14 replies to this topic

[Pieman]

I was interested in trying the veline colour system to make some stars. I have everything for the blue and red stars apart from the parlon and magnalium. Does anybody know anywhere in england that I can buy them from?
Has anybody here tried these stars before? Have they been any good?

[treefingers]

There's some 170 mesh Magnalium listed on ebay.... though its pretty expensive http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem

Parlon can be found from inoxia .. http://www.inoxia.co...roduct/165.aspx

[Pieman]

I've been looking around for other chemicals for the veline system. Would the calcium carbonate found in reptile shops (https://reptilekeepi...roducts_id=1741) be appropriate for the orange?

[BrightStar]

I've been looking around for other chemicals for the veline system. Would the calcium carbonate found in reptile shops (https://reptilekeepi...roducts_id=1741) be appropriate for the orange?

Quite possibly. I've been very pleased with 'J Arthur Bowers Garden Lime' chips, ground up in a pestle and mortar, for Veline Orange:
http://www.ahsdirect...product/127/77/

170-mesh MgAl will be fine - it makes the Veline comps burn at a linear rate of about 1mm / second. The very fine MgAl flake that turns up from time to time makes them burn a little faster and brighter, but isn't worth the extra cost or reactivity risk.

Edited by BrightStar, 21 October 2007 - 08:24 PM.

[icarus]

i am trying to find out if parlon is a pvc powder- meltable pvc can be purchased from grp suppliers and acetone is a good solvent for it also available

[seymour]

Parlon is Chlorinated Isoprene rubber.

[Bonny]

I've been looking around for other chemicals for the veline system. Would the calcium carbonate found in reptile shops (https://reptilekeepi...roducts_id=1741) be appropriate for the orange?

You can also find calcium carbonate in health food stores with the vitamins and supplements.That's where I got mine and it seems to work.

[portfire]

The "reptile grade" calcium carbonate works really well for velines orange.

I bought this
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem

I was expecting a white powder but it was dirty white so,thought i'd wasted my money (not a big loss) but,tried it,and works a treat...Beautiful color if you ask me.

Just thought i'd say that i added 5% 60mesh MDF dust to the 'veline style' prime,which does make the stars "fuzzy" but,I think around 10% may work better as the stars i made were "fuzzy",but could have been "fuzzier"

dean

[digger]

I have tried the Veline colour system recently, and after a false start by using PVC instead of Parlon (green was still good with the PVC). All of the colours and combinations I have tried so far have been good (I got my calcium carbonate from a lab supplier).

To get to the point I have done the red, with good results, however I have some lithium carbonate lying around has anyone tried a substitution for the strontium carbonate? If so how does it change the shade of the red produced?

[cooperman435]

Now I to have managed to obtain further suplies Ive tried the veline system.

red and green are fantastic (well to me anyway)
orange of all things Ive not done yet as Ive no calcium carbonate.

But Im not happy with the blue (as if you hadnt guessed) Its poor compared to the rest. Has anyone else this opinion?

Im wondering if theres anyone who has had chance to experiment to see if theres any slight alterations or addatives to the comp that may help. Or if its only me thats disatisfied and its likely one of my chems is poor?

Also as Im priming with bp at the moment Ive discovered that from a star gun or mine then ignition is perfect but shells either tend to blow some blind, or take ages to ignite away from the shell (I assume when they have slowed down some) I can get them to ignite perfectly by coating a few times with bp but it gives them a long orange start to their life in the sky. I know theres a specific veline prime which Ive not tried yet but I dont like the idea of potassium dichromate at all. has anyone managed to make the prime replacing pot dich with anything else or simply can you suggest a better alternative.

[Creepin_pyro]

The Veline blue isn't particularly good in terms of colour saturation etc compared to other blues (unless you're a big pastel fan!). It is, however, designed to match all the other colours in the system, so they complement each other when fired together. It's probably not a problem with your chems (although purity is quite important with blues...), it is meant to look 'poor' as you put it. If you want a better blue use a different formula! Chlorate and AP formulas tend to be good, but if you only have KP, I'd go for Shimizu's B-70. Pretty much anything without a metallic fuel will look much better.

Veline's stars are tricky to ignite. There's always step-priming, but I've had great success with the following fomula. Silicon powder also does wonders at lighting stubborn stars.

Name: Veline style
Source: Pax
Potassium Perchlorate 62
Charcoal Airfloat 22
Magnalium, granular, -200 mesh 7
Dextrin 4
Aluminum, flake, dark, American dark. -325 mesh 3
Copper(II) Oxide, black 2

Good luck : )

[GalFisk]

Yes the blue is poor, but the other colors are very pretty. I especially like the yellow (55 green/45 orange), it's quite different from sodium yellow and charcoal oranges, a very pure and bright color.

[digger]

Veline's stars are tricky to ignite. There's always step-priming, but I've had great success with the following fomula. Silicon powder also does wonders at lighting stubborn stars.

Name: Veline style
Source: Pax
Potassium Perchlorate 62
Charcoal Airfloat 22
Magnalium, granular, -200 mesh 7
Dextrin 4
Aluminum, flake, dark, American dark. -325 mesh 3
Copper(II) Oxide, black 2

Good luck : )

Is this better than original Veline prime? I had a few lighting difficulties with one batch of stars I did, but I put this down to not using a binder in the last layerof BP over the veline prime and vacuum drying the prime to quickly (I was running out of time to get them ready for Nov 5th).

P.S. If anyone is interested I have tried a veline style star with lithium carbonate instead of strontium carbonate and the conclusion is don't bother. It turned out to be more of an orange than a red.

Edited by digger, 29 November 2007 - 10:43 AM.

[Bonny]

[quote name='digger' date='Nov 29 2007, 10:43 AM' post='40833']
Is this better than original Veline prime? I had a few lighting difficulties with one batch of stars I did, but I put this down to not using a binder in the last layerof BP over the veline prime and vacuum drying the prime to quickly (I was running out of time to get them ready for Nov 5th).

I've never tried the veline prime, but the 'veline style' prime listed above has worked perfectly for me, with and without a dusting of meal over top.

[digger]

I've never tried the veline prime, but the 'veline style' prime listed above has worked perfectly for me, with and without a dusting of meal over top.

The next time I am making veline stars I will give this one a go, as the Veline "super prime" is a bit of a pain as it takes me ages to make and sieve the wood meal to a suitable particle size, I suppose the dichromate is arguably a bit of a nasty chemical too.

cheers

G