READER DISPLAYS IN 2000!
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It's great to see we weren't the only ones having fun with fireworks during 2000. In this section we report on a number of friends and readers displays, covering both Guy Fawkes and the eve of the "real" Millennium too. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to e-mail their experiences or send in video and pictures. Remember if you haven't already contributed you still can. We regularly use reader reports in our newsletters and periodically in special features like this, whether you just went to a display, or fired it. Adam and Gary produced some of the most incredible back garden displays we have ever seen. Join the UKFR today to see over 100 fly-on-the-wall action pictures from their displays! |
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Make no mistake, the guy on the left knows best, even as the firer's assistant he knows when a "special section for the lads" is about to start and takes sensible precautions! Members can click on the picture (left) to see Adam's display page featuring some of the most impressive "action" pictures from a back garden (aka. "Live from Beirut"). Worth the membership fee alone if you ask me! |
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Oh man, the picture on the left is just the START of Gary's display which turned out to be a back garden epic. Highlights include a TEN BLOCKBUSTER salvo. We had to edit the section down to just 80 pictures otherwise it would have never finished loading! Members can click on the picture (left) to see Gary's display page. Make no mistake this is one of the best back garden features you will ever see on the internet. |
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Tony had a more leisurely display but with huge 300+ shot cakes, a Triple H Bomb and Mars Nuke Attack, he rocked the neighbourhood! Members can click on the picture (left) to see Tony's display page. |
I've just opened up your web pages and seen the reports on the Neutron Pulse. I actually agree with your "Best Buy" judgement. This was a superb rocket. I sent up two in the middle of a large family firework "get together", one after the other. Both were exactly as your pictures on the web page. The first burst was not, as you state limp. It had a reasonable burst size, then just as your own review states a magic piece of tracers splitting twice over. The large family group gave them a resounding applause.
As they did with the Plasma Blast Rocket, which in my opinion was slightly better (bigger willow effect at the second burst) than the Neutrons. This could not be said of the Bright Star "Fighting Machine" three legged rocket. Very disappointing with a very small burst in a not too bright green colour and very little in the way of tracers or willow effect. For the size of head I expected a lot more and this was probably my only waste of money this year. I also had a couple of Crown Jewels, one a "dud", very small burst and no brocade, the second one though was lovely with a full sky burst and willow tree effect.
In fact, this year was an all Bright Star show, I lit up around £250 worth, mostly cakes and multi shot barrages and fountains. One surprise though, and this was my wife's choice. I am not a fan of wheels, but my wife liked the look of the Quasar Wheel, a large (1ft) wheel with four "motors" wired onto a wooden backing. This was actually quite entertaining, with different effects as the fountains burned down. There was crackling, silver stars and small coloured fountain ball effects. It ranked high in the marks.
Above: Ian's Quasar wheel in action
One mention must go to the "Atomic Warlord" 112 Shot Barrage. This had everything, air bombs, fountain balls, willow bursts and a very interesting effect of a spinning, mid air burst, in silver. I was so engrossed that I forgot to time it when it had finished ! It was pricey, but well worth the cost. Whistles, loud cheers and applause from all round
I also had an Armageddon and a Thundering Ion. The trouble is as firer I did not time the fireworks, but my wife kept a sort of score card of the fireworks and she has put 3 "stars" next to the Armageddon and one next to the Ion with the word "noisy". The Ion was certainly "white". 200 shots of silver tracers with a flash and a brocade burst at about 30 - 40 feet high, maybe higher. Very noisy with each one giving a very loud bang. I remember there was loud applause and one particular comment of ".... Bloody Hell ...." from one of the family.
The Armageddon was my finale, and what a finale. It followed on from the Atomic Warlord. Although the tubes were only about 5" in height, this thing gave a surprising amount of varied effects. At first I though it would not last long as the first set of shots (out of 500) rapidly fired like a machine gun, then it slowed to about 3 a second, until a final burst. There were flash reports, especially in the first burst, plenty of palm type burst in all colours, a few very high brocades, whistles, crackles, an effect that I saw from a few of the other cakes of a burst that then spirals silver traces in mid air, then a final brocade of many air bursts. This got 3 stars from the wife. There was oohs and aahs all through this thing.
Above: Armageddon after firing, showing the numerous and varied bores.
I've reviewed the list and tried to remember the other Ooohs and Aaahs, and the following all had good "marks" :
Wrath Of The Gods 32 shot barrage.
Hell Fire 19 shot barrage (loud !!, this is when my brother's neighbors
realised why he had pre-warned them about the show).
