A couple shells (testing)

[braddsn]

I have started putting some 3" shells in the air to test my stars, break, altitude, etc for this year. Here are a few. Note, the Tangerine video was not the best because I accidentally had the camera zoomed in (oops). But you can still see the shell, it's just a little shaky. haha. The Tangerine and Green shells were boosted, and the Blue shell was not. All lifted with MCRH.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by braddsn

[Zumber]

nice shells..!! :) :)

[PIL]

Wow!These breaks are awesome.BTW I'm really looking forward to watching your 2016 Fourth ofJuly show video.

[ExplosiveCoek]

Nice shells indeed! And I second PIL's remarks about the 4th!

[braddsn]

Thanks guys!! As for the video for my 2016 show, uuhhhhgggghhh unfortunately it doesn't exist!! We set up the camera 1/4 mile away, and aimed it high into the sky. But there was a problem. We didn't fire a test shell to make sure the camera was aimed correctly. The shells ALL broke above the frame, and the camera didn't capture any of it. I was really upset about it, and learned a valuable lesson. With my 2017 show, we will fire a test shell of each size to MAKE SURE that the camera captures the show. The worst part about this mistake is that my 2016 show was SOOOOO much better than my 2015 show. All of the shells were symmetrical, and the colors were beautiful and bright. But the 2017 show will be even better!

[ExplosiveCoek]

Well, now you got me curious about the 2015 show too .

[Aspirina]

Amazing shells to be 3"! Do you have any photos of the final product? I would like to know what is the composition of this stars

great work braddsn

[PIL]

How did you paste the shell? I'm curious about your pasting method.

 

Thanks.

[braddsn]

Ok for pasting, I came up with my own method that seems to work quite well. I first orient the shell so that the timefuse is pointed towards the ceiling. Then I paste strips vertically around the shell. That is 1 layer. Then, I turn the shell on it's side and apply tape vertically around the shell again. That's the 2nd layer... then back the other way, and repeat.. It's very hard to explain without being able to show you. I paste 5-6 layers on a 3, 7-8 on a 4, 9-10 on a 5, 12 on a 6, and 16 on an 8". I plan (hopefully) to build a pasting machine soon.

[Sparx88]

It's nice to see you are really digging the gun upgrade. I was hoping you would continue on and not get overwhelmed. Nice work, keep it up. Oh and I have to say, looks like the "rack" vs. "rack" situation seems to have worked out in your favor

[jrin0630]

What did you use for BREAK charge in your shells?

[JOPETES]

The opening force is pretty good in the green and tangerine, symmetry pretty well to be 3 inch. You can improve the symmetry but with stars a little smaller that way you can accommodate more amount of stars in the hemispheres and the symmetry is easier to get. As for the rise of the air shell it seems that it lacks a little force because it was observed an arched path.

¡¡Finally your camera has registered well the green color !!

good job.

José

[dynomike1]

Brad you need to get the rice hulls out of there and start using powder. It looked like they were 2sec. flight time. For a 3" i get 4sec.

[Sparx88]

Brad you need to get the rice hulls out of there and start using powder. It looked like they were 2sec. flight time. For a 3" i get 4sec.

 

Would it be ok if I second that. I use 10% 2fg cotton bp for lift on 2 and 3" shells and have a 3 to 3.5 second avg and pop just before apogee. Less fire and sparks coming out of the gun.

[braddsn]

Thanks guys! Something that I should have mentioned, I have my 3" test gun firing out away from my house, in other words, it is firing these shells at an angle. Probably something like 70 degrees or so. I do that because my house is about 50 yards behind me. That is why the shells are flying in an arc. Because of this, they are hitting about 175 ft. When I fire them straight up, they break right at 250-300 ft. Mike, I am not sure what you mean by using powder instead of MCRH to increase flight time. The only way I know to increase flight time is to lengthen my time fuse. I used to use 4FA granulated to lift everything, but I can make MCRH MUCH easier and MUCH faster, and they dry MUCH faster... I hate the hassle of granulating powder, especially in the amounts that I use. Between testing and my displays, I lifted nearly 500 shells last year, and I just hate granulating lift for that many shells! HAHA!!!! I will have some more videos posted in the days to come. I am in testing phase right now. I LOVE it!!!

