aquataur

Ah, I think I am starting to see the light .

The bengal fire inside a mortar tube will produce a bright light, which together with the smoke it emits will project a column of light towards the sky like a strong flashlight in fog. After a while a big glittering coment will ascend into this column. Pretty dramatic.

The Westech manual speaks of "coloured fire" rather than bengal. They suggest using their proprietary colour compositions (preferrably blue), which they predominantly use for lancework if my memory serves me right. This will not make much of a difference for timing.

One must clearly appreciate though that the suggested construction of this device comes from times long bygone.
Such a device will look most spectacular if fired in volleys, for which the ascending of the comets would need to happen in synchronism or it will not look good. One would be better off using two separate mortars, one for the bengal and one for the comet. All the comets are fired electrically simultaneously.

Taking into account that you can bridge quite a few seconds with this effect and build up a lot of tension this extra effort may be justified.

Thanks for your inspiration.

-aquataur