WARNING: DO NOT PERFORM THE FOLLOWING STEPS IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT!!! THE STAINLESS STEEL MIXING BOWL CAN FOCUS THE SUNLIGHT AND IGNITE THE MIXTURE. All the same considering the noise it made V2’s marks were not as great or as savage as one feared. The blast area was smaller than the flying-bomb’s. Sound was widespread, but damage concentrated.

Aerojet was simultaneously incorporating one of the Kiwi-B reactor designs into its NERVA NRX (NERVA Reactor Experiment) engine. The first NERVA NRX test was run in September 1964 in Nevada. In 1969, the AEC successfully tested a second-generation NERVA engine, the XE, dozens of times. Funding for NERVA, however, decreased in the late 1960s and the program was cancelled in 1973 before any flight tests of the engine took place. Documents I then strengthened the casings with some 1/2-inch wide fiberglass-reinforced strapping tape. Since my tape roll was 1-inch wide, I split the end of the tape in half. This allowed only one half of the width to tear off as I used it. Slightly offtopic, but I tried using granulated whistle in an experimental squib yesterday. 1/4" by 2" card tube three quarters filled, e-match, glued endplugs. It worked well - not too much light or smoke output and a really loud bang. Could be useful for small scale SFX... After the fuel and clay have been pressed in the tube, it's time to remove the motor from the spindle. This is easier if the support is removed from the engine first, which loosens the motor on the spindle just a tad.Prior to flight, the tape is completely removed from the motor's bottom, and the Visco fuse is installed through the fuse hole.

The literature available (See Oztap, Hardt, JPyro et al) does suggest that the whistle effect is partly caused by vibrational burning of substances of an aromatic nature, particularly benzoates and salicylates of the earth metals. Indeed Oztap makes it clear that a tube is not even required to achieve the effect. In one test a small quantity of granulated composition was placed on a flat surface, and a sharp 'thunder whistle' resulted. Potassium Perchlorate and Iron Oxide are not soluble in Acetone, Toluene, VM&P Naphtha, Camping Fuel, or Mineral Spirits. Using both gloved hands, clean as much of the mixture as possible off of your gloves into the bowl. Your gloves may be removed at this time and placed to the side to dry. When dry, any fuel remaining on your gloves may be easily removed. Note: I mention this flash report composition option out of a sense of responsibility. Folks will make flash reports. There is a long tradition of it in all kinds of fireworks. But, flash powder is the most powerful composition that fireworkers work with, and many really serious pyro accidents involve it. Warning: Never use a power drill to create the passfire hole. The friction and heat caused by such fast drilling could ignite the motor. Only use hand twisting on the drill bit to create the hole.

Whistle Rocket Tooling

This article is a vehicle for exchanging information in the pyrotechnics craft. Readers are urged to learn and obey all laws and regulations of all federal, state and local jurisdictions and their agencies and representatives. Some information herein may contain incomplete descriptions of fireworks techniques based on the experience of its author(s) in a controlled environment with circumstances and conditions different from a reader’s. Readers must form their own opinion as to the application of this information. This information is considered documentary in nature and no opinion is given as to its suitability or use. No warranties are made either expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of the accuracy of the information herein. Because of the high pressure at which the fuel is pressed in these motors, and the thrust they develop during flight, high-strength paper tubes must be used in their construction.

Then I fill the can with my report composition of choice. The traditional filling would be flash powder, but making flash has become a bit problematic for some in the current legal climate. While stirring, add 5 parts of toluene to each part of petroleum jelly by weight. Lacquer thinner can be substituted for toluene when pure toluene is not available. Continue stirring until the petroleum jelly has completely dissolved in the solvent used. Chemical gloves (e.g., Playtex, vinyl, PVC, or other types) suitable for handling Naphtha solvent. Thin latex gloves are not suitable - they will dissolve. Heavy-duty chemical gloves are too big and bulky to fit in the bowl. The best gloves I have found are the disposable vinyl gloves sold by Home Depot.For a star or comet heading, simply gluing a paper disk on is sufficient to finish the end of the motor. With some math, I've determined that the surface area of the end of this hollow drift is about 80% of the surface area of a solid-end drift. For this reason, when using the hollow drift I'll only apply about 80% of the force with my press that I'd apply when using the solid drift.

When completely dry, the properly combined mixture is soft, fluffy, and powdered. Any lumps are soft and crumble easily between the soft spatula and the side of the bowl. The dry, properly combined mixture should not need to be screened. After the fuel is above the spindle, I switch to the solid drift. Now I press the same 7-gram size increments in one pass up to the full 2200-psi reading on my gauge. Optional: Ball mill with two containers and two sets of media: one for fuel/catalyst and one for oxidizer.I keep the hollow rammer cleaned out as I press the fuels, because I never want to be pressing fuel up inside the rammer, between it and the spindle. In the article on making whistles, I illustrated the method for determining how much hydraulic press force to use with a solid drift. Applying 2200-psi of pressure according to my press's gauge results in an actual 7500-psi on the composition with the solid drift. Add the petroleum jelly to the potassium benzoate/iron oxide mix and stir the mixture until it becomes homogenous. Measure and pour about half of the required amount of Naphtha into the container with the melted Vaseline. Shake and/or stir until the Naphtha and Vaseline are thoroughly mixed. Pour the Naphtha & Vaseline mixture into the stainless mixing bowl with the Sodium Salicylate & Iron Oxide. Pour the rest of the required amount of Naphtha into the Vaseline melting container, swirl it around to rinse off the Vaseline residue, and add the rinse to the mix. Then I press three 7-gram increments of the strobe fuel with the hollow rammer, and one 4-gram increment of that fuel with the solid rammer, being very careful to not press past the safety-tape line on that rammer.