What's on the Menu?

While I wait for the order there's still plenty to be done.

I made a spreadsheet detailing all items that will be in the display, broken into three clusters, or "acts". The plan is to use an electronic ignition device (Mystical's Predator firing system, more on this later) at the start of each cluster, along with cannon fuse, (aka visco) daisy chained between each firework. I considered wiring the entire show together, but if anything goes awry at any point, I can always re-group at the next act instead of the whole program going off the rails.

Visco can be obtained from numerous suppliers in the USA via mail order. For reasons I don't comprehend, it is not sold in Canada (at least I've not found it). Yet there's visco in every single firework sold here; it's the green stuff you light to ignite it! Anyway, I purchased three different speeds. Slow-burn at 23 seconds per foot, mid-burn at 10 seconds per foot, and quick fuse at 6 feet per second - or 0.16 seconds per foot!

Each speed is very consistent, speaking from experience. The challenge is paying attention to the planning. For example, if I want to ignite a firework that lasts 25 seconds, and immediately follow that up with another firework without any delay, the two will be separated (in theory) by a sixteenth shy of 13 inches of slow-burn visco. I usually allow 4-5 seconds between the initial fuse burn and actual effect of each firework, so would shave about 2" off this length. In each act, this process is carried on until complete.

To assist with setup, I built a reference chart detailing time vs length, and made a ruler that measures time instead of length for both slow and mid-burn. Quick fuse is treated as immediate at any length. It is very effective stuff, utilized in my shows to ignite multiple fireworks almost simultaneously. My preference is to do this with candles, air bombs and multiple fountains.

Last year, only one of 163 items in my show failed to ignite, everything was linked by visco. That's an excellent average, testament to how easily one burning fuse can ignite another if properly connected. More on this in a future post.

Back to the spreadsheet. Based on the notes I made in watching the fireworks videos, I listed the effects of each (sound / colour / effect / size / duration / height, etc), and created an order of the show to cover all the bases evenly. This will avoid me having multiple effects at once that are too similar. A good show should contain a wide variety, right?

Comparing effects, plan accordingly

I transposed this info to a Gantt chart of sorts. Each item was linked to its' YouTube video for confirmation that the sequence will look good, by watching each video in order through the act. Recording the duration of each item will ensure I'm well prepared to wire everything up properly, with no gaps.

The order of things plotted in Gantt format

Starting in the second act, the plan calls for an overlapping of aerials, while fountains continuously burn at ground level. By the third act the intensity builds to the finale, where 5-6 items may be active at once. Wow factor!

The order went in today with Victory, and is expected to be delivered in 2-3 days. With my plan all ready and order arriving soon, next step will be designing the physical layout and racks.