Disintrest in rockets

[NeighborJ]

Why??? Anyone I meet, outside of this forum who is involved in pyrotechnics seems to consider rockets to be "dark arts".

I love rockets and would prefer to send a shell up with a rocket over a morter any day. Yet, I encounter resistance from every hobbyist I've met locally, over my enthusiasm for rockets. I'm just saying, it's in our national anthem "rockets red glare". I could not imagine pyrotechnics without rockets. I would venture to say that I would have no interest in the hobby if it wasn't for them, at least in the beginning. I just don't get it.

[Boophoenix]

Ask those disinterested folks if they've ever seen any of TR's rockets in person. I'm not a big rocket fan, but do believe they have a valuable purpose in the art and TR's skills confirm that with great precision.

[dagabu]

I gave up long ago proselytizing rockets. They are my first love and the first thing pyro that comes to mind when I think pyro. For years, my tagline was, "I love ball shells, I think every rocket should have one mounted atop it!"

Edited September 21, 2016 by dagabu

[Mumbles]

They're basically non-existent in display pyro so they can be kind of an after thought when people are getting into hobbyist pyro. This can also be a factor for people who make the transition from display operators into manufacture. In hobbyist circles they have more of a following. Certain clubs are more into them than others from what I've seen. It sort of comes down to having someone who has a true mastery of rockets in the club to teach and troubleshoot and show off. This is how the interest is generated in my experience, and how clubs can take that next step. The Wisconsin club is probably the epitome of this. They had Steve LaDuke from the beginning, who garnered interest from more and more people. Now they make up probably 50% of the rocket entries in PGI competitions. Trying to learn on your own can be incredibly frustrating.

 

The fact remains that they often have a mind of their own, and can travel long distances which involve extra precautions and extra regulations. Not everyone or every club has the space to safely test rockets, which can be a big hindrance.

 

For what it's worth I consider TR more of a shell builder. His rockets are reliable, but basically just a tool to get them in the air and control the orientation. Don't get me wrong, his devices are incredible. It's not the rocket itself that's the remarkable part though except for how they orient the shells.

[Arthur]

Its like pyro in general! Most people I meet think pyro is really ODD, just a few people "get it" and understand why I like to do it. Very few people in the whole world understand why I do it and also do it themselves.

 

Of those pyros in the world some do rockets and most really don't. IMO there is little to the sparkly trail that shows behind a rocket for the hours of time and the tooling cost. If you add a shell header then you've also had to make a shell.

 

The real down side of rockets is that they fly variably according to the wind -a rocket will likely fly into the wind while everything else will fly with the wind. Also as rockets scale up so does the stick, and that has to land somewhere. The youtube vid of a 3" whistle rocket with a 12" shell on top clearly shows that the stick would do a property seller proud it's about 10 feet of 2 x 2, which would harm whatever it hit. (youtube 5g9uCcY7tFg )

 

As shells get bigger there is more effect, they go down wind with the rest of the debris and there is nothing left to fall down, the lift cup is in the mortar.

[starxplor]

Some like the *thump*, some like the *whoosh*.

 

Also, shells don't need as many tools, everything needed to make a starter shell is needed plus more for rockets. Again, a local club with tooling breaks down this barrier.

[NeighborJ]

I like complicated things, it's so much more gratifying when I can get multiple processes integrated together and running perfectly. I compartmentalize everything so as not to get overwhelmed by taking on the completion of one device at a time. It becomes easy to glue a shell onto a motor on launch night. I may spend a week making stars, then a week making shells and the last day I spend pressing motors, fusing and assembling them. I end up with a lot more devices then I can use in a normal evening.

Each shell is labeled with weight and comps as well as star arrangement and matched to an appropriate motor. Once all the testing of motors is done it all becomes routine and inexpensive.

I don't like commercial displays because I want to see each shell deployed and work exactly the way it was designed to do. The beauty is in the mechanics for me and while it is awesome to fill the sky with shells, I can't zero in on any one shell to see those mechanics of operation.

[OldMarine]

I can press a rocket, build a cylinder shell and launch it before you have your shell in the drying cabinet. Rocket headings don't require the fireproofing needed for an aerial shell so I get more immediate gratification

To each his own and I went to the "dark side" with rockets.

[NeighborJ]

Yeah OM, we need to show the whole world why they are all wrong and rockets are right. Come over to the dark side and be one of "Those guys", the force is strong with you.

[calebkessinger]

Traditional Black powder rockets can be easily pointed wherever you want them to go and they will go there every time with the proper stick and heading making fallout a non issue.
They orient the shell perfectly for viewing if properly made and timed as TR has shown us time and again. The method he uses is both simple and consistent and others are starting to catch on to it using that method for normal shell lifting.

 

Then, you get to high power rockets! Whistles, strobes, Super long burning endburners. Without lots of testing I would consider these motors to be the display in themselves and not want to put a fancy header on any of them. They can be pretty unpredictable until you get everything dialed in. I made some this weekend that were epic failures and monstrous wins. It's all part of the fun!

 

Be safe and Have fun !!

Here's an epic win from this weekend. I had a whole stack of these before hand that were strobing ground chasers but this one worked perfectly!

[NeighborJ]

Nice strobe Caleb. Looks like you got your press back up and running. Hey check this hybrid whistling strobe out. It's one of my favorite effects.

Edited September 26, 2016 by NeighborJ

[CrossOut]

sorry, im a thump junkie.. unless you toss a large header on those things, large thumps are generally a bad thing for rockets lol.

 

joking aside, id be inclined to say that rockets require a much higher level of skill, precision, and attention to detail than most other pyrotechnic devices. it sure is a lot harder than tossing a hand full of stars and bp into a plastic shell, gluing it up, tossing on a lift bag, and dropping it in a gun. those pretty much work every time. rockets on the other hand require a lot more fine tuning, trial and error, research, learning, etc. I hate to bash on the general public but "easy" is becoming everyone's top priority which doesn't really jive well with pyro.

 

NeighborJ, That rocket sounds like my dog farting while out on a run pretty cool . ill have to try them out.

Edited September 27, 2016 by CrossOut

[Boophoenix]

No Indian rocket dance videos Cal?

 

The Indian dance comment comes from the Indian rain dance mixed to an evening of shooting where a multi break cylinder shell broke low breaking on both sides of where Caleb was at.

 

Mumbles, as a newb I always found the reference toward TR's items interesting. After seeng them in person I gained a new found respect for his works. Meeting the man behind the efforts was quite the honor. With the quality of items he puts into the air he can call them Bologna on a stick if he likes he's truely a master of awe inspiring art.

[Mumbles]

I completely agree with that. I think I saw you post it somewhere else, but I suspect you and I were both in the crowd of half a dozen people or so admiring his rockets and picking his brain after Steve's seminar.

[Boophoenix]

I actual ran into TR by accident after one of Katie's ( the fire dancer ) classes ( that I caught the last couple of minutes of ) were the conversation turned into a tailgate seminar. Which was quite awesome for a while till the crowd started to gather. I learned quite a bit prior to the crowd having almost one on one enter action. What a great fella to have in the art. He truely enjoys sharing his experiances and efforts.