cmjlab Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 I posted these on fireworking.com already, but figured I'd share them here too. I was surprised that there hasn't been a bunch posted from people's 4th of July building endeavors! Some context real quick - I'm a newbie and have built a few shells here and there, mainly attempting to emulate ones I've seen and liked. However, I wanted to see what it was like to build all my own shells for the 4th this year (approximately 100), all "Italian/American styled" cylinder shells via traditional methods (per Fulcanelli Articles), and how much time/materials it would take.All shells were 3", all followed traditional build style (except misc. few test ball shells) Video of Process: Videos of Some of the Shells: What I learned: 1. Make more B.P., approx. 25 lbs was not enough and I ended up using pulverone and MCRH for lift on last few shells.2. Need more than 3 weeks to make that many cylinder shells, or another worker! My fingers hurt from spiking shell after shell (respect for those that make a living at this!)3. I did not need to use 7% of shell weight for lift, would have been fine at 1 oz / pound. (Also would have more B.P. left over)4. Make more of everything ahead of time. Ran out of match pipes and had to have wife help roll pipes.5. I need to tighten up spiking a bit, as some shells burst bowtie, and a couple side split. -Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Could have saved quite a bit of weight on the bottoms... gads, what is that- 3/8” walled tube? Thunder 3 would pop just fine in a toilet paper roll tube 3 weeks is tight. Especially if you have a real job I build ‘em all year long. Already got a couple started for next 4th Nice work tho... and ya learnt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmjlab Posted July 10, 2022 Author Share Posted July 10, 2022 Which tube? The bottom shots cores? They are just commercial bottom shots cores. I have not attempted to use Fulcanelli hand-rolled bottom shots yet. I will work towards that this year. I will say, I think I'm going to switch to all KCl03 based stars, instead of perchlorate. I used some chlorate blue and purple formulas and liked that they seem to contribute to the burst, and light far easier with minimal prime. Over in FW.com, Mr. Swisher has a bunch of his favorite formulas listed, all KCl03 based. Of course there is increased sensitivity, and aversion to AP, but I don't really use AP anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 Of course there is increased sensitivity, and aversion to AP, but I don't really use AP anyway.Yeah, and the sulfur thingie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50AE Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 (edited) So soothing to watch! Good stuff and colors! You could experiment with more spiking/pasting for bigger bursts if needed. For a small 3" cylinder I wasn't satisfied from BP bursts, so I started using H3 for my small stuff. Or a center napkin wrapped H3 booster on BP. I used sulfurless BP rice hulls coating just for good measure. Or KP. Flash too, if you don't mind blinding bursts. Edited July 19, 2022 by 50AE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmjlab Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 Appreciate the feedback, I'll have to experiment with some boosters this time around. I'll also admit my original plan was to Rinfiasciature all of the shells, as I read that some felt it gave greater containment and therefore better burst. So these shelly only received 16 verticals and squared horizontals to leave room for the next 12 verticals.... But, I ran out of time and began pasting them in instead. (One of my notes to self - start sooner). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts