Bangkokpyro Posted June 24, 2012 Posted June 24, 2012 Hey guys I just finished updating my Pyro Holidays in Thailand pages on my site. We moved to a all new purpose built workshop out on the sticks last April. The locality is famous for it's giant rocket and Girandola builders and the locals are out most weekends throughout the year launching stuff. New holiday date in 2013 are all set for April, May, June and July though June is now fully booked with a returning group from this year on an advanced shell building course. Dates are pretty flexible and we can schedule a holiday for you on your choice of date and duration for groups of 3 or more. More information, available dates, pictures and testamonials can be found on my website.http://www.bangkokpyro.com/.
dagabu Posted June 24, 2012 Posted June 24, 2012 Paul, The only thing I see missing is a link to APC and stuff in the "Supplies" category. Good looking site! -dag
Bangkokpyro Posted June 24, 2012 Author Posted June 24, 2012 Paul, The only thing I see missing is a link to APC and stuff in the "Supplies" category. Good looking site! -dag Thanks dag, I just added a APC link to the site . (it should work..let me know if it will not open) I no longer list anything in the supplies section, I just don't have the time to repackage small amounts of chems. I have just about everything chemical wise related to pyro but only sell in min 10Kg amounts now (can mix chems in 1 Kg quantities).
dagabu Posted June 24, 2012 Posted June 24, 2012 I have to hand it to you, I don't think there is a single more inviting place I have seen to make pyro then your Pyro Holidays workshops. It looks like you got all your flooring issues tackled and they look great! Lots of space and all the tools within easy reach. What fortune to be able to make a living from teaching others how to do pyro. You are blessed indeed! -dag
Bangkokpyro Posted June 25, 2012 Author Posted June 25, 2012 I have to hand it to you, I don't think there is a single more inviting place I have seen to make pyro then your Pyro Holidays workshops. It looks like you got all your flooring issues tackled and they look great! Lots of space and all the tools within easy reach. What fortune to be able to make a living from teaching others how to do pyro. You are blessed indeed! -dag Blessed yes I know but actually all is not what it seems. I have had a contract carpet cleaning company here In Bangkok for the past 20 years that provides my living.My wife more or less does the day to day running of it which gives me the time to do pyro and run the holidays. If I could do it full time AND make a living I would sell the cleaning business tomorrow. How did you know I had flooring issues? The floor is epoxy and was a bastard of a job to do even wearing a respirator but it was well worth it...hard as nails and easy to clean.
dagabu Posted June 25, 2012 Posted June 25, 2012 Blessed yes I know but actually all is not what it seems. As you say, all is not what it seems. You spoke at length about the floor and the challenges you faced in covering it. Skin coat, overlay, linoleum, epoxy etc... -dag
taiwanluthiers Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 So what is it like doing pyro in thailand, is it difficult to do legally or is it all illegal unless you have a hard to get license?
Bangkokpyro Posted June 28, 2012 Author Posted June 28, 2012 (edited) In Thailand manufacture of anything firework related as with any country in the world needs a business registration and proper licence/paperwork.There are no hobby firework makers here at all, only Thais living in rural areas who build 6 to 1000KG gunpowder rockets and Girandolas the size of dustbin lids to fairground merry go rounds but they do it for the sake of tradition and as a means to gamble. I have never met anyone here in 20 years who makes fireworks of any description for the love of 'having smelt the smoke' Anyone can shoot stuff here on a public holiday and during most festivals. It's not a problem unless you injure someone or burn someones house down then it's a question of how much money you need to pay to get things sorted out. Although it is technically illegal to sell to the public Chinese ball shells up to 10 inch, 500 shot cakes, salutes, massive fountains and other fireworks are available if you know where to buy them and New years Eve on most Thai beaches is like a war zone with hundreds of people letting stuff off. After reading about the laws, restrictions and problems of firing and building fireworks in other parts of the world as a pyro I would not want to live anywhere but here. Edited June 28, 2012 by Bangkokpyro
taiwanluthiers Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 1000kg rockets? that's madness. If I wanted to build something with that much impulse I would have gone with APCP rather than deal with gunpowders (which with increasing size also increases the risk of a CATO). I guess it's same as Taiwan, the laws appear somewhat harsh on the books but the government seems to look the other way with regards to fireworks. The easy availability of fireworks in Taiwan (and the fact that they can go off any time), as well as fear (as I have been on the bad end of paranoia in the US) made me take a long vacation from pyrotechnics. Plus when I first got to Taiwan, and bought some consumer fireworks I was really surprised at the noise they made and its size... they sell stuff here as consumer fireworks which would be considered Class B if sold in the US, like firecrackers are way louder, used way more often, etc. Then there's that big firework festival near Tainan which makes CNN every now and then because most consider them crazy (a 4" shell being launched barely 3 feet from anyone?). I was at a gathering during the New Year for 2011 and a shell was launched close enough from me to cause my ears to ring. I think it was a 3" or 4"... had no marking on the tube just a plain kraft paper tube. I think I want to go back there again this year and "test" my knowledge of pyrotechnics. I have not seen anyone who did fireworks for the love of the smoke either in Taiwan... I guess it does kind of kill that desire when it's so available, whereas in most "first world" countries so many local governments have a blanket ban on them (including arrest and jail if you have too big of a collection) that it kinda becomes like drinking alcohol in Saudi Arabia. Seems the more you ban it, the more people want it.
