royPYROTECHNICIAN2020 Posted November 20 Share Posted November 20 Falling leaf star shell making Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbqjoe Posted November 21 Share Posted November 21 I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmjlab Posted November 21 Share Posted November 21 Maybe he forgot the question mark (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbqjoe Posted November 22 Share Posted November 22 Maybe he forgot the question mark (?)Your guess is as good as mine, but I can say this: quite a few months ago I bought some falling leaf fuse online from the place I don’t go to anymore, and I was phenomenally underwhelmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Posted November 22 Share Posted November 22 Classic "Falling Leaf" was made by paste comp in thin layers between paper sheets. This meant that only the edge of the comp took fire from the "burst" and the sheets were inclined to float down gently, and travel in the breeze, a bit like leaves in a breeze. Likely there was prime and glue involved also. At a guess the gentle effect didn't get the ooh and ahh's that are wanted from big bang fireworks, so the design went out of favour. As second guess it's far too easy to have an effect that falls to the ground and sets fire to plants etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicroGram Posted November 22 Share Posted November 22 (edited) Best Of AFN II also mentions using very thin sheets/slivers of balsa wood with comp painted on instead of paper. Haven't tried either but sounds interesting. Best Of AFN II, Pg 83: ANOTHER APPROACHTO FALLING LEAF STARSThis project is for those of us who also fly balsawood R/C planes. If you are like me, you probablyhave piles of scrap ultra light-weight balsa woodlying around your workbench. I use the thinplanks (1/32" or thinner) to make a type of fallingleaf star shell. Falling leaf stars, as theirname implies, look something like hundreds oftwinkling leaves gently floating down from thesky. Here's how I do it.First, I cut the balsa wood into several dozen 1/2 x3/4" pieces. Then I coat one side of each piece withone of my favorite star formulas that has beenwetted a bit more than usual (so that the compositionmay be spread on the wood with a butterknife). Next, I prime only one half the the "leafstar (wliile it is still damp) by dipping its longside into a small bowl of meal powder. I primeonly half of the star since the composition isspread thin and I don't want it to burn toorapidly as it slowly descends. In this case, the appearanceof the twinkling effect is attributed tothe star appearing to burn on and off continuously.As it floats down, it rapidly spinsalong its axis, thus giving its extraordinary illusion.By the way, thin sheets of balsa wood may be obtainedin any hobby or craft store. Yes, balsawood is somewhat expensive and the process is abit labor intensive. However, when used in only afew shells, the effect is worth the bother. Inproduction, of course, the star composition isspread out on whole sheets of a suitable type ofpaper, stacked sheet on top of sheet, then cut intosmall leaves. SC83 Apologies for the formatting. Edited November 22 by MicroGram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicroGram Posted Monday at 02:40 AM Share Posted Monday at 02:40 AM Also from Best Of AFN II, pg 103: Just a comment on the Falling Leaf Stars article. In some Onda shells I have looked at, the falling leaves were made by cutting stars in small rectangular slabs (1/2 x 1/2 x l 1/2"), which were then wrapped with a turn of Gampi, about 3" long. One end was left exposed and primed, and the other had a twist of paper, left bent at an angle. These stars then spun as they fell through the air, much as maple seeds do. Those I examined were not strobe compositions. Another method being used by the Chinese is to coat the strobe composition on thin chipboard and cut it into 1/4" x 1" strips. Many of these are then held together and dipped into a blob of strobe composition on one end. The effect is of several large colored stars, which break up into many smaller, floating, flashing lights. The big Tiger Head Rockets use them. JHB Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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