dagabu Posted January 23, 2010 Posted January 23, 2010 OK, I think I have the falling leaves figured out, they are primed and ready to load in the shell. I am only using a 3" ball shell and am wondering how I should break it and how many pieces of falling leaves I should use. The strips are 1/2" x 1-1/4". Thanks for your help Dave
Mumbles Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 In looking at the autopsy on Passfire, it seems they just filled both sides more or less with the leaves, and filled in the spaces with some coated hulls. They seemed to have used KP supposedly, but BP should be fine too (if they're not AP based). They're not usually broken all that hard in the videos I've seen.
Ventsi Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 You are talking about the actual paper around star slurry F.L. right? How are they exactly made? When I was starting out I grabbed a roll of green FL fuse from CannonFuse and just cut it up , primed and used it in horsetail shells. Really cool how dense the color cloud is. But yeah, I have to agree, barely pop the shell so that the cloud of color can just droop down.
Twotails Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 When i started, i used these in my shells(blue falling leaves fuse). I always(back then) broke them with BP. they are a dense cloud, thats for sure. a few shells I wraped the fuse with masking tape, and primed then ends. They were propelled around a little bit more than just falling, I dident make many shells with the wrapped FL's, too much work for a small effect IMO. I did recently use them as microstars in a fountin, and it may work as micro stars for comets/stars also.
dagabu Posted January 24, 2010 Author Posted January 24, 2010 When i started, i used these in my shells(blue falling leaves fuse). I always(back then) broke them with BP. they are a dense cloud, thats for sure. a few shells I wraped the fuse with masking tape, and primed then ends. They were propelled around a little bit more than just falling, I dident make many shells with the wrapped FL's, too much work for a small effect IMO. I did recently use them as microstars in a fountin, and it may work as micro stars for comets/stars also. Oh no, these are the real deal, coated kraft, primed, fluttering effect, the whole 9 yards.
ExplosiveCoek Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 Any pictures, or some more information about how you made them? What kind of composition did you use, how did you apply it etc.?
Karlos Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 (edited) I tryed shimizu´s described technology with 4 pasted papers. I used handkerchief paper, brush, and green magnalium composition slurry. I threw them only from balcony till now. Nice. thickness of leaves is cca 1 mm and is sufficient. I will put them into 3 inch poka shell. Shimizu describe too making a boundle of leaves which is binding with BP pasted paper(maybe too black match)http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1355/fallingleavesf.jpg Edited January 25, 2010 by Karlos
Swede Posted January 26, 2010 Posted January 26, 2010 Falling leaves are great for miniature fireworks, especially the colored shells, - green, blue, red. Cutting a 1/8" fuse into little segments creates "stars" that require no further work. They are great for bottle rocket headers and festival balls, and when used as described by Dagabu, can be a cool effect on a larger scale as well.
dagabu Posted January 26, 2010 Author Posted January 26, 2010 Any pictures, or some more information about how you made them? What kind of composition did you use, how did you apply it etc.? Sorry, I have been really busy with the cap plug buy, I will get to it after I place the order later this week. dave
dagabu Posted February 1, 2010 Author Posted February 1, 2010 So, ready for the explanation ? Sorry, not yet, I just got back from vacation and have to heal from the beating I got on the snowmobiles. D
dagabu Posted February 3, 2010 Author Posted February 3, 2010 (edited) OK, lets rock! I decided that I wanted to go with red falling leaves and found this Lancaster KP #1 Red Lance Comp to try. Potassium Perchlorate 70Strontium Carbonate 18Red Gum 12Dextrin 4CMC 2 Run all the chems through a 60 or finer mesh screen to fully integrate the mix, slowly add water and stir until it is a pancake batter thickness and set it aside for 15-30 minutes. I use 70# kraft for the carrier but you can use whatever you have on hand, the thicker paper burns slower and makes the leaves flutter longer but for learning sake, any will do.Cut 2-12"x12" for every 100 grams of comp and lay them out flat. Pour half of the comp on one half and half of the comp on the other half. Using a smaller paint brush (1") spread the comp evenly over the entire surface. Now, pick up one sheet, I pick up one corner, let it flip and grab the opposite corner and lay it down evenly on top of the other sheet. Use a flat surface such as a cookie sheet or a piece of plywood and press very gently on top of the sandwich to evenly distribute the comp all throughout. Remove the board or whatever and lets cut these into strips before they dry. I use a rotary wheel cutter from Wally World I got for $5.00. I cut the sheet in half and in half again the same direction leaving me with 3" x 12" strips. Cut the strips into 1" x 3" strips and the cut those in half again. The reason I cut these this way is so that the comp stays even between the paper, if you start at one and and work your way to the other side, you will squish the comp out to one side. If you use a ruler, you will press the comp out as well. This method of halving works well to make all the strips the same size. Once the strips are cut, mix a slurry of scratch mix, water, dextrin and CMC to pancake consistency and apply to the long edges of your strips. You dont need to be to careful, as long as they can take fire, you are good to go. While the strips are still moist, place then in your ball or canister shells. You don't have to finish the shells, leave them open so the leaves can dry. When laying the leaves in your shells, you can stack them or lay them out in layers. One word of caution, if you decide to layer them, make sure that fire will pass to all of the leaves, stacking them works much better to get all the leaves to light. I have used up my last batch and will post pictures when I make my next batch this weekend. D Edited February 3, 2010 by dagabu
Ventsi Posted February 3, 2010 Posted February 3, 2010 Very cool! But where the HELL do you get Strontium Perch???
