Liftanddeafen Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Hello, I've seen quite a few of these "horsetail" effect fireworks where the firework bearly breaks and spills out a fantastic effect where the stars just sag down mostly using charcoal compositions by the look of them. If anyone could give me an insight on how there made it would be greatly appreciated. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie1016 Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 I think you are talking about comets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nessalco Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Hello, I've seen quite a few of these "horsetail" effect fireworks where the firework bearly breaks and spills out a fantastic effect where the stars just sag down mostly using charcoal compositions by the look of them. If anyone could give me an insight on how there made it would be greatly appreciated. WillI believe they are a simple can shell with very little containment, made to break in such a way they 'pop the lid' and the lit stars are projected very gently all in one direction. I've purchased consumer fireworks with the effect and like it very much - I'll be trying some 3 and 4 inch versions over the winter. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 While I've made this effect, it was never on purpose. I've seen them in both canister and ball shell varieties. The trick, as Kevin said, is to use a weak bursting charge, and poor confinement. Ball shells use only enough pasting to hold it together (maybe 3-4 layers), and a weak bursting charge. I've been lead to believe that well primed stars can serve as their own burst. I'd still add some granular BP or a small burst bag just to be sure. Cylinder shells are also not very difficult. They're described in The Westech Fireworks Manual, if you have that. Essentially they can be built kind of like an aerial mine. The fused end of the shell is filled with burst. I've seen both bags of granular BP, as well as just BP on hulls entirely filling one end. Then the stars are placed on top of the burst, and the shell is closed up like normal. When spiking the shell, I believe the verticals are done as normal, but the horizontal pattern is different. Horizontal spiking is done heavily over the burst area, and very lightly over the star area. If you've ever spiked a shell containing insert shells, I suspect about that amount of density is right. I've also read about some people cutting every other vertical. The idea really is to make an intentional break out one end. I prefer the canister shell version personally, and for once it doesn't have anything to do with my general bias toward cylinders. Ball shell versions sort of just pop out and rely on either being broken on the way up, or being fired at an angle. The cylinder shell versions sort of shoot the stars out to one side. It is a quite impressive effect when fired in volley. I just like the extra effect of being propelled out in some direction. It just adds something to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liftanddeafen Posted October 21, 2013 Author Share Posted October 21, 2013 Thank you for the replies. I like the idea of a weak spiking at one end it seems simple enough to do. I might have to try this put. Is there any specific compositions you recommend to do it with? As I would like the core star to be veline green as I think a slow burning willow composition will look beautiful with a green core Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seymour Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 (edited) Mumbles summed it up very well. I have used the prime on the stars only on a few occasions, but I usually add a gram or two of BP grain. Two layers of pasted paper is typical for me. Just enough to make me feel comfortable having it come out of the mortar intact. One thing I'd like to emphasise is that the effect is best in my opinion if the shells break on the way up and arc over. This can be achieved of course using shorter timefuse and/or more lift. Skip to 25 secs to see my horsetail. It could have been popped a second earlier, but if you look carefully you see the stars curving towards, or away from the camera as they arc over. Obviously this effect looks best with long tailed streamer stars. I think I used a slight variant of 'slow gold' in this shell. Mumbles probably has a very good point about canisters, but this was a 4" ball. Edited October 21, 2013 by Seymour 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallekralle11 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 i think i had a firework cake that looked kinda like that once... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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