Potassiumchlorate Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Those Thai rockets are awsome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_AK8dsaFR8 Yes, forbidden fruit always tastes the best. Almost any ban on anything is contraproductive. "The more laws, the more inferior a state." Cicero
taiwanluthiers Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 The only time the US government learned that was the prohibition... they realized it was better to regulate and tax alcohol than ban it outright because it ended up feeding a whole generation of mob bosses from speakeasies. You know a bottle rocket THAT big should be fin stabilized rather than stick stabilized... it would have cut down a huge amount of weight. And like I said, I would have used APCP for something that big... 1000lbs of APCP will probably be a P or above... That thing looks more like a missile than a bottle rocket. I wonder how they make it?
Potassiumchlorate Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 (edited) Look at 0:33-0:36. It seems like they load them the same way you load a muzzle loading cannon. They are using something similar to a ramrod. Edited June 28, 2012 by Potassiumchlorate
taiwanluthiers Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 (edited) So I guess they're able to get it so that it never CATOs? I mean the distance of the spectator mean that if it CATOs the damage could be serious. Not to mention (I am assuming it has no parachute recovery) what if it lands right on a house? Good thing NAR/TRA isn't around to see that... imagine someone getting a Level 3 with something like that. Edited June 28, 2012 by taiwanluthiers
dagabu Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Not to mention (I am assuming it has no parachute recovery) what if it lands right on a house? You mean "through" a house? I never asked myself that question, I am sure that there are lots of stories that we will never hear about damage and death caused by those huge muthers. -dag
Potassiumchlorate Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 I might be kind of childish, but I find it amusing. They have a total disregard for safety. It must have been hundred years ago anything similar - if ever - was possible in Europe or North America.
dagabu Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 I might be kind of childish, but I find it amusing. They have a total disregard for safety. It must have been hundred years ago anything similar - if ever - was possible in Europe or North America. I have no idea about anything pyrotechnical prior to 2006 in the US but I bet the October Sky guys sure launched some large unguided rockets. -dag
taiwanluthiers Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 I know one thing: Before 9/11 things were tough but not impossible. You have chemicals, the government doesn't like it but tolerates it and thinks nothing of it except some might think of you a little weird, and if you're still in school the school might have issues (I was school aged before 9/11). Then after 9/11, people became about 10 times more paranoid. Now if you have chemicals you better make sure you are of the "right" ethnicity, nationality, or religion because if not, you're a terrorist and people as well as law enforcement officers are afraid of you. ATF (without the E at the time) became about 10 times more zealous in harassing just about anyone under their jurisdiction (which means pyros, gun owners, and rocketeers) and I have heard a few years after my forced exile from the US that there were no longer any "easy access" rocket motors because the ATFE doesn't like people chopping up motor grains in order to get around their rules. Was surprised to hear that APCP was no longer on the list. And I can even see that there's an upward trend of government power after 9/11, they seem to be more and more powerful and are harassing just about anyone, not just people who own guns, fireworks, or chemicals. Now even luthiers are under the radar because of Gibson, and now I can't buy shell inlays from my usual supplier because of the gestapo. Its like every American got more and more paranoid because not only they're afraid that their neighbor might be terrorists, they are also afraid that they might break a law by accident and be jailed for a long time, or fined into bankruptcy.
Recommended Posts