Seismic Strike 60 shot barrage.
Big Bahooma Mine (this is one of those that starts off as a very small
fountain, you think to yourself, oh "dear" ! then all hell breaks loose
in one almighty explosion, we loved the name !).
Asteroid Encounters 19 shot barrage.
Castle Attack 72 shot air bomb (very noisy according to the notes).
And of course the previously mentioned Atomic Warlord and Armageddon.
Above: Ian says "We think this is the Red Weed Fountain, although it does look more silver than red ! Scale wise if you look to the left, on the ground is a 19 shot cake, the tree further left is about 12ft high."
We also had our duds :
Above: "Plutonium Pulse that finished early, then smouldered, then burst into flames. We had to use the hose on that one."
Above: "Stratosphere Pulse that blew it's side out."
One of the medium rockets from the Universal Celebration Set blew up 4 feet after launch. Union Jack Fountain (wife picked this one !) .... Red, White and .... No Blue !! One Crown Jewels rocket (very small burst, 2nd one was huge). A Star Finder 56 shot barrage (fountain type, quiet one, shoots coloured balls into the sky with glitter tails). I had two of these on one post for double the effect, but one of the fuses went out just at the point of entry in the casing. We left it until the next day and I believe it's still in a bucket of water at the bottom of my brother's garden.
Above: Overall Ian had a very successful and enjoyable display with his Bright Star arsenal - except for the cleaning up of course!
All pictures of Ian's display kindly supplied by Ian Stewart. Pictures ©2000 Ian Stewart.
Sorry to hear that Nov 5th down South was not too good regarding the weather. However in anticipation of bad weather in the NE I too let a good deal of fireworks off on the Saturday evening. On Sunday Nov 5th I knew bad weather was on its way northwards and thought that it would probably hit us at around 7pm, luckily it held off until 8.30pm and I managed to get all my fireworks set off in time.
Above: One of Neville's fireworks explodes into life. As the ancient UKFR saying goes: "He who lets off a cake next to a greenhouse is very brave man" ;-)
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Above: Neville uses Cosmic's Crackling Comet and Neutron Bomb cakes to great effect. It's great to see readers using simple techniques such as pairing cakes up to give a stunning display.
Above: Here he adds in a colourful rocket effect to spice things up.
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Above: Cosmic's Space Aliens creates colour stars which transform into spinning silver wheels, giving off loads of bright glitter.
There was a lot of firework activity spread over the whole weekend, and I would estimate the split for Sat/Sun nights in the NE being 40/60% respectively. Yes another vote of thumbs down for the Neutron Pulse from me as well, after reading your review it was a toss up between the BS Crown Jewels or the BS Neutron Pulse and I bought the latter. What made it even worse was that I had primed everyone on what a finale this rocket would make, and that I had seen the video clips and reviews to back this up. [We've downgraded this accordingly and made your video available for other readers, thanks - Pete]
Above: Neville kindly gave the UKFR the video proof that Neutron Pulse is a much less powerful rocket now than the one reviewed in 1999. See the Neutron action page for more.
My favourites this year were: Sky Monkey with Exploding Coconuts - Lasts forever. Cosmic's Mega Bomb single shot air bomb - bright silver tailed comet which tuns into a bang of around the same impact as a 2.5" salute shell in my opinion. Silver Fish in Blue Sea - from Golden Lion £9.99 - large bore 25 shot cake which blasts shell out like a mine with small blue stars (the blue sea) when shells explode at a good height they produce a good burst of silver wigglies (fish). Great firework has anyone else had one?
Neville also popped along to a few professional displays. Here we showcase some of the superb effects created...
This is a local "Proms in the park" display in Middlesborough, August 2000.
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Above: Most professional displays use either very large shells, or a volley of smaller ones. In this display there was a fantastic section where they were throwing up just a few at a time - but the double effects from each one were beautiful. Static shots just don't do these justice. Above, a really pretty and persistent centre of gold tracers while the silver comets then take a life of their own, swirling off in all directions.
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Above: Another great double effect - starting with one of the most intense purple/blue explosions, then the silver tadpoles take off screeching too! Superb. If anyone knows the type or brand of these shells let us know, we'd love to showcase some more.
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Above: From bright red then to bright green. Sky-filling excellence.
Above: Three huge breaks of silver flares. Makes Neutron Pulse look a bit tame doesn't it?
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Above: Phew! Building up to a manic climax. Wait until you see the video clips too.
