video: IF i can do this within 10 years i'll be happy

[donperry]

 

 

and was this an accident?

[NightHawkInLight]

I imagine that you mean you would like to be able to do the choreography? Or build all the effects?

 

That second video looks like a ground or water shell, it doesn't look like an accident to me.

[cplmac]

The second shell looks like an accident because the firing stopped after it went off, otherwise it did seem like a water shell, but way to close to the rest of the pyro.

[pudidotdk]

Last shell looked like a typical watershell, very typical Japanese display item. I imagine the firing stopped because it was the final effect of the show.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

No that was a ground shell, in the water it would sink like a block of concrete. Water shells tend to look more like starmines, stars going more upwards. I've made one 10" groundshell myself, that thing was outstanding.

[NightHawkInLight]

No that was a ground shell, in the water it would sink like a block of concrete. Water shells tend to look more like starmines, stars going more upwards. I've made one 10" groundshell myself, that thing was outstanding.

Not true. Water shells are common, particularly in Japan, though I have seen several in the States as well. They do not sink. Here's another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7digfnZ-Ac&feature=related

[pudidotdk]

Yes however, this water shell looks very similar to the other video, and there isn't the effect you desribe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7digfnZ-Ac

[NightHawkInLight]

Here's another video I came across while looking at water shells:

 

 

A modern version of what inspired the green man. I would love a chance to do that - so long as I could wear a hat.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

If you look close to the vid you see the groundshell is fired close to where the mines are fired. It's on a ponton or natural pier or something.

Fireworks is shot very often close to water for safety AND for optical reasons.

 

If you're so sure, please tell me how a watershell and groundshell is made.

[donperry]

Yes, i meant both the pyro and the choreography. The choreography took it to a whole new level.

[Mumbles]

If you look close to the vid you see the groundshell is fired close to where the mines are fired. It's on a ponton or natural pier or something.

Fireworks is shot very often close to water for safety AND for optical reasons.

 

If you're so sure, please tell me how a watershell and groundshell is made.

 

I'm not going to include my opinion as to whether or not it is a ground shell or a water shell, but they do look similar. Water shells are made by encasing a standard shell, in a slightly larger plastic shell. The air pocket gives it enough buoyancy to float. The first ones were not designed to be fired out of mortars, rather were lit by hand, dropped into the water, and the pyrotechnics would row away furiously. From Hardt:

 

"Another Japanese practice is better characterized as a feat of daring and sangfroid than a case of specialized pyrotechnic engineering. A warimono-style shell without a lifting charge is ignited and thrown out of a small boat, after which the occupants row madly to escape the flying stars. The appearance of the shell is of a colored sun half risen on the horizon, with a more dull reflection of the lights in the water"

 

I haven't seen any recently, but I'd imagine you could achieve it similarly by supporting the real shell inside with stout paper tubes, and if needed packing in the shell with something like vermiculite or cotton seeds, or something somewhat fluffy and non-compressible.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

A 24" japanese shell costs more than 3700 dollars. A 36" must be more than double that price. Why should someone make a watershell and let the half amount of star disappear in the water? A ground shell is much easier to make than a normal round shell.

[NightHawkInLight]

A 24" japanese shell costs more than 3700 dollars. A 36" must be more than double that price. Why should someone make a watershell and let the half amount of star disappear in the water? A ground shell is much easier to make than a normal round shell.

Half of the shell is weighted, and contains no stars. I have seen plenty of consumer and commercial water shells here in the states. I assure you, they exist, and work just fine.

[Mumbles]

The above videos are almost surely exhibition shells, not commercial products, the big ones at least. Cost plays very little role in these. Much like the complex maltese beraq shells. If you were going to buy them, can you imagine the price? They're a labor of love and pride, not economics.

 

Can you really buy 36" shells? I thought they were also strictly exhibition.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

Ok, what would be a reason to shoot or put them in the water (and kill all marine life), instead of putting them on the ground?

[optimus]

More flowerpots?

 

Edited March 4, 2011 by optimus

[dagabu]

Ok, what would be a reason to shoot or put them in the water (and kill all marine life), instead of putting them on the ground?

 

They are pretty!

[Mumbles]

Or high sushi demand?

 

Something that explodes on top of the water is not going to put a great strain on life. If there are fish very near by, yes they're probably done for, but a few shells will not kill off an entire population. I do agree with you though, only half of the shell is likely filled. I see very little different between putting them on the ground or water. The hazards are still pretty similar, unless I have a completely different idea how ground shells are built.

[FREAKYDUTCHMEN]

Come on, a 36" shell is not killing fish or only nearby?

This is going to be a long discussion, fact is that a groundshell is just a 1/2 warimono shell, nothing more nothing less, a water shell is much too complicated, you cant let them float above water line, and if you manage to let it, then you have a groundshell again.

[Mumbles]

Based on the last conversation, I thought those water shells were a MERE 24". Granted when I was crafting that last reply I was thinking more on the order of conventional sized shells.

 

The thing with dynamiting fish for instance is the detonation shockwave, which propagates much better through water. Even then, the fish have to be relatively close by, and the charge has to be well under water. A large shell will pack quite a punch, but will never generate a detonation shockwave (thus much more quickly quenched), and being relatively close to the surface, will have a large amount of it's explosive energy propagated into the air as it is a much more diffusive medium. Water shells reside at the surface, or very close to it.

 

When I was a kid, we would throw firecrackers and the like into my grandparents' delapidated pool. Those that went underwater (and stayed lit) made a decent thump and made a decent wave for their size. The firecrackers that would get stuck on the film of crap on top of the water would make a much less intense wave.

[optimus]

[donperry]

Lovely water shells ^^