[golden orion]

Hi, I've just joined but have been watching the forum for quite some time now. As someone who grew up with Standard goods of the seventies and early eighties, nostalgia has beckoned in the last few years. There are some great sites on the net showing the shopgoods of yesteryear but I wonder if anyone can remember, or even have any pics of, the Standard 4 inch shells that were sold to the general public from larger outlets at least until the mid-eighties. I remember seeing them on sale in a large sports shop near Piccadilly Station in Manchester in November 1985. These were round and made of a pressed card material. Performance would be weak by today's expectations. I also remember string-bound 3 inch maroons on sale - these were top fused and dipped in red glue - blackpowder not flash. Hope to follow up with more nostalgic discussions. Chris

[The Legendary Graham]

Yes the old Standard shells had a terrible break infact they just popped open with a wimper, the string bound maroons however were quite decent they were my favorite firework when i used to goto my local bonfire 1 at the start 1 at the end.

[tess]

wow. you are great to fire the fireworks. I mean most of people are afraid of it. And it is fire by the professional. Great of you.

[pyrotrev]

As it happens I've just been given one of these, a builder friend found one in the back of a barn he's doing up, though unfortunately some ignorant f*******g mouse has nibbled part of the upper hemi away. Construction is interesting, the hemis are paper mouldings (think apple trays, packing for your printer) and even where Mr.mouse hasn't chewed can be indented by firm thumb pressure - no wonder the break wasn't big! There's a card ring around the middle which I guess is to give better sealing, looks like it's top fused.

This post has been edited by pyrotrev: 31 August 2010 - 01:00 PM

[dumper truck]

pyrotrev, on 31 August 2010 - 12:35 PM, said:

As it happens I've just been given one of these, a builder friend found one in the back of a barn he's doing up, though unfortunately some ignorant f*******g mouse has nibbled part of the upper hemi away. Construction is interesting, the hemis are paper mouldings (think apple trays, packing for your printer) and even where Mr.mouse hasn't chewed can be indented by firm thumb pressure - no wonder the break wasn't big! There's a card ring around the middle which I guess is to give better sealing, looks like it's top fused.

Are you going to fire that one trev was that the only firework at the back of this barn? seems strange just one 4 inch shell and nothing else.

Jay

[pyrogeoff]

I remember firing Standard shells until the ban,there maroons and some other effect shells were quite good,but the other shells were not as good as shells sourced elsewhere.

[golden orion]

Many thanks for posting this pic'. Great to see one of these again. Interesting to see what looks like a relatively large bore delay fuse and the use of a fabric material to secure the leader. Now does anyone have a photo of the old string-bound Standard maroons....?

[Karl]

That's a beauty mate, keep hold of it!