[dynomike1]

I should have known that was intentional. I'll have to try MCRH, i am like you on granulating powder. I got to granulate 2.5 gal., to finish all my shells. I have been so busy this year i forgot to make enough powder.

[Sparx88]

Ok me too. Firing them angled away, got it. You do make a hell of a lot more than I do and coming up with a quite a few pounds of bp like you said is not a fun thing. I still just use straight riced bp though since I don't make more than 36 shells each year all 2 and 3" ball and some 3" cans. I had a gun fire right next to one that just did from the excess fire and sparks early on that prompted me to better protect the fuses of other shells next door and cut down on dirty lift powder (pine etc) with something more snappy and not so sparky. That's why I suggested using just powder but you gotta do what works for you. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do for new years

[dynomike1]

This year i am going to make a 8" Palm tree and a 10" shell of shells along with my other 82 shells. That will eat up some powder.

[dynomike1]

I am going to make this separate after looking at Brads shells. Just an idea i came up with. I hope i can explain it right.

Ok we know Brad has comets on all his shells. Here it is What if you had a lets say a color comet on a shell and the shell would be a color that would complement the comet or visa versa. The problem is going to be matching the colors up.

Edited November 19, 2016 by dynomike1

[braddsn]

Mike, if I understand you right, this might be similar to something I did this last 4th. Are you talking about a shell of shells? In one of my 8 inch shells, I filled it with 3 inch shells. On each 3" shell, I put a bright white flitter comet. When the 8 broke, it looked like a huge palm... but then about 3 seconds later, the 3's broke. It looked REALLY cool. People weren't expecting it, and it worked perfectly. Wish I had it on film.

[dynomike1]

I think on the 10" it will take 11-3", i am thinking about red, white, and blue with a salute. They will break @ i am not sure yet around 2sec. and the salute @ 5sec. or maybe the salute first. I still have some thinking to do.

[Wiley]

Mike, is this a ball shell-of-shells? I think the effect might be better if the inserts were given more time to spread, say, around 3 seconds. I think breaking it on the way up would be a good idea too.

 

This is an 8" cylinder stutata. About 3 seconds between the break and when the inserts open.

 

 

 

If you're wanting to put a heavy salute on the end of the display, you could make up a cylindrical salute using a hard core, probably a stretch-wrap core. Mount it on the "nose" of the shell, almost as you would a large comet. Keep the fused disk recessed just enough that the circumference of the tube is able to rest evenly on the shell's curved surface, but also such that the disk touches the spherical casing tangentially. That would require that you hand-paste the thing, though. The joint between the salute and the casing will have to be very robust, and the fused disk itself will need to be able to resist the force applied to it by the opening of the main shell.

 

Can't wait to see video!

Edited November 20, 2016 by Wiley

[Mumbles]

I think the comet idea has merit. I tend to be somewhat underwhelmed by colored comets on shells. Most colors tend to pair pretty well with gold, silver, or glitter luckily though. Of course this is all up to you. Maybe add some Ti to the comets for a bit of a tail and color?

 

If you want to put a final salute on a shell, you should just make a cylinder shell

[dynomike1]

Thanks Wiley this will be a ball shell. I was talking about the inserts breaking around a sec. or two after the shell breaks. Just enough time for everyone to think dud, then the inserts break, then the salute a couple of sec. later. I have incorporated salutes inside the shells before. I think the way i figured it it will be 11 3" shells of red, white, and blue. To make them even i will have 2 empty spaces to fill. I should have a video cause i am going to do it myself. ###k depending on them. I have last years on facebook now and cant do anything with it. Glad you chimed in on this. I have been thinking today about how to do some ring shells with double and triple rings. I am thinking i will have to do that with canisters. Do you have any ideas on that.

[Seymour]

If you bump it up to 12" you can fit twenty six 3" shells in it