The "Fire Boat" is a easy to make fireworks
station or set piece that looks like a fire fighting boat. If you have
two boats you can enhance the finale of your display with an
interesting "closing curtain" effect.
MATERIALS
- 1 2'x4' board 3 1/2' to 4 1/2' long
- 2 10d nails
- 2 3" x 3/4" corner brackets and screws.
- latex enamel "Battleship Grey" colored porch and deck paint
- duct tape
- heavy aluminum foil or empty aluminum pie/cake tin.
Procedure
Cut six inches off the board. Place it on top of the
board and on one end. Nail this down with two nails, leaving space in
the middle of the board. This is the bow of the boat. Drill an angled
7/8" - 1" in diameter hole in the top at the end using a
spade bit. The angle of the hole should be about 30 degrees from
vertical (60 degrees from horizontal) and about 2.5" deep.
Line up the corner brackets on the other end of the
board. This is the stern of the boat. The brackets should be centered
on the middle of the board and 3/4" apart. Drill small
starter holes and screw the corner brackets into the board.
Sand and paint the board. When the paint is dry,
place the aluminum foil (or pie tin) over the raised end and attach it
with duct tape. Punch a hole through the foil to the hole in the
board.
Now
add fireworks to the board. Stick a 60 second California or Mountain candle
in the hole and tape it down. Put a cone in the brackets at the stern of the
boat. It should be at a 45-60 degree angle from horizontal. I like to use a
"Silvery" cone (Red Lantern, #0362B) because it gives off a thick
stream for about 32 seconds and reaches heights of 15 feet. Though, Black
Cat glitter cones could be used, but they only last twenty seconds and are
not quite as tall. Some where in the middle of the board place a fountain
that lasts about 60 seconds. My favorite is "Pop goes the
fountain" (Black Cat #BC2009). You should place other fireworks in
between the first three. I use Black Cat Ground Pounders,
twitter glitters,
cuckoos and more cones.
The fireworks then get fused using fast and
normal visco fuse. Use the methods described here. It will be ignited
near the California candle, so the bow of the ship is lit first and the
stern last. The idea is to have the fireworks overlap in time. I
like to have the middle fountain start 30 seconds after the candle and end
about the time the last cone is started. So I use about 30 inches of
fast visco or black match (1 sec/inch burn rate) between the candle and the
middle fountain and two feet of normal visco (burn rate of 2.5 seconds per
inch) between the middle fountain and the angled cone. Instead of
placing only one cone in the bracket, I sometimes piggy-back another cone on
top of the first (see picture on the left). The first cone will be at
45 degrees and the second 10-15 degrees higher. This adds more volume to the
spray.
For the best effect, you want to have your boat off the
ground. I use a collapsible saw horse ($10-15) and attach the
board to the top of the saw horse using duct tape (left).
If you make only one, you can use this board as a "set
piece" that looks like a fire boat (right).
If you make two, you can create a interesting curtain effect at the end
of our show. Place one boat on the left side of your display area and the
other on the right side, with the sterns pointing to the center of the
display area. The boats should be 90 degrees to the audience and about
30-40 feet apart, depending on the strength of the cones used. The
boats should be ignited at the same time. When the angled cones are ignited,
they will spray towards each other in about a 10 foot high arc.
As the cones continue to burn the spray from each boat will
move closer
to the center. Ideally, they should almost touch just as the cones are
depleted. The effect is like a "closing curtain" at the end of the
show. Click
here to see a video clip.
