****FIREWORKS****

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Five

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
640
Reaction score
433
I haven’t seen a thread yet for fireworks, so here it is. The 4th is my favorite holiday. I love them fireworks. So post pics of your arsenal. I got a few, not much too dam expensive.
 

Attachments

  • 6D056473-7D1A-417C-86B9-52A9C8D73A38.jpeg
    6D056473-7D1A-417C-86B9-52A9C8D73A38.jpeg
    107.8 KB · Views: 0
  • C907E56E-EA06-48BE-A404-60BCE5CA57CF.jpeg
    C907E56E-EA06-48BE-A404-60BCE5CA57CF.jpeg
    158.9 KB · Views: 0
  • 1DD315F0-50CD-4228-80AA-FF0594A51F45.jpeg
    1DD315F0-50CD-4228-80AA-FF0594A51F45.jpeg
    168.4 KB · Views: 0
  • 1AEFEF06-EEBC-40F3-BDD0-1F15BB965E9F.jpeg
    1AEFEF06-EEBC-40F3-BDD0-1F15BB965E9F.jpeg
    160.1 KB · Views: 0
  • 4DA2213B-3264-40C6-8ECD-BD147EB7922D.jpeg
    4DA2213B-3264-40C6-8ECD-BD147EB7922D.jpeg
    598.8 KB · Views: 0
I haven’t seen a thread yet for fireworks, so here it is. The 4th is my favorite holiday. I love them fireworks. So post pics of your arsenal. I got a few, not much too dam expensive.
Did you come to Pahrump for those? This whole town will be a fireworks display. All over town fireworks will be going up. It's already started. Some of the people must spend thousands. Most of the fireworks stores have a buy one get 2 for free. Or something similar. Have fun . I'm going to fly my night rockets. Maybe get some UFO reports.
 
We bought some fireworks for our kids but...the prices are ridiculous $80 got very little. I love fireworks and celebrate the 4th of July, but fireworks are 3-4x more expensive this year than last, at this rate it will cease to be a tradition in our family. A single box of Pop-its/Snap-its was $5 ouch. Last year we spent about $300 on fireworks and had 10× what we got this year.
 
Here we are allowed “safe and sane” fireworks, so mostly fountains. My brother-in-law buys a packaged set, and I buy a finale-type big fountain. Well, this year it was $99 for the single big fountain! But I’m a rocketeer, so I’m used to burning money.

Here’s the one I get. https://www.tntfireworks.com/fireworks/cat/fountains/2582-opening-show
 
Did you come to Pahrump for those? This whole town will be a fireworks display. All over town fireworks will be going up. It's already started. Some of the people must spend thousands. Most of the fireworks stores have a buy one get 2 for free. Or something similar. Have fun . I'm going to fly my night rockets. Maybe get some UFO reports.
Yep, I went to Phantom in Pahrump.
 
It will be a hot time in town tonight. The whole sky will light up here. I have often thought what do the passengers on the airliners think when the fly over.
 
I got the Opening Show last year. Its a good one and last for a long time.

Yeah, it’s a good one for sure. I’ve tried other “maximum charge” ones before, but always come back to the Opening Show.
 
