Ruby red and Emerald green

[crazyboy25]

Name of composition:Emerald green/Ruby red

Composition Type: colored stars

Creator: unknown

Color/Effect:green/red

The Composition: (by weight)

 

Ruby red

 

Strontium nitrate...............50

Potassium perchlorate.........8

Parlon..............................18

Magnalium (-325 mesh).....12

Charcoal (airfloat)...............5

Sulfur................................5

Red gum...........................2

Dextrin..............................5

 

Bind 75/25 water:alc

roll or pump

use a HOT prime i roll on 2-3 layers of veline super prime followed by 1-2layers of meal then dust with meal when dry.

 

Emerald green

 

Barium nitrate...................50

Potassium perchlorate.........8

Parlon..............................18

Magnalium (-325 mesh).....12

Charcoal (airfloat)...............5

Sulfur................................5

Red gum...........................2

Dextrin..............................5

 

Bind 75/25 water:alc

roll or pump

use a HOT prime i roll on 2-3 layers of veline super prime followed by 1-2layers of meal then dust with meal when dry.

 

 

 

Comments: i love these stars they produce an excellent color only problems are the availability of strontium and barium nitrate and the difficulty with which they take fire.

 

 

here is a video of a starmine using emerald green stars

i will launch my 4" aerial shell with ruby red next week and i will post that video later.

[pudidotdk]

I am trying to find a reason why my Ruby Red stars burned slow and took fire pretty bad.

Have anyone tried with a coarser MgAl? I used KeteN's 270? mesh MgAl...

They had been drying for quite some time with a relative humidity of about 20%

[crazyboy25]

did you pump or roll them? my friend uses 150-210 mesh MgAl i have witness burn tests and they worked fine just let them dry in a warm dry place, i find these stars can take upwards of 6 days to dry also did you prime them with a good coat of veline super prime followed by bp?

 

 

if you dont have the components/time to make veline super prime get a pile of hot BP and spray it then roll the star over it it should be caked in a layer of BP my friend swears by it personally i prefer super prime.

[pudidotdk]

They were pumped.

I have all ingredients for Veline super prime:

 

Potassium Perchlorate 55

Charcoal Airfloat 20

Wood Meal 6

Iron(III) Oxide, red 5

Potassium Dichromate 5

Magnalium, granular, -200 mesh 5

Dextrin 4

 

but I am not sure I can work correctly with Potassium Dichromate, I am so scared about this chemical that I havn't even opened the container. I only bought it if I really HAD to use it.

I guess I am better off with silicon powder, KeteN will start selling it in January, should be a pretty decent chemical for a prime, since it will form molten Silicium dioxide.

[qwezxc12]

Two of my favorites, for sure! It's pretty much all I use for Red & Green...Either step-prime or use a healthy coating mixed rough powder / meal with 5% Si for prime.

 

Here's a Ruby Red shell from last March:

4in MgAl to Ruby Red

 

A 4in Green from the August BBQ shoot I did:

4in Emerald Green

 

And for good measure, a rack of 2in mines from the same shoot as well:

2in Mines

 

 

I am trying to find a reason why my Ruby Red stars burned slow and took fire pretty bad.

Have anyone tried with a coarser MgAl?  I used KeteN's 270? mesh MgAl...

They had been drying for quite some time with a relative humidity of about 20%

pudi,

I use 200-300 mesh MgAl from a local source and it works just fine. I wonder if your slow burning / hard to light issues are due to some % of Strontium Chloride in your SrNO3?

SrCl is very hygroscopic...still makes a nice red, just hard to dry and slows the burning.

[pudidotdk]

The strontium nitrate should be 99,4% pure with 0,001% chlorides and 0,08% sulphates, so I doubt its impurities.

I guess I just have to give it another go then.

[DeAdFX]

I use a mix of ...

 

KClO4 6.5

Charcoal 2.0

Dark Al 1.0

CuO .5

Shellac +1-3 spoonfulls(~3mL? per spoon) per 10 grams of prime. Roll stars in prime and then let them dry and your good to go.

 

 

... For a red/green star formula that is similar... hmm I think that was the exact formula. If you are to afraid to use dichromate this should work for you.

 

 

Anywho Potassium Dichromate is nothing to be afraid of... Try working with Pentachlorophenol just 3 grams of that stuff is enough to send you 6 feet under. Stuff is violitale as hell too(makes your room smell like hardware store which is semi nice).

[jacob]

Is there any good substitute for the Magnalium? i have everything else and this looks like a good comp.

[Mumbles]

In the prime, any fine metal should work. Theres really no reason you couldn't replace it with aluminum, or probably even silicon. Magnesium is also an option, but just from a reactivity stand point, I'd prefer Aluminum. I'm not saying it's unsafe or any of that. A glitter type atomised aluminum would probably make an excellent substitution.

