My first batch of Tigertails test fire (with video)

[Nickmaslo]

https://youtu.be/djPJIM51FDc

 

Hey guys , new guy here. This is my first batch of TT stars. I cut the stars and used the 44-44-6-6 comp. Don't mind the part where I ran into a parked car. That shouldn't in anyway indicate my mental intelligience. Just my physical clumsiness.

 

Let me know what you experienced guys think I might change or do better etc.

Launch is around halfway mark.

 

Oh they only sat on my drying rack for about 30 hours.

 

Star gun and stats - consumer 2 " HDPE mortar. Drilled a hole above plug, put 3mm chinese VISCO inside, funneled in .25oz of 2FA lift (milled & granulated myself) seperated by a rammed down tissue paper between the lift and stars. I primed the stars dry right off the rack with regular 75/15/10 meal with a dash of 3 micron aluminum (I mean A DASH BARELY)

 

Edit part 3

 

Lastly the short dry time can be attributed to the 3 parts water to 1 part denatured alcohol I used to wet the comp. Before I tested them and primed I took one and crumbled it between my fingers and they were bone dry

Edited July 13, 2015 by Nickmaslo

[Sparx88]

Those are some nice TT. I'm a big fan of long hanging effects and you made a good one.

[Nickmaslo]

I tweaked the comp a bit. I hypothesized in my head to use coarser charcoal but not so much that the comp would flake and affect the structure & density.

 

For the 44 parts charcoal, I did use about 30 parts ball milled red cedar charcoal I cooked using the Red Cedar Pet Bedding from wall mart. I also bought Pine Pet Bedding and cooked that but instead of milling it, I hand crushed and pushed throught screens, started at 8 mesh, then 12 mesh, then 20. So for the remaining 14 parts of charcoal I used about 20 mesh pine.

 

I suppose my tweak worked !

 

Going to get deep here: when I first tested the stars before this recording , I was out there by myself and I was watching these glittering beautiful stars burst out of the mortar, and I watched as the tails lit up the sky behind them burning bright - that moment, that split second time slowed, I was all alone and it all flashed back to me:

 

when I first fell in love with fireworks and then to all the tools I put together and the chemicals I waited for and the formulas I read and compositions I memorized, all the sweat that dripped down my forehead from rolling the stars out, all the perfect cuts I made and prime I sprinkled on, all the milling and mixing, all the time they dried and all the time I waited - as my eyes followed these beautiful chemicals react and paint the sky, and fizzle down to the ground again I finally knew in my entire 25 years of life on this earth ---

 

That nothing had given me so much happiness and purpose than Pyrotechnics.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Nickmaslo

[Livingston]

Very nice!! TT with Ti makes pretty..I know the feeling of doing pyro and waiting on stuff coming in the mail..

[flashgordon]

Hiya, I was looking forward to seeing the video but alas it has been taken down! why? I have not progressed to rockets..... yet, but I imagine that tigertails would be a very nice effect as a stand alone firework too.