FWIW; by now everybody has figured out my screen name. I'm not complaining, bragging or bitching about the state of pyro here. All I gotta offer is a couple of obs;
1) Drones are user friendly and replacing aerial displays at light speed. No pun intended.
2) PETA, et al, has championed and exposed ( maybe exaggerated, not my soap box) the deletorius effects on animals, with the ears of local politicians snd we all know how that goes.
3) Tradional construction techniques have evolved over the years ( natch!) and include more labour and cost- saving use of plastics. Naturally, this includes environmental impacts if the show sites are not cleaned commercially. Tradional paper snd glue, while unsightly, ultimately degrade or weather away, esp. in climates that include periodic precipitation. Not so much in the Southwest. Cost factors always drive a show contract with the founding fathers, marketing folks, advertisers, or the collection of mouth breathers at City Hall. Plastic is cheaper, by a ton, due to the rapidity with which the poor wage slaves can fill shipping containers in India and China ( mostly). Conditions are brutal and depressing to see, given the repetitive, non-machine based construction techniques that have to be employed in like, shot cakes. Shells are a completely diffent ball of wax (again no pun intended). Yes, there is some automatiom, like quick match and fuse that have benifitted by this.
4) The evolution from nail boards to slaved, computer driven shows incorporating audio, have pushed the ability to colour the sky to denser shows and upped the expectations of viewers. More product and even more 'designers' to choreograph said shots. For those in the west, we pioneered the laser shows ripped off from the gels snd oil frame projections from the 'love-in' dance floor generation into the sky. We were busted by the FAA for the first KGB ( a radio station) Sky Show practice/demo? before it was really accepted and Notams became regular.
So, lazers, animal rights, the husband and wife team that developed the AI drone tech for formation flying, the costs of EPA, snd a few other zillion reasons, have lead to the steadily decreasing black powder based shows. Thus the increasing ( in parts as described) costs associated with them.
Sorry, prolly more that any body cares about, but my random 2 cents. Above all, stay safe out there and have a great 4th! I am, because I get to stay home with my sweetie! And maybe work on a rocket!
 
Last edited:
Why mortars....because they are really cool....also highly illegal where I live, due to the huge wildfire hazard.
Ive already seen two fires today.
 

Attachments

  • 3815EEEC-0764-44C5-ADC4-02194BC20920.jpeg
    3815EEEC-0764-44C5-ADC4-02194BC20920.jpeg
    70 KB · Views: 0
How about I shoot off my PML Spitfire from my back yard in a high densely populated area. Maybe put a couple M100's in the nose so it blows up and puts on a light show for everyone? Wouldn't that be fun?

BTW - Its the silver one pictured

PS - Its a nice rocket though.
 
Last edited:
FWIW; by now everybody has figured out my screen name. I'm not complaining, bragging or bitching about the state of pyro here. All I gotta offer is a couple of obs;
1) Drones are user friendly and replacing aerial displays at light speed. No pun intended.
2) PETA, et al, has championed and exposed ( maybe exaggerated, not my soap box) the deletorius effects on animals, with the ears of local politicians snd we all know how that goes.
3) Tradional construction techniques have evolved over the years ( natch!) and include more labour and cost- saving use of plastics. Naturally, this includes environmental impacts if the show sites are not cleaned commercially. Tradional paper snd glue, while unsightly, ultimately degrade or weather away, esp. in climates that include periodic precipitation. Not so much in the Southwest. Cost factors always drive a show contract with the founding fathers, marketing folks, advertisers, or the collection of mouth breathers at City Hall. Plastic is cheaper, by a ton, due to the rapidity with which the poor wage slaves can fill shipping containers in India and China ( mostly). Conditions are brutal and depressing to see, given the repetitive, non-machine based construction techniques that have to be employed in like, shot cakes. Shells are a completely diffent ball of wax (again no pun intended). Yes, there is some automatiom, like quick match and fuse that have benifitted by this.
4) The evolution from nail boards to slaved, computer driven shows incorporating audio, have pushed the ability to colour the sky to denser shows and upped the expectations of viewers. More product and even more 'designers' to choreograph said shots. For those in the west, we pioneered the laser shows ripped off from the gels snd oil frame projections from the 'love-in' dance floor generation into the sky. We were busted by the FAA for the first KGB ( a radio station) Sky Show practice/demo? before it was really accepted and Notams became regular.
So, lazers, animal rights, the husband and wife team that developed the AI drone tech for formation flying, the costs of EPA, snd a few other zillion reasons, have lead to the steadily decreasing black powder based shows. Thus the increasing ( in parts as described) costs associated with them.
Sorry, prolly more that any body cares about, but my random 2 cents. Above all, stay safe out there and have a great 4th! I am, because I get to stay home with my sweetie! And maybe work on a rocket!

1. Kings Island has a neat nightly show this year which involves display fireworks, close prox product, lights, lasers, fountains, and drones all synchronized to music and a narrator honoring the 50 year anniversary of the park. I thought it was impressive and a good application for a mixed media show. It was certainly better than the firework / laser / and video shows that have also been popular. (I've worked the pyro part for a few too). I don't see drones as the end of fireworks, but when done right they can augment a show well.

