Rocket Racks - Intro
A rocket rack in its simplest form is any device that can hold one or more rockets ready to fly. Most of the rocket racks that are in use fall into three categories:
- Clustered flight
- Individually fired
- Chained event
Clustered flight racks enable many rockets to take off at the same time usually by covering a flash pan with black powder. This enables one to fire many rockets of assorted sizes into the air in a grand finale style. They can be very useful, but they do have draw backs. Often racks fired this way send most of the rockets up at once, but due to the ignition method some stay and fly out one by one over time making the effect by itself anticlimactic. Using this rack as part of a finale followed by additional effects covers the slow finish and rounds out the effect nicely.
Individually fired racks hold one or more rockets enabling a shooter to fire them quickly without having to make a trip to the ready box to reload. This technique is often used with large rockets whose effect can stand on their own. A great use for this is to fill space in a show.
Chained event racks enable a shooter to choreograph a set of events to take place having only to light one fuse. Such racks can be used to fill blocks of time and put on quite a show. Often a Chained event rack functions by one of two methods, either the exhaust from the previous rocket ignites the next rockets fuse or the rack is fused together with a single timing fuse that connects all the events together. Because this is probably the most versatile of the rocket racks lets take a look at its construction.
First let’s explore the timed event model and some variations. If you break this category down by size then you’ll have a rack for small rockets bottle rockets and 1oz varieties. A medium size rack that can handle bigger rockets between 4 and 8oz; but also accommodate bottle rockets. And large racks made for 8oz and bigger rockets, often having large headings. Each size has its own place in the show and can accomplish something that the next cannot. The small rockets fill the sky and often stay low to the ground. Although they do not often have a large burst radius they can be used to fill the sky below larger Arial effects. The medium sized rack stands alone providing a medium height and burst radius and can be used to excite the audience early in the display. Larger racks match well with Roman candle batteries completing a wall of color and fire.
Posted to: General Topics - Content Help