nater Posted August 26, 2012 Posted August 26, 2012 Who says watching TV is just waste of time? What do you think these are for?
nater Posted August 26, 2012 Author Posted August 26, 2012 (edited) Pillbox stars are the right answer. I'm aiming for a deep red with a long burn time for a 3" shell. Edited August 26, 2012 by nater
NightHawkInLight Posted August 26, 2012 Posted August 26, 2012 Take a video if you can, and document your process making them. There's not much out there on pillbox stars that I've seen, and very few videos of them.
nater Posted August 26, 2012 Author Posted August 26, 2012 (edited) Will do. The only information I have is from Pyrotechica XI, or referenced to it from an article on Passfire and some questions I have asked on the forum there. I made a black powder bottom shot, which I will roll the shell on. I like deep tone of BP better than the crack of flash, so I am hoping I got enough confinement for the report. For the pillbox stars, I started by rolling tubes from 1/2" gummed tape around a 1/2" former. This departs from the texts, which recommend the pillboxes be a little longer than the diameter and suggest to roll long tubes from 2 turns of light kraft and cut them to size once dry. That would have gone much quicker, but I had a roll of gummed tape handy and didn't feel like making more paste. The comp I am planning to use is a varient of Independence Red that was suggested to me by a club member. It is his modification, so I won't publish it. The stars are big for a 3" shell and I think they will burn long. I was planning to use a hybrid rocket motor in order to lift the shell extra high. I wanted to take advantage of the height of a rocket with bright, long duration stars. This is all a learning process for me, so please don't take these steps as good advice. I will take pictures as I go, and if anyone has a good suggestion please don't hold back. Video of the flight will happen later next month. This is also my first attempt at a multibreak cylinder shell. I am simply following the texts and advice from real experts and trying to figure it out as I go. But, you have to start somewhere, right? Edited August 26, 2012 by nater
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