dagabu Posted February 3, 2010 Author Posted February 3, 2010 Very cool! But where the HELL do you get Strontium Perch??? Strontium Perchlorate? No way, that would be silly, its Strontium Carbonate. (its been edited above, sorry)
ExplosiveCoek Posted February 3, 2010 Posted February 3, 2010 (edited) Thanks! I'm looking forward to those pictures edit: Got any of your falling leaves shell's on video? Edited February 3, 2010 by ExplosiveCoek
dagabu Posted February 3, 2010 Author Posted February 3, 2010 Thanks! I'm looking forward to those pictures edit: Got any of your falling leaves shell's on video? I sure do! I have two 3" ball shells that I launched on a couple 3# BP rockets last week. The clouds were very low and I saw some dim red glowing coming from the clouds. You can see the rocket take off but not much more. Its very cloudy today as well so it looks like a no fly night.
optimus Posted February 3, 2010 Posted February 3, 2010 The only commercial falling leaves I saw were a star-like pellet centered in the middle of a square piece of paper. Just curious how you decided to coat the long edges of the paper. Looking forward to some video : )
dagabu Posted February 3, 2010 Author Posted February 3, 2010 The only commercial falling leaves I saw were a star-like pellet centered in the middle of a square piece of paper. Just curious how you decided to coat the long edges of the paper. Looking forward to some video : ) I simply looked at the Lidu autopsy of one and copied it!
ExplosiveCoek Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 I sure do! I have two 3" ball shells that I launched on a couple 3# BP rockets last week. The clouds were very low and I saw some dim red glowing coming from the clouds. You can see the rocket take off but not much more. Its very cloudy today as well so it looks like a no fly night. Already tried to shoot your shell's or/and make some nice pictures of your new batch ? I'm quite interested in their effect in the air. I've never seen them before actually.
dagabu Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Already tried to shoot your shell's or/and make some nice pictures of your new batch ? I'm quite interested in their effect in the air. I've never seen them before actually. No, I have not put up any more shells at all this past week, I was pressing some rockets and such getting ready for the competition but the rocket didn't do what i expected so I have to do another for the competition. I will put another shell together this week (hopefully) to demonstrate it. BTW, Karlos on Pyrobin has the most beautiful bundles of falling leaves I have ever seen. I wish I had the patience to make them this nice! http://www.pyrobin.com/files/boundles%20of%20leaves.jpg
ExplosiveCoek Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 Yes I saw those pictures to. Guess I have to check out passfire more often to see what those guys are up to . Hope to see those vid's soon then. Good luck with your rockets .
dagabu Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Yes I saw those pictures to. Guess I have to check out passfire more often to see what those guys are up to . Hope to see those vid's soon then. Good luck with your rockets . I am a LOT better at making ground blooms with my rockets then I am at getting them to fly! I have made at least 2000 rockets and maybe 1900 have done quite well, most of them were BP. I am using new chems, new tooling, new tubes, new shop... Its a B***h when you have it all dialed in and discover that you cant use the stuff that others sell I was using odd ID tubes I got for free. OH, I will try to post some of the 25 odd rockets I sent up the last two weeks, some cool CATOs and a 6 rocket cluster that WAS supposed to win me the contest but the second stage didn't take fire D
swervedriver Posted March 5, 2010 Posted March 5, 2010 Hey guys, I have a question, what is the importance or reason for tieing the leaves together in bundles? Do they blow apart when the shell breaks? Why are they tied together?
dagabu Posted March 5, 2010 Author Posted March 5, 2010 Hey guys, I have a question, what is the importance or reason for tieing the leaves together in bundles? Do they blow apart when the shell breaks? Why are they tied together? Swerve, I have no idea why they are tied together but I speculate that this is so the leaves can be handled when still wet and loaded into the shell without opening up. I am so excited!!! I cant tell you the details but you will see my falling leaves at PGI this year. I guess that there are not a lot of people interested in making them for display shells and so I was asked to make up a bunch for some shells. WH00T! I am making canister shells this weekend for rockets but it is supposed to rain I will try to get home early today and put one together for you all to show you what they look like in the sky. BTW- break them with rice hulls or pulverone only, soft break in a well constricted shell, the fire gets them all lit and they make very little noise. A very nice stealth shell. D
Swede Posted March 5, 2010 Posted March 5, 2010 Very cool Dagabu - I absolutely have to try some of these. They remind me vaguely of my attempts to coat aluminum foil with the polyurethane glue pyrotechnic comp. I never made the connection between these and traditional falling leaves. This is an uncommon shell. I think there is a lot of room for varied effects, colors, and sizes.
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