The next one is a local firework display in Middlesborough to celebrate the re-opening of a Victorian park fountain. I thought this would only be a small scale display especially since it was not widely advertised and the display did start in this manner with fountains, cakes and volleys of small shells. However after a good 15 minutes things started to heat up. This is only the last 5 mins of the display, and it ends with a long lasting finale that was on par with the best I have seen.
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Above: This display had a good mix of ground based effects and aerial volleys. Coupled with the coloured fountain lighting at the bottom it created some amazing visuals. Above we see gerbs (professional fountains) then some massive bag mines fired from mortar tubes.
Above: Here's what Neville means by volleys of shells. There's at least four breaking in the above shot. This level of activity was maintained for some time!
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Above: More shell volleys from the finale.
Many thanks to Neville for kindly supplying footage and details of his firework exploits in 2000.
Guy Fawkes:
Wow! What a display! Clear skies and not a breath of wind. It all went OK and safely. There was only one screech rocket that didn't take off but all the rest of the fireworks went well.
I tied the proton bombs and stealth bombers to stakes and all the cakes I put between bricks. We let off all the screeches first to get them out of the way because there was so many! They got boring to people after the first few so we let them off first. It was fun though to keep letting them off! The only thing I didn't let off was the M3000 as no tube was large enough so I'll save that one. Not all fireworks lived up to expectations. I will now say which fireworks performed well and which didn't:- you can read Craig's second opinions on his massive firing list in issue 17 of our newsletter.
New Year:
The atomic boom [Standard] cake was good, like Glitterblitz with 6 extra bangs and just as loud! A lot cheaper too! The star thunder was brilliant also, just like Thunderking and atomic, same red and green stars. Thundery stars and meteorite cake were similar with a few bangs and lots of multi colour, a nice combination!
The millennium magic [Black Cat] was not at all what I thought it would be. This only had a few bangs but lots of pretty quiet effects and spinners. A couple of effects were sensational like I've never seen before like silver fireflies breaking and then taking off in all directions. I can't really explain it! overall this was not really loud and I preferred the big ben bomb but this had quite a good mix off effects unlike the big ben bomb which just had loads of bangs and loads of colour the same. The millennium magic was not worth £28 though. I would only pay say £15 in future.
Guy Fawkes:
My display went very well on November 4th, including many excellent fireworks not least "Bomb Blast Missiles", "Blockbuster" candles and "Glittering Gemstones".
The Millennium Air Thunder rockets were also excellent value, echoing round the neighbourhood. My Kimbolton Titan Rocket pack certainly offered value for money at £25.99 for 10 rockets, however the advertised bangs did not materialise. The smaller rockets that looked like Hercules turned out to be star effects (although this was to be expected having read the labels). The two black rockets were somewhat embarrassing, producing fine gold stars with a "phut" noise.
The star of the evening however was definitely Golden Lion's "Frightened Ducks with Abundant Wind" which I managed to find at Tyler's of Loughborough priced at £7. The noise was unlike any other whistling firework, and certainly duck-like! Visual effects were engaging also. This firework was a talking point long after the display had finished.
I'm sorry I don't have another to set off at New Year! I wonder if other Golden Lion fireworks are up to this standard. The £1.99 Sky Screamer packs from Red Dragon (10 rockets) were amazing value!
New Year:
I had to significantly curtail my display, not because I couldn't let them off in the wind and rain, but because I couldn't persuade my audience to come outside for more than five minutes!
I started with a Standard Glitterblitz which I thought was extremely loud, with some glitter on ascent and more with each report. The echo of each report was not unlike the effect with a signal rocket - recommended. I then fired two Bright Star B-52 double effect rockets. Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what effects were printed on them, however the first produced a coloured peony followed by flashing white stars, with a short whistle between as described in your review. This received good audience reaction. The second B-52 produced another coloured peony and then nothing (not even a whistle). There was a pregnant pause as we watched the dying ember fall in the distance - very disappointing! I believe it was supposed to produce a crackling effect which would have been nice.
My final firework of the night was a Black Cat SIB No. 1, which I bought for £24.96 from Homebase. This subjected the audience to a relentless overhead barrage which certainly welcomed the New Year in with some style! The effects were assorted starbursts, each with a loud report. Although we all enjoyed the SIB, I noticed when I was clearing up that 20 of the 100 shots had not fired. I filled each of these tubes with water and left them to thoroughly soak before disposal (the firework was pretty soggy by this time anyway because of the rain).
