53 replies to this topic

[bernie]

Just wanting to get acquainted.
On the subject of mines...I make a small
version mostly for neighborhood displays on the 4th of July(no offense). 1 3/4" dia.
Not real big I know but an effect not often or ever seen during the celebration on a neighborhood street. Actually not as loud as the same size artillery shells sold to consumers. Variety is the spice....
The bag method is about as effective as any other. Real simple to.

[Edited on 20-4-2003 by bernie briden]

[robert johnson]

Mr Brocade looks like I shall fire the mine tonight at about 9pm. will let you know how it goes.should be great,it has 14 crosettes in the mine.
the cases I use are reusable and are made from epoxy resin and woven 450 gm cloth I made 30 of these cases 2 years ago and are a bit like glass fiber mortar tubes ,what this means is that I can concentrate on the contents rather than the construction of the case. I use H3 lift and the bag method, as like yourself their is a difference to the bag, piston method etc but do not find the difference that great.[ I am not saying their is not a difference to the height versus width,I justprefer the bag method]
I too use the mines for getting rid of some of my older stars also I do make stars for the mines such as colour changing or glitter,flitter

Cheers dears Rob the ----

[brocade]

Rob

That should be a pretty awsome mine, just one querry why have you put the crossetts in a mine and not a shell ?

[Edited on 21-4-2003 by brocade]

[Edited on 21-4-2003 by brocade]

[Richard H]

I should imagine crossettes look darn funky in a mine! Especially a flanked row of them.

[bernie]

Hope it was a smashing success. The cros. I have made I hold to dear to my heart to shoot in anything but a shell or as singles. Singles being my preference.
One of my favorite stars to use in the little mines I make is what is generally called Fire Fly. A flitter composition I guess. The alum that creates the fire fly effect is a larger flake variety not like the
small mesh(-300 mesh) sizes used in glitter comps. In my opinion the f.fly I make is more suitable for close viewing. It's somewhat "lonely" looking. Some may even call it weak looking. You could jazz it up a bit I suppose w/ some titanium
but I like the effect the way it is. Sometimes I do put a few percentages of 80 mesh charcoal in it.
On a summer night it does indeed remind
me of fireflies. Some green or blue stars go very well with it.
I will post the star formula if you are not already are familiar with it.
Talk with you gentlemen in a couple of days.

[Edited on 23-4-2003 by bernie briden]

[robert johnson]

looks like I will have the time tonight at about 9, the wx looks good and am ready to do it. will let you know.

[adamw]

There are some nice shells (that a certain UK importer is stocking) that have a 3 stage effect:- Mine followed by a bank of crossettes at a higher level then a shellburst, so you get a 3-tiered effect from 1 device.

[brocade]

It is very easy and quick to create your own basic mine shell effect take 3" shell place 100grams of stars in a bag, load 3" shell into mortar tube place bag of stars directly on top of shell, light fuse and the lift from the shell will light the stars in the bag and send them to a good height and the shell bursting directly above. This is a very effective way of creating a mine and shell and also saves on mortar tubes

[bernie]

Mortors used for professional display purposes over in the UK are made mostly of steel, paper,HDPE???
Most of the displays I have worked on utilized mainly the HDPE variety.

[Richard H]

In the UK paper, and especially HDPE mortars are commonly used. Steel is not widely used.

[robert johnson]

I use a lot of glass fiber tubes ranging in all sizes and they are excellant as are the waxed paper tubes up to 12". I have quite a lot of hdpe and they are good but it's not much fun lumping a rack of these a 100 yards or so in the rain. they are heavy especially the 8" ones.

[bernie]

I always leave the shoot site right after the show. I helped take the mortor racks out. I sure as h... ain't going to LIFT the darn things back UP into a truck.
The crews that I have worked with are a good bunch and it surprises me just how fast we can take down and load a show back into a truck.

[robert johnson]

Worked extremly well, the timing was as I expected very close together and had the lift [H3] correct first attempt. I have it on video as is every thing else that is fired or tested.
The effect was as you would expect the comets left the tube with long streaming tails and then split in to their 4 pieces simultaniously [on playback 6 frames they well all crosetting].
Also like brocade has done Some stars placedin a small plastic bag and placed into the tube once the shell has been loaded works very well ;I use 130 gms for a 3" shell and 160 gms for a 4". this weight on top of the shell has no noticable effect on the height of the shell other than it is just a little higher than with out the stars.

[they say im crazy]

I NEED POTASSIUM PERCHLORATE AND ALUMINIUM POWDER
PLEASE PUT ME OUT MY MISERY AND TELL ME WHERE YOU GET IT
thanks
p.s any admins whatching i used the search yay

[Richard H]

O.K. good, you found the search button. Now....STOP SHOUTING!