Designing A Fireworks Display - Final Preparation
A day or so before the display date it's time to start final preparation, which mostly means preparing stations and fuses, building set pieces, making sure you have everything needed for the show and a few other final checks. All professional pyrotechnics displays are set up and prepared beforehand, but even a small display can benefit from the same process.
Station Design & Construction
If Stations are to be used they should be prepared and fused well in advance as they can be quite time consuming. Read the station design page for details on how to build stations, and the guide to ignition for info on attaching fuses together.
Begin by laying out all the pieces of wood and arrange the fireworks on each one of them. Make sure they're the correct distance away from each other and make any final adjustments. Once you are sure of the timings and arrangements, glue each one to the wood, and leave to dry for at least a day.
Use a knife to shear the plastic/paper off the devices to expose the fuses, and begin using black match to connect them all together in the order that you want. When you're done, cut and tape a 5" piece of black match to the first firework in the sequence, then attach an electrical match to the fuse. Tape the wires of the e-match to the first firework to be sure it won't come loose and tear away from the fuse. Cover the + and - ends of the wires with masking tape to be sure no electricity can get to them prematurely.
Mortar Design & Construction
The best way to launch shells is by creating a mortar rack, as explained here Each rack can contain up to twenty shells, and a good method is to fire them off in groups of ten. To do this take two pieces of quick match that are the same length as the rack and hot glue them to the outermost pieces of wood on the top, as shown. Don't use white glue which is water-based and can ruin the quick match.
When it's dry, use a knife to make slits in each piece of quick matches, one next to each mortar. Load the shells into the tubes, and insert each shell's fuse into the quick match. On one end of the rack, wire an ematch into the quick match and tape shut the opposite end. When you're ready to ignite one of the rows, hook up the ematch from the rack to the firing system. When the switch is thrown, the quick match will instantaneously ignite all 10 fuses, and the shells will go off at nearly the same instant.
Roman Candle Design & Construction
Roman Candles are only effective when fired off in large groups. One candle shooting a coloured ball every few seconds does not look good. The most effective and visually pleasing method of using Roman Candles is to fire them in multiples and fanned out at angles.To do this, use some 2x4s to make a triangle with a stake attached the to the lateral piece. On the day of the show you will attach groups of candles (say, 4) to either side of the triangle using duct tape, glue, or whatever. When they ignite, they will shoot flaming balls in a fan-shape. If possible, use several of these "candle triangles", about 50 feet apart. Ignited at the same time, their coloured projectiles will cross each other and look even more beautiful.
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The Fireworks Company Thailand accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any injuries or accidents that occur as a result of attempting any of the displays or projects mentioned in this site, or as a result of use or misuse of any pyrotechnic products purchased from us. We highly recommend the use of professional display service for anything other than consumer 1.4G Fireworks with shells 1.75" or less in diameter.