The SIB seemed particularly suitable for New Year's Eve, however I've seen a lot of Black Cat Millennium Magic and Big Ben Bomb's on sale for £28 or so and wondered if you or any of your readers have any views on these.
Since then I've started firing one or two of my remaining fireworks. I'm particularly impressed by a small sleeve of 5 Millennium Sky Bomb rockets I bought for £3.50, in a pack labelled "Meteor". These launch impressively and the flash report is surprisingly loud for such cheap rocket - I think they compare favourably with Kimbolton Hercules rockets which cost over three times as much. The Sky Bomb rocket's report is loud enough to set dogs barking a long distance away!
Guy Fawkes:
We all had a storming party and so did the neighbours hanging out of their windows, followed by serious trancemania mayhem in my basement 'nightclub'. All I can remember from that is scooping various CD's and vinyl off the floor the next day! [Lucky bastard! - Pete]
Read Lee's extensive firework feedback in issue 19 of our newsletter.
Overall audience impression was that they didn't expect that sort of display in a garden, everybody said it launched the party big style. The display cost approx. £350 and was worth it, those moments although short are priceless. I reckon I would have done better with more smaller rockets. With rockets,it's not just the effect, but the launch, and launching six space trekker rockets rather than one £15 rocket would have been much more dramatic.
The Great western was fab, when you're watching a dramatic firework, anything seems to short, so I'm not sure how long it lasted.
New year:
I said I was going to take some photos of some fireworks for my new years party, what with the hecticness of organising the party which was combined with my friends birthday party combined with trying to get stuff in the sales, the thought was further to the back of my mind, but I still have the vast majority of my fireworks left since at midnight down here in Watford the weather timed it's downpour to a tee and with strong winds too, I only let a few off, and didn't take any photo's unfortunately.
An imperial salute, which proceeded to fire the first barrage of five shells, then stopped! A dud! Oh no! I had another one though, and brought this out, which went up a treat, a luvvely display of five shells at a time, each burst of five had a different colour, I noted white, red, green, purple...There were eight bursts, impeccably timed, the next barrage launching just as the previous shells had exploded. The launches were about 30 feet high. We all loved this firework.
I then let off the 19 shot green tailed fish [Kimbolton], which was very pretty and powerful, each shell launched as green, and burst into silver stars. Very nice, I think this is one you let off with maybe a red willow, or some other firework to get some variation. That was the lot, so I still have about £200 pounds worth of fireworks left!
After that, had a fab party in my basement disco, don't remember much else after 2.00am though...
July 4th:
I just wanted to let you know that I'm a transplanted yank and I put on a 4th of July show again this year and it went great - I lit a staggering £575 worth of fireworks.
I had some Millennium Rockets and they didn't do as well this year. I also had some Bright Star rockets and cakes and they were wonderful. Last but not least I had Kimbolton mixed pack that I won't get again I had also their MT Vesuvius mine pack that was well worth it.
For the grand finale, I had Kimbolton's Northern Lights connected to two large brightstar cakes and two brightstar big booma cakes. I have some video, but its not that good, it doesn't do it justice. The 90 or so people that attended really enjoyed the 15 minute show.
New Year:
We did go ahead and fire off our lot! It was just slightly raining and no wind. The show lasted about 7 minutes or so. The rain did hamper my fusing though and had to re-light some of them. They went off with reluctance.
The Armageddon was good, but I think it would have been better if it wasn't wet. All the rockets were real good, even the war of the worlds ones. We also had several air bombs including the Stealth Bomb, which were pretty good. All in all, we had several spectators that yelled in great appreciation.
I'm now looking forward to my next 4th of July show, which should prove to be even bigger and better!
I was intrigued to see that it seems fireworks have obviously caught on as a means to mark the new year celebration. Even under atrocious weather conditions we could see and hear plenty of evidence of both large and small private affairs around the skies at midnight.
Unfortunately, even though the temperature was just above zero, we had terrible weather conditions, driving freezing rain, with ice underfoot and ground so frozen you needed an iron bar to make a hole for pegs. We live within sight of Shawbury in Shropshire which is notorious for cold night temperatures. So, we saved our prepared sequenced display of about 30 fireworks for more clement and safer conditions.
On the strength of the comments you obtained for me on the Armageddon 500, this was going to be the finale. As we were all itching to see something, we let this off because we got something spectacular with just one fuse. I can confirm that this cake (more like a wagon wheel) is worth the forty pounds. It has a huge mixture of effects reaching varying heights from 20 to an estimated 50/60 feet. Ours lasted about 80 seconds and judging by some of the other reviews, may have been a slow one because it seemed to slow down as if it was about to climax to an end about two thirds of the way through.
