posted January 18, 2015 The other important thing as a beginner is to not take shortcuts on safety and PPE!
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