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Aerial Shell Display Theory
For the consumer Pyrotechnicians there are a wide range of different aerial shell kits to purchase. Each kit ranges from having 6 shells to 80 shells and offers numerous different types of effects. When planning my display for the 4th of July, I try to plan the order for which I am going to light my shells. My 4th of July show has around 250 shells total. This article is about planning your aerial shell part of your show.
1. Planning you show.
Before I even go to purchase my fireworks I try to visualize what I want
to have in my show. I know that there are eight different types of shells.
Also some aerial shells have rising effects (tails, whistle, crackling,
etc.) that I can choose from. The number of different higher end effects
is also increasing greatly.
Deciding what type of shell to use.
Each type of shell has a different purpose in a show. The secret to
designing a good show is knowing where to use each type of shell. Ball and
canister shells can be used throughout the entire show. Their bursts are
normally the larger of the different types of shells since the powder
isn't divided up between breaks. There are two types of double break
shells that I have come across. The first shell when shot into the air
breaks apart which spreads the color out over a wider area. The other type
of double break shell that I have found, keeps the shells together so that
they break closer together. You can tell the difference between the two by
looking where the shells join together. If the spacer between the shells
is flat and not a valley, these shells will break apart in the air.
Triple break shells and higher are great for finales, or where you want to
have soft bursts, say if you are doing your show to music.
2. Purchasing your reloadable mortar kits
When deciding which reloadable kits you wish to purchase, you want to
try to find a kit that will give you the most number of shells that will
fit into your plan. If you are looking for a variety of different break
shells your best bet would to purchase an assortment of shells. Assorted
break mortar kits normally contain 36 to 80 shells of assorted shells. You
want to try to find one of these kits to build your mortar section of your
show around. Now that you have your core kit picked out there are kits
that have only one type of shell in it these kits contain from 6 to 24
shells in them. You want to use these types of kits to flavor your aerial
shell section of your show more towards a particular type of shell.
3. Time to plan the fusing and firing order
Now that you have the shells purchased for your show you now need
to design the firing order and decide how you are going to fuse your
shells together. When I do this I use the planning pages that I have
designed that correspond to the number of racks that I have and shots.
This way I get an exact picture on where each shell will be place. You can
think of these planning documents like a blueprint to a building. Try to
get a spot where you can spread out all of your shells that you have
purchased, this way you can see all of the different effects that you have
available. Try to have a little organization in your layout. I usually
start with breaks, color, then effects. The other benefit to using the
planning sheets that I have designed is you can draw on the sheet which
shells you are going to fuse together. For techniques on different way to
fuse a mortar rack check out our section on fusing.
Try to get a mental picture of what you want to do with these shells,
remember about matching effects and colors. When you have selected a
group of shells that you want to put together in a flight remove the
shells from shells that you have still not assigned a spot to. By
separating the shells that you have all ready used from the ones that you
haven't used, you will make sure to not use a shell twice.
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4. Loading the Racks Now that you have decided where you are going to use each shell now you have to load the racks. Remember you only want to load the racks the same day of your display. If you have a lot of shells make sure to give yourself enough time to fuse everything together. Another way to make sure that you are loading the mortar racks the right way is by numbering the end tubes on the side of the rack. You want to make sure that you load the rack properly so that you get the desired effect when you want it. An easy way to do this is to place all of the shells on the top of the rack and then when you have it the way you want it start dropping the shells into the rack. |
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