What's really interesting is that the rate of fire changes a number of times probably five or six times and there are so many different effects that you don't really know what's coming next. Fascinating. I don't have much experience on the proper names for effects, but describe them as:- Silver flash reports, ear piercing screeches/whistles, red and I think green balls, crackles, long tailed comets, glistening brocade effects, palm bursts and an effect a little like tourbillions but they traced wiggles in the air rather than uniform spirals of sparks. There were a number of colours but predominantly bright red and silver. All in all a great cake which I recommend you review personally, because I'm sure you could describe it better. It is so varied that you'd have to video it or see it a few times to provide a full description.
Last year we had a Black Cat SIB as a finale. I think No 3 as it cost close on £60. I preferred the Armageddon. The finale may not have been so loud but the unpredictability and varied fire rate of the 500 wins out. Also a safe cake with no burning or glowing fallout.
You are not kidding about the weather! Here in Birmingham yesterday we had snow in the afternoon which cleared up only to change to very heavy rain on and off up to about 11pm. By midnight it had all but cleared apart from a very light drizzle (what a relief!).
I started off by letting off 30 Cosmic "Sky Patrol" screech rockets (£1.99 for 10) (I stick to rockets, a) because I like them, and b) we do not have much room in the garden (OK, no lectures about safety distances :) the school playing field just over the road serves as a good fall-out zone :), and I can dive for cover behind the shed if one does not take off (never happened - yet!) ).
I managed to let off eight screech rockets at a time! Let me explain: I have made a rocket rack from two lengths of 15mm copper pipe which are clipped (with the same clips that secure central heating pipes to the wall - leave a fair distance between the top of the pipe and the first clip, so that the clip does not get too badly melted!) to a length of 1.5" x 0.75" wood, this gives about 3" separation between the tubes. The length of wood is then strapped to an old photographic tripod (which is held down with a 10Kg weight). This gives you very good control of the launch angle. I then strapped on two extra 10" lengths of 15mm copper pipe to the tops of the tubes with cable ties. Two screech rockets in each tube gives you a total of eight rockets in a row, arrange the fuses so that they all face you, "wipe" a portfire flame across the fuses and you have all eight fizzing - still with plenty of time to get away.
I was very impressed with the Cosmic Sky Patrol rockets, the screech was deafening (it was at that frequency that really assaults your eardrums), the height that they attained was impressive for such a small rocket and the bang was reasonable (although your hearing had been so assaulted by the screech that you could not hear much! :) ).
One point worth mentioning about this rocket rack: The 15mm copper tubes were OK for all the rockets I set off (Kimbolton Maroon, Medusa and Titan (the four filler rockets are disappointing!), Golden Lion "Thunder Hawk" and Cosmic "Fab") but some of the longer (and fatter sticks) had some resistance when they were tried in the tubes (the day before). This was not because the sticks were too fat, but because they were bent! Gentle bending in the opposite direction soon cured this problem, but maybe this is worth mentioning when thinking about the design of rocket racks. With this rack you can set off two rockets with ease, just have the motors facing each other and bend the fuses toward each other.
Setting the rockets off this way also revealed anther aspect of the quality of the KF products - their consistency. The rockets would chase each other on the way up, exploding at virtually the same point in the sky - very impressive with a pair of Medusa's!
I finished my new-year's display this year with a Kimbolton giant flash report rocket (purchased from the HFM shop). The first thing to mention is that it is no longer a plain card tube as illustrated on the Kimbolton and HFM web sites. The motor is now separate from the "warhead", in a black plastic holder which also holds the stick. The "warhead" (I think that it is the best description for this type or rocket!) is red with black printing, "Signal Rocket" is printed along its length and it is capped off with a translucent plastic cap (I guess that filling it with 2oz of flash powder is the last stage in its manufacture!).
The rocket rose straight and true to a good height and exploded with a pleasing chest thumping boom :-) The flash of the explosion is worth mention. It differed from that of the Super Blitznall video on your web site, the Kimbolton rocket produced a very brief perfectly circular flash, visible only for an instant disappearing without trace (as opposed to the "sparks" that follow the flash on the Blitznall video). As soon as the rocket exploded, a car alarm went off nearby - OK, I admit not a scientific test, but too much of a coincidence? How about a head to head of these £10 "bombs on sticks" to find the "biggest bang for your buck"?
