3" Red Peony

[braddsn]

A 3" red peony I fired this evening with a bleser blonde rising comet. Criticism is welcome. My camera didn't capture the red too well, the color was much richer in person (as always..). I used the "3 strip" pasting method, 8 layers. What pasting methods do y'all use?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plV8RBouth4

[db5086]

Very nice tail and break. Gotta love those little 3's. Did you boost the break?

[braddsn]

Break was not boosted. I have bad luck with boosting.. when I do, some stars blow blind. I made 1 mistake with this shell... the stars were not exactly the same size, there is a 2mm variation. But the next few shells I shoot and take video of will have stars that are within 1/2 mm of each other. That should tighten up the symmetry. I do love the 3's, they still surprise me every time I shoot them. They are so tiny but really pack a punch! Plus, they cost virtually nothing to make.

[pyrojig]

I have to agree with you on the 3" shells . For the size, they are the cheapest bang for the buck. Awesome for star testing . Nice shell by the way. It is hard getting a perfect burn time , even commercial shells suffer this . Careful screening is a must for tight burntimes , but so is proper priming , and consistent coating of that prime( as some stars take on more prime than others ) > This usually is remedied by large batches of stars being rolled to get uniformity .

[MWJ]

Beautiful! I love the comet, good timing on it too. Nice break. I also love the 3" shells and the red. But I haven't shoot any of my 4" shells off yet. I'm still looking for tubes that don't cost an arm and a leg for shipping. Very nice Brad!

[braddsn]

Thanks guys for the comments! Believe me, I still have a long way to go before I am satisfied with em. I think I have 'finally' nailed the altitude, comets, and timing. I have been slowly chasing the perfect star size, and these are still way too big. Furthermore, with these stars and all of my stars in the past, I just 'guessed' about how much prime to throw on em.. Now that has all changed. My batches from here on out are all consistent in size, and step primed with the exact same amount (30% of star weight). Pyrojig, you said it. Screening and consistent prime coating. I am embarrassed to say that before now, I had just been screening my chems through a kitchen sieve. I have not been happy with my burn times being sloppy, non-symmetrical breaks, and having some orange fallout where it shouldn't be. So I ordered some screens, 40 and 60 mesh.. and now screen mix my chems properly. I don't have a video yet of any of these new stars I have rolled, but testing them out of a star gun, HUGE difference. When I see a Japanese 3" shell fired, they are always "snappy". They hit hard and fast, then go dark all at once like a switch is flipped. Like Shimizu talks about in his book, certain shells should put you in a certain mood. I love how the Japanese 3" shells are so snappy and powerful. The breaks are very powerful but relatively small. The stars are quick then dark. Then on to the 4 inch shells which break bigger and a little slower, then 5's, then the huge breaking, slow and graceful 6's and 8's. Maybe I am expecting too much trying to match the Japanese shells, but I don't plan on quittin until I at least get close.