T Minus 45 Days

Two mortars I was interested in when ordering from Victory last month were not in stock, so I decided to check out Rocket's retail trailer set up at the mall this week, for their Victoria Day sale. Both Valentine's Kiss and Spring Fling are new from Hands in this year's retail line-up, and I'm drawn to the 'glowing ring' effect they both have, unique among 1.4G offerings available in Ontario. I didn't think to set aside the budget to pick them up locally, instead spending the lot on my original order. Anyway, Rocket didn't have the Spring Fling in stock but did have Valentine's Kiss, so I purchased two - blowing my original budget of $1000 by $18. I also failed to take into account that I'll need another $8 or so to replace my test mods - or not. It depends on whether they work.

Rack construction continues. Next step is adding rope handles to either side of each pallet to make them easy to stabilize and (two-person) carry to the blasting site. They are pretty heavy so the handles make sense, and being heavy is beneficial as they are in no danger of tipping over during the show.

Mini-racks were fashioned to secure some simultaneous-fire mortars at varying angles, these will be attached to the pallets at the same time as fastening cakes, prior to wiring. Note that every rack is labeled with it's act and order number; this will help make sure no mistakes when mounting.

Silver Shrapnel mounted at -25 / 0 / 25 degrees, Tarantulas mounted at -15 / 0 / 15 degrees.

The customized fountain wheel was attached to the top of offset doubled-up balusters with a pointed base to hammer into the earth. Once set in place it will be over 60" above the ground, which should be plenty of clearance to see the effects unimpeded. Testing will reveal not only whether the item itself will operate, but the mounting & height of it as well.

Close-up view of fastening "proto wheel"

 



In demonstrating the speed of quick fuse to a friend of mine, it quickly became apparent that the newest batch I obtained is not the same speed as the original, but slower. This was a fluke; had we not done this I may have been disappointed with the show results. I only have about 20 feet of the 6-foot-per-second stuff left, so the choice of where to use it will have to be made selectively. I'll also need to determine the new stuff's speed to apply it accurately.

These two types of quick fuse are obviously different...