15 replies to this topic

[Pyro-centric]

Hi All

I was at the Royal international air tattoo at Fairford this weekend.  Great display of flying and some great bangs and fuel explosions. Anyone know who it was please?  Would also like to know items/products use and the amount etc

 

Thanks

[Malcolm Smith]

 Would also like to know items/products use and the amount etc

Thanks

 

It might be analysable from a decent video by those with experience, but it's unlikely that a successful business will give up their methods and trade secrets, 'just like that'. 

Edited by Malcolm Smith, 20 July 2015 - 01:29 AM.

[Arthur Brown]

Yes, given a decent video...

no-one is going to give out their precise construction details especially on a forum.

[Pyro-centric]

With binoculars you could see the plastic barrels of fuel...then there were 100 ft or so white stage comets...and there where also  clear plastic round packages on sticks which made a super bang, simulating 300mm cannon....no massive secrets to reveal, I wouldn't have thought

[megabusa]

We do effects at air shows as do many others.

 

Basically, you need something to give a good boom or 'thump' & something else to give the visual appearance of an explosion.

 

Different people have different methods & mixes.

[Pyro-centric]

Thanks megabusa....the 30mm sims had a great flash and nice bangs...fuel/napalm effect t was great too.  the person who did it wants to message me what they did, I'm not in a position to take there work away...just interested in what was used.  Oh and of course it woyuld have been much more fun to be on their side of the runway !

Edited by Pyro-centric, 20 July 2015 - 09:31 PM.

[Arthur Brown]

I expect that there was a lot of time spent collecting any JP-1 thru JP-4 from anything that was serviced there for the last few months! Sometimes the effect is simply how much fuel you can put in the air at once, which you don't want to buy at petrol station prices.

[Pyro-centric]

Definately a good few quids worth went up, nice black colour to the smoke too.

[Arthur Brown]

I saw a www of an American airshow SFX firm and they used several IBCs full of some petrol like fuel probably 3000 litres, looked good but I hope that was cheap fuel. To do it in the UK you need a supply at a LOT less than £1.25 a litre.

[Arthur Brown]

Does anyone have a link to the sfx at RIAT 2015?

[megabusa]

Definately a good few quids worth went up, nice black colour to the smoke too.

The smoke is caused by the diesel in the mixture.

[megabusa]

.  Oh and of course it woyuld have been much more fun to be on their side of the runway !

It is more fun at that side, however .....

 

Last year we did the effects for a large model aircraft show & one of our firers got hit by a large plane which put him in hospital ......

 

As if pyrotechnics were not dangerous enough !!

[Arthur Brown]

I've worked for an airshow company, it's not fun turning up at 7am to prep for a show at 2pm knowing that you have to be off the field by 10pm then drive back to the hangar to drop off the kit -then drive home to go to work on the next day. You know what your roles are during the show and you don't usually have time to see the acts. I was pushing G-HUNT into a hangar and felt the Vulcan's show, but didn't see it, but the hunter had to be in there the right way round before the end of the show.

[Mortartube]

When I worked at North Weald, we used Avgas. It is silly to bring fuel in when the airfield has loads on site. Also Naphthalene fireballs. 

Edited by Mortartube, 23 July 2015 - 11:51 AM.

[Arthur Brown]

All the big FX I've seen have relied on the engineering facility having "waste fuel and solvents" in a drum out the back. Fuel used for priming pumps or checking water content isn't usable for flight so sometimes 10+litres is drawn off that cannot be reused for flight but cannot be just dumped. 

 

Sometimes it goes to firefighter training, sometimes it's available for show FX

 

Basically any fireball costs a lot if you have to buy fresh fuel. Road fuel is £1.25 a litre Avgas is £2.50/litre Avtur is less and home heating oil is even less. -Then of course there is the transport issue, which is why a 5kilo naphthalene burst bought trade as 1.3 or 1.4 is a favoured option.