flying fish Posted August 5, 2007 Posted August 5, 2007 Lately I've taken interest in Shaped fireworks. I remember them being discussed on a pyro forum years ago, but I can't remeber which forum and haven't been able to find it. So I thought this would be a nice time discuss shaped fireworks on APC Forums! My first attempt (and only so far) was a heart shaped aerial shell, which didn't really turn out. It featured a Heart shaped tray like the diagram pictured: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/WhyAreAllUserNamesTaken/Heartfirework.jpg This tray was centered in a 1 3/4 inch plastic ball shell. Here's a video of the result: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NiGefjup5w After lighting it and reviewing the video, I wasn't sure if it was really a failure or if it simply wasn't facing the audience right. Either way, I know I at least need more pasting because the stars didn't spread very far. Now this is what I REALLY want to make, But obviously that's getting way ahead of myself! So...has anyone else tried this sort of thing?
pudidotdk Posted August 5, 2007 Posted August 5, 2007 The heartshaped shellhemispheres seems unnecessary. Use round shell and fill each with break charge and arrange the stars on top of the break. About the cubicshaped: http://wolterpyrotools.com/pyrotools/stars.html under "Quad pumps".
flying fish Posted August 5, 2007 Author Posted August 5, 2007 Sweet! Thanks for the info. As for the 2 dimensional shapes, do you mean to "sandwich" the stars between each half? And should each hemi be fully filled with break, or just near the center where the stars are? By the way, this was done as a ball shell, but the heart tray thing was secured to the center of the shell, and the rest of the shell was empty.
gods knight Posted August 6, 2007 Posted August 6, 2007 Sweet! Thanks for the info. As for the 2 dimensional shapes, do you mean to "sandwich" the stars between each half? And should each hemi be fully filled with break, or just near the center where the stars are? i would recommend you pack the shell completely and as tightly as possible, sometimes the stars would shake around when they are being transported,thus ruining the effect,and on some occasions the lift produced by the shell may shake the shells in some way.
al93535 Posted August 6, 2007 Posted August 6, 2007 First of all you need a larger shell to get a pattern out. No way will a shell under 3" be able to hold a good pattern in the air. Its probably best to start pattern shells with a 4", however they should be possible with a 3". Make a standard ball shell and fill it all the way with burst. Next put your stars in a long line on a table on a big piece of tissue paper. Now twist that tissue up over the stars (two layers thick or so). You should now have a string of stars in tissue. Arrange the string of stars in the shell on the top of the burst in the shape of a heart. The string will keep the patter in shape better then loose stars and will prevent them from migrating in the burst.
flying fish Posted August 6, 2007 Author Posted August 6, 2007 Thanks for the advice! The reason why I thought patterns might be possible with smaller shells, is because I had read a review on 1.4g "smiley face" rockets from Phantom. Apparently they weren't that good, but you could make out the smiley. If I wanted to make a 3" or 4" shell for this purpose while conserving burst, could I use a filler (like uncoated hulls) for the very top and very bottom of the shell, or would that have a negative impact on the effect? I'm not in a chemical squeeze or anything, but I'm really enjoying the luxury of consuming so little with my small shells.
Mumbles Posted August 6, 2007 Posted August 6, 2007 Yep, you can do that. I know a lot of people do that for ring shells. You do something like that often for special shells like palm trees, and parachute shells, Just a word of advice, I'd use clay instead of unpasted rice hulls to help orient the shells correctly.
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