6" ball shell submission

[al93535]

6" saturn shell.

 

Red planet, als silver streamer ring. I also put in an outter petal which had dark comp to green, and would have ignited when the planet burned out. However these were underprimed You can see two ignite at the end of the vid.

 

Oh well.

 

Construction pics.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image1.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image2.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image3.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image4.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image5.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/1Image6.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/saturn12.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/saturn71.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/al93535/saturn76.jpg

 

Video:

 

http://www.apcforum.net/files/saturn1.wmv

[rocket]

Wow that is one great looking shell, I love the long tail from the rising comets.

Great job Al

[_DB_]

Great job as always!

 

Do you film your own shells, or do you have someone else do it for you? I , whenever I do actually make and shoot fireworks, never film them, for seeing them go off through a viewfinder isn't as enjoyable as watching with your own eyes. To me anyways.

[Pretty green flame]

Indeed a trully amazing shell.

[leosedf]

Amazing shell as always!

How do you make such a perfect hemisphere?

I am trying to make some of my own but i always end up with a crap hemi.

Could you share some info?

[Ozzy]

He uses a plastic 6inch hemi for the mold.

[Mardec]

Very nice one al.

 

But a question? Why are the rising comets on top of the shells? and how do they ignite?

[Rocket007]

when the BP ignite and put the shell high to the air the fire that you can see ignite the comets. they are there to know where is the shell in the air, becauce then you can make a beter movie and you know where it is:D

 

Lp, rok

[Mardec]

haha I know why they are on shells, I want to know why they are on top of the shell and not under the shell.

 

I don't see any fuse that would light them.

[Tse-Tse]

They can not be under the shell, becouse they would be destroyed or separadet from shell by high pressure and another not very friendly conditions which occures during the lift in the mortal.

They are igneted by hot gases which are proguced by lift BP believe me thats really enough to light them:)

Is it clear?

[rocket]

Yeah when the shell is being lifted by the gases they also pass the shell on its way up the mortar in turn lighting the rising comets.

[TheSidewinder]

If you've ever seen a high frame-rate video of a shell being lifted, you would IMMEDIATELY see how the comet gets lit.

 

LONG before the shell clears the mortar there is a tongue of flame erupting from the tube, that will light anything burnable, like a comet. It doesn't matter that it's on top of the shell, it lights just fine.

 

And that also explains why, if you don't correctly paste the shell at the timefuse entry point, you will get a flowerpot: the hot gases enter the shell (through even a pinhole) and cause a premature break (or an in-tube explosion).

 

M

 

P.S. That's a damn NICE shell, Al!

[Mardec]

Hm oke I see, and what if the shell turns a bit in the mortar. And touches the morter, would it be ripped of by the friction?

 

Al, how much lift did it need and how much did it weight?

 

I have been too 2 free fireworkshows this weekend, one with maximum 3" shells (still hade nice stuff) and one that when't to 12" (I think).

 

And I must admit, I haven't seen a shell as special as this one in neighter of these shows. Good job

[TheSidewinder]

Hm oke I see, and what if the shell turns a bit in the mortar. And touches the morter, would it be ripped of by the friction?

If it's a cannister, it can't "tip" enough to make any difference.

 

I've seen comets shaped like a doughnut and glued to to the top of the shell such that the quickmatch leader, where it joins the timefuse and break charge passfire, passes through the "doughnut hole" and ignites it before the lift gases can get there. But the time difference involved in the two methods is irrelevant, it happens so fast.

 

I'll let Al answer the rest of your questions.

 

M

[al93535]

Ozzy: I do use a commercial plastic hemi. I paste over it as described in blessers book. This makes a few nice hemi.

 

Mardec: I used to wonder the same thing myself. How can they light on top of the shell. But as others have explained, the shell, and in fact evrything inside and above the mortar are engulfed in a huge flame.

 

The mortar walls are pretty smooth. Even if the shell did tilt, 1: it would be touching the wall for only a split second. 2: Just a small area of the edge of the comet would come into contact with the wall, while the whole bottom is secured to the shell. 3: if anything did break, it would be tiny pieces off the edge and would have no effect on the performance of the tail.

 

I used to attach small rising tails under the shells, in the lift. They worked fine as well.

 

The shell weighed 1372 grams, and I used 85 grams of -6+12 mesh corned BP to lift it.

 

Thanks guys for all the nice comments.

[BigBang]

Yes, well, talk is good, but a video is even better. I believe EP posted the link to the site containing this amazing video, so credit must be given to those who shot this film.

[Pyroman2]

They are igneted by hot gases which are proguced by lift BP believe me thats really enough to light them:)

 

I also can't believed in this.. but I saw commercial 4" chrystanthemum and comet was on top of shell.

And so I also put comet in this place..

My aerial shells with comets

http://www.apcforum.net/files/P2_shells_w_comet.jpg

Canisters also work great..

 

P2

[Tse-Tse]

Hello,

to make clear about this, I opened my favourite book, Fireworks, The Art, Science and Technique, by Dr Shimizu, he writes this:

Important manufacturing point for Kyoku-do (it's Japanese name for additional effects which are connected to main shell) are as follows: the pieces must be strong enough to avoid breakage during firing, they must be ignited by the flame of the lifting charge and they must not be separated from shell by shock from the lifting charge.

 

P2: nice shells, which compositions do you use for your tails, the white one is especially interesting...

[Frozentech]

P2: nice shells, which compositions do you use for your tails, the white one is especially interesting...

I'm sure Pyroman2 will respond also, but that looks like he followed the common practice of covering the top of the comet with a thin tissue paper.

 

My favorite rising tail effects are any glitter, or a tigertail comp.

[Pyroman2]

This silver (white) comet is Silver Wave by Shimizu, (35:65+binder). My favourite mix is "White Glitter no antimony" (from PFP database). Of course, I use also chrysanthemum comp. and other glitter, for example:

BP/Na2C2O4/Al sph,/S/dex. - Yellow Glitter by R. Lancaster

 

I like Gold tail comp.:

kno3 50g Caf 10g S15g Fe powder 25g (bind rosin and alcohol).

I think, that isn't good topic for talking about comets..

 

[...]but that looks like he followed the common practice of covering the top of the comet with a thin tissue paper.

Yes, You have right:)

[Pyroman2]

Al bright (fine flake) size 0,022mm

Regards

P2

[fight fire with fire]

Just wondering what is a saturn shell, is it a shell with a ring on the outside of a spherical burst of stars. If so how would the stars be arranged?

[Mumbles]

You know, there is this wonderful thing called google. I suggest you learn to love it.

 

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=...G=Google+Search

[mormanman]

That was sexy oh man I loved that.

[pudidotdk]

Al, what composition did you use for those rising comets. It's a nice silver streamer.