2. My dog likes watching fireworks too. It would be cruel to deny her the opportunity.

3. I don't care for the plastic. It makes a mess and I don't think gluing together plastic hemis makes as good of a product something made from all paper. I like the Italian-American style of building cylinder shells. I can make an impressive spider shell with nothing but kraft paper, chipboard, cotton string, wheat paste, the 3 chemicals in BP and the 2 chemicals in flash powder. It leaves little behind except for bits of paper. Of course, 1 shell might take me 40 hours of labor and no client is going to pay for it. Its a labor of love for the art and something you'll only see at PGI or regional club events.

4. I still see (and have shot) a lot of traditional hand-fired shows. Computer fired shows are both a blessing and a curse. The end result can be a moving experience, but it also can still be used for a crappy show. Most comes down to the budget of the client and the exaggerations of the person who sells them the show.

It is my understanding that the manufacturing environment and the shipping regulations in China is taking its toll on the firework industry. Wages are going up, safety standards are becoming enforced, and firework factories are less profitable than manufacturing other items. I bet we start seeing more product from India and South America.
 
Here you can only buy the safe and sane fireworks, the other ones are illegal and if you get caught it comes with hefty fines. 1st, 2nd and 3rd offenses, $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000! That's a lot of dough if you get caught not to mention the court fees on top of that.

It must be legal in your area, but California its a no go for the big show!

Be safe guys. If you lose a finger you can still build a rocket, but a hand or an explosion to your face? Worse yet if a young family member or neighbor kid gets hurt, that would be hard to live with.

Have plenty of good food (BBQ) and wash it down with an ice cold beer!
 
I remember the Omaha prefecture party of July 4, 1996 quite fondly. Sort of a teen dream come true with trunk loads of fireworks.

It's also the day my first website went live. Well, that got me a job somewhere else... For a while....
 
Nothing is legal in the city here including cap guns, that doesn't stop anyone though around the 4th. I did my share of fireworks when I was younger but haven't bought any in years. When the kids were home always enjoyed lighting some fountains in the back yard.
 
Be safe guys. If you lose a finger you can still build a rocket, but a hand or an explosion to your face? Worse yet if a young family member or neighbor kid gets hurt, that would be hard to live with.
There was a fatal firework accident in my city last night and the news reported an 11 year old was killed by one in the Southern Part of the state.

Yes they are fun, but they are still explosives. Treat them with the same respect you treat a loaded gun.

Several years ago I had a 3" shell misfire during a handlit show. It burst right as it left the mortar and right at the level of my shoulder. I was wearing firefighting turnout gear, a nomex hood, leather firefighting gloves, boots, and a hardhat with a face screen. I had my back to the mortar rack, crouched low, but maybe 2 feet away from the mortar. One star came under my screen and burned by cheek through the nomex hood. The turnout coat had burns along the back and I had no injuries under the coat. The hardhat had several dents in the back where it was hit by stars.

This was only a 3" shell - reloadeable shells sold in stores are 1.75" and the preloaded ones can be 2.25". All in all, the PPE and positioning worked as it was supposed to. I ended up with what amounted to a cigarette burn to a cheek. Imagine the same failure happening to someone without proper training and PPE.
 
Before the first Mrs and I were married we lived in Middleton, ID. Anything aerial was (is) not legal.
Soon to be BIL had picked up several bricks of bottle rockets. Just the small ones.
Soon to be FIL was the minister at the local baptist church and lived in the church provided home.
BIL, a few friends and soon to be Mrs. all sat on the front steps of the parsonage lighting bottle rockets.
About 11:30 a sheriff deputy slowly drives down the street. We wave at him as he passes and notice he is a member of the church. After he leaves we light back up. Just after midnight a car drives down the street and pulls over. It is the same deputy. He gets out of the car walks up to us and says, “bottle rockets are a bit illegal you know.“. Talks for a few minutes, sits down and asks “ well, we gonna light any more?” We did.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top