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Fireballs, liquid


Swany

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cplmac,

 

Personally, I wouldn't call Dragon's Breath a "weak rolling fireball".

 

If you've seen video of our Guild's (WPAG) opening show at the PGI last year, those were multiple Dragon's Breath shots in the middle of the display (set to the song, "Fire") . You could feel the heat from the top row of the Grandstand. And for the duration of the burn, you could shoot pictures like it was daylight.

 

Nice video you provided, btw.

 

M

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Dragon's breath is just the name he gave them. I don't know if it specifically is attributed to anything particular.

 

I believe he uses right around 100g in a plastic baggy, ematched, for about a gallon of fuel. He shoots it out of a 4" steel gun. I can make no claims for other containers. A layer of water is also placed in there to help extinguish flames in the gun, or give it more of a lift from below or something.

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The water is to help the lift of the fuel. It's heavier than the gas and settles between the fuel and lift so all the fuel gets lifted. Sorry, it's all coming back to me now. I tried a red one no to long ago. I do remember that Sidewinder, I was sitting on the track and it was nice and toasty. I have it on HD as well, I think my brother and I played the tape at the Feb WPAG meeting.
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Ummm... February meeting of WPAG? We only meet May-September.

 

Are you talking about the mid-winter get-together (which I missed, dammit) where the Italian/Maltese pyro guys (or whoever they were) gave a seminar??

 

In any case, since you were sitting track-side you know what I mean.

 

Mmmmm... can you say "instantly toasted marshmellows"? :rolleyes:

 

M

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There was a meeting in Feb, it wasn't a shoot though more like a get together and discussion type of thing at some bar in Stevens Point. There were probably about 50 or so members there.
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My brother just told me there is a WPAG shoot tomorrow. I'm headed to the shop to press up some rockets right now, I'll see you there if you make it.
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Unfortunately, due to finances and the need to care for my ailing parents, I won't be at the July or August shoots (won't make the PGI either, dammit), though I hope to make the September season-ender. Hope you can make that one. I'll be delivering paper then, if you need any?

 

M

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What kind? I've got a couple hobby friends who probably could use some too.
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Virgin Kraft, 35# or 70#, widths 24" or 36". These are the most common ones I sell. I can get weights and widths other than this, but have not priced them since I had no demand for them. Last time I bought paper, 24" was $30, 36" was $40, in either 35# or 70# weight.

 

Like I said, I won't be able to deliver until the September meeting (if I can make that one), but if that suits your needs, LMK.

 

M

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The feb thing was just a hangout kind of thing. I believe only the officiers and directors ever meet officially in the winter. I was going to head up, but the weather was outrageous, and well you've seen my car. The maltese thing was in Nov. I think. Absolutely amazing. Talk to Paul Coe, I think he has video and copies of the power points. Very cool stuff. I have some things in mind for perhaps Sept. Itallian or not, expect me to come in full force for Sept. August may be pushing it for getting things done.

 

Shame you can't make it to the PGI. I was going to try to annex you to take a barrel of Saran home for me. I have some other people to talk to though.

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Is there a tut somewhere on making lampares?
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  • 2 weeks later...
Today I made some thing similar to a fireball but it was more of a flamethrower. I guess it didn't make a fireball is I used mill powder instead of true bp. I was still cool.
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Is there a tut somewhere on making lampares?

If you're a Passfire member, there's an excellent 4" Lampare tutorial in the archives...one more thing on the list to do. :D

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I made this acetone fireball the other day. I had a quart of acetone that I added some bijnder to for a delay comp I bought but the delay smells like ass and doesnt burn very well. So im trashing it unless someone would like to buy it. Its nearly a pound and still needs 25% KNO3 added to it. It came from firefox. The acetone is getting used up for fireball experiments.
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It was useless acetone so thats about the only thing I could come to think of using it for. Oh and less than a cup made a 7 foot tall fireball. And it worked great in my lampare rocket just yesterday.
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I tried to make a fireball last night with a white gas and gasoline mix. I put the bp in the tube and the white gas/gasoline mix (the white gas and the gasoline where in a plastic bag). What happened was the plastic bag shot 10 to 15 feet in the air. Can some one help me? Please.
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What kind of tube? Size, length, amount of powder? These things help solve problems ya know. Try using flash instead of bp. That will help a lot. You need to blow it out into the air, bp will just burn it and shoot it out.
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Most likely the bag did not burst and you just shot a bag of fuel up in the air, the way to get a good fire ball is to atomize the fuel so it all burns almost at the same time, i would recommend not using flash unless it is slow, you might want to look into cuox/al thermite, that seems to work well.
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The tube was about 7 inches long, 1 inch in diameter, and 2 oz of black powder (I think I didn't measure). I'm thinking of trying again only putting the black powder in the bag and the fuel on top. I hope that works.
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how much 4:1 CuO:Al do you guys for 1 gallon of petrol?

 

I presume that it would be around 100g like flash, but would just like to see what you find works best.

 

I need to get some CuO!

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I've never heard of the BP not melting and bursting the bag. You guys must have some stronger ziplocs than I do. But yes, some BP on top of the bag, or some granular metal sprinkled into the fuel, should do the trick.

 

As far as flash over BP, BP is nearly always used.

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So you just made a falmmable liquid bag mortar. Try a short, wide tube. And flash seems to work fine in lampares al the time.
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I had the same problem as mormanman. It was due to slow lift. Once I got a faster lift everything went fine.

 

I have stubby tubes that I don't know what to do with. They are 2" ID and 7 inches long. Maybe a flash powered fireball is in order. I have never thought of using flash as a propellant (seriously anyways). It wouldn't be a big deal losing these tubes if it doesn't work out. I'll have to give it a try when I get to Texas.

 

Also, CuO is like 7 bucks a pound at ceramic suppliers. That's expensive lift.

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Lampares are very different from mortar based fireballs. Flash in a mortar based one, may result in destruction of the mortar itself.
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