Green_as_my_powder

Fellow Pyros,

I have finally been able to "dial in" buzz bombs, meaning I'm getting reliable flight and no detonations. I've started trying to "spice them up" a little, and was wondering if others have come up with new ideas.

One of my favorites has been to glue in a paper cap at the end, rather than a clay plug. This way the buzz bomb finishes (at about 50 ft in the air) with a nice spread of sparks.

I've also tried adding a small section of a hotter burning fuel toward the end. The buzz bomb tops out, then shoots up at the end.

I guess what I'm making isn't really a "buzz bomb" since there isn't any flash "bomb" to go off at the end. Just the spinning helicopter blades and umbrella of sparks as it slowly raises up. The kids love it!

Anyone else care to share?

Has anyone been able to make their own "blades" to go on the tube? I've been using plastic mail order ones and I've almost run out.

Thanks for any tips!

Fellow Pyros,

I was able to get some aluminum turnings (kind of like curly ribbons, about 1/4" wide, about 1" long) and I would like to turn it into coarse powder (about 10 mesh). Any way to do this?

Thanks, as always!

Fellow pyros,

I've got (I think) all the supplies, but the nichrome wire is so thin that it is very hard to work with. Any tricks to getting wires attached to the nichrome? The wire I have is 48 guage... like thin hair.

Thanks for any info!

Fellow pyros,

I have a few pounds of Magnessium powder that I would like to start using. I'm hoping to make both green and purple stars with it. Ideally, I'd like formulas including parlon so that I can disolove the parlon with acetone and form the stars, this way I don't have to worry about water problems with the magnessium powder. I don't know how to coat the magnessium with potassium dichromate.

Thanks for any info!

Fellow Pyros,

I'm trying to improve the burst of my shells. I've been using BP coated rice hulls for "soft breaks", like willow shells, and adding about 3g of whistle powder for regular shells. I'm not getting very symettrical breaks. I tried 2g of flash powder which gave a better break, but the bright flash was a little distracting from the dimmer stars.

Any suggestions appreciated.