[tentacles]

You could quite probably sub magnesium for the MgAl in the ruby red / emerald green stars. You might need to use a bit more or less to get good color though, as Mg has a different fuel value. Al could also work, but typically doesn't produce as brilliant of a color.

[Spider]

I used this comp with 63µ MgAl and i can say that the color is incredible and that a thin meal prime is abolutely enough. seems strange to me that you have such difficulties to light it. i cut, pumped, rolled and riced this comp and it allways works fine.

[jacob]

Ok, thanks guys. i think i'll try to get some MgAl, i'll need it for some other stuff anyway.

[RubenE]

Mumbles is right about the prime. I know someone who replaced the silicon with MgAl it worked fine.

[Zmuro]

Can I replace parlon with PVC in this furmulas?

[qwezxc12]

Can I replace parlon with PVC in this furmulas?

PVC is not a straight-up sub for Parlon...especially as these formulas use such a large %. PVC has a lower percentage of available Chlorine and also has greater fuel value than Parlon. Saran may be a better sub, but if you have PVC and want to try it, I'd suggest omitting the Red Gum and lowering the PVC amount a few % and see if you're happy with the color.

I would think that with an over-fueled PVC mix, you'd get a yellowish coloring or fringe to the flame...I don't know if cutting the charcoal would also help...

[Mumbles]

You actually want fuel rich color comps. It eats up any oxygen, preventing the formation of MgO and Al2O3, which wash out the color. Obviously, this fact is only useful in moderation. If I were to give this a try, I would replace the parlon with PVC 1:1, and drop the charcoal back 2 parts. The charcoal is just there to make it smoother burning, and help eat up some of the extra oxygen. Alternatively, increasing the Perc to 11 or 12 parts would probably work.

[GraafVaag]

And for good measure, a rack of 2in mines from the same shoot as well:

2in Mines

I might be HiJacking this topic, but I saw a beautiful blue there too. It's the first mine, and I absolutely like it. (I'm a real blue-fan) Could you please share the comp with us?

 

I just fired a 1" canister testshell containing Shimizu Blue #2, and it wás blue, but not the blue I want. The colour is not saturated enough.

 

 

To get back on topic, Emerald Green and Ruby Red are the best colours I've seen so far! (From the ones that do not contain AP.) I fired a 3" round last week, containing both. I must say I was very, very pleased with those colours! They were 'primed' again with my golden tail prime by the way. (75meal, 10MgAl, 7.5Alu250# and 7.5RedGum)

 

Happy Firing

GraafVaag

[KAP]

I made both ruby and emerald today in cut stars, I used acetone because there was such a high % of parlon. I added just enough to make a firm dough then cut them.

I love the color! This is why I love the sharing of information here, I have been expierimenting with hundreds of formulas for these colors and I am sold on this one. Thanks a bunch , the search is over!

 

Kirk

[crazyboy25]

Not to speak for qwezxc12 but I believe the blue used was:

 

AL's hexamine fueled blue

 

 

Ammonium Perchlorate.........62

Hexamine...........................10

Copper Oxide......................13

Saran..................................11

Dextrin.................................4

 

bind: 75/25 water alc

pump

 

 

Glad I could help KAP.

[qwezxc12]

Yup, that was the formula for the blue. I don't use any other right now...I'm currently tweaking a violet based on that.

[pudidotdk]

Is it possible to sub the saran with either parlon or pvc in the blue formula?

[Mumbles]

Probably. It may require some slightly tweaking to get it back to the same burn rate. A bit of charcoal can help to smooth out a burn if it turns out to be a bit rough. I've personally always gotten the best blues out of parlon. I prefer saran from a usage standpoint, but I cannot argue with parlon's effectiveness in blues and purples.

 

Another blue I have heard good things about is B-70 by shimizu.

[DeAdFX]

I have tried a formular similar to the one posted but with pvc powder instead of saran. When i burned the composition loose on the ground I would get a yellow/greenish blue. I think if I decreased the hexamine content, and bound the mix using MEK the comp might look a lot better.

 

Off topic but if you lower down the perchlorate content more and depend more on CuO as the oxidizer the composition will strobe slightly.

[nath0r]

Well now that i've launched severall successful D1 shells i want to move on to a different star comp, so i figured why not try ruby red and emerald green. My only problem is i am only able to get hold of 258 Mesh MgAl, i'm just wondering if this will be suitable for this composition? or if i need to get hold of finer MgAl somehow. Any help would be much apreciated

[GalFisk]

Others in this thread have had success with coarser MgAl, so it shouldn't be a problem.