A final tip - use wooden skewers for portfire handles - they are just the right size.
Had a great display. After spending around £450 on my display, I found a couple of important lessons, one of which is do not buy big rockets (£15 each) as I had two and they were both absolutely **it, total waste of money.
Luckily all other fireworks were brilliant, I had the Sandling £210 pack again which works well for an all round base upon which to build. Best buy has to be Cosmic STARSHELLS, these were fantastic value for money costing £10 for five, each of which had four shots, which went high in the air with a very loud bang and very pretty and wide spread of coloured stars, then ending the show with a black cat SIB no.3 followed by my favourite, the black cat SIB no.1.
The only problem is that this is now my second real display and each time it costs more and more - already planning some latice work and a flying pig (from World of Fireworks) as an addition to the next one.
Many thanks Pete, the Triple H-Bomb was something special, well worth a best buy and then some.
Plus, all your fireworks had good fuses unlike some cheapskates out there. I thought that the small Kimbolton crackling fountains £2.50 were a pleasant surprise and out-performed the £6 Millennium version because of the bigger brighter sparks. What's the bigger version like? [See the review - Pete]
The only disappointment were the spinning banshees which did not sound as loud as some similar priced Bright Star pack of a few years back. But overall a great display and thanks again.
In my small garden display this year, I had the Aurora Borealis and Glittering Gem Stones from Kimbolton. Myself and friends found the Glittering Gems more attractive and dramatic even though it does not last as long. Especially at the end, where it builds up to a large colourful display with loud crackles, whereas the Aurora Borealis had less of a "finale".
I also had a pack of Medusa rockets, which I thought were excellent. Each rocket produced different effects and a satisfyingly loud explosion. The size of my garden restricted me to Garden Fireworks, and I chose the Kimbolton Gold box again this year. In my view this is one of the best selection of fireworks in this range, even the small ones produce pleasingly big results and I have never had one not to go off.
Just writing to thank you guys for the great advice on your website. My dad and I have just finished clearing the 100's of shell casings scattered over the lawn. It was probably the first year that I could say that there was not one damp squib - and £300 buys a lot of fireworks.
Triple H bomb was superb. The Bright Star 24/36 shot cakes were also very impressive, I can see why a stake was supplied with them, the lifting charges sounded like airbombs! Millennium's EE-BEE-GE-BEE was a scorcher (no pun intended).
Our supplier also threw in a Super Blitznall for free! Holy cow, this is LOUD. It knocked Millennium's Air Thunder into cocked hat and was easily as loud as a 3" salute. My non-pyro mate's only words were 'Wow.' I noticed however that the Blitznall supplied was different to the one on your website. My version had the stick attached to the motor, which was protruding from the bottom.
I insisted that we used portfires this year - as advised on your website, they really are good. It's a bit of a shame that they're not 3 foot long, as they don't last that long. Anyway thanks again for the info on your site, keep up the great work.
I thought I would give you some details of our belated New Years Eve display held last night 06/01/2001.
Hell Raiser rocket (Brightstar) - Not bad, reasonably
loud bang for the cost ( £3.99).
Colour Chrysanthemum (Red Dragon) - Same size as Black Cats 25 shot
cakes. A good selection of different coloured star bursts.
Mighty Cobra (Vulcan/Maverick) - Liked this one. Gold palm tree effect
with comet tail on ascent.
Special Troops ( Vulcan ) - Orange & green spirals with whistles. Quite
good duration.
Bonanza Candle ( Vulcan - Silver coconuts ) - Really good, silver glitter
with crackle increasing in intensity as it ascends.
Sky Monkey with Exploding Coconuts (Golden Lion) - Excellent. Intense
effect that lasted for ages.
Silver Pyramid (Black Cat) - Excellent. Reached a height of around 20
feet as stated in your review.
Laser Bombard (Brothers Pyrotechnic/ Fireworks International) - This
was listed as Laser Thunder in the catalogue so I was dubious if it
was the same as in your review. I think it must be because it gave a
good duration of large scale effects including multi colour stars, whistles
, glitter, crackles , bangs etc.
Aurora Borealis (Kimbolton) - Brilliant as always. Definitely the best
fountain around, especially at the cost.
Spinning Banshee Wheels (Kimbolton) - I really like these. They always
revolve without sticking and the wailing screech is ear piercing.
Thunderbolt Double Airbomb ( Firework Factors ) - These look the same
height and bore as the Brightstar Proton Bombs. This gives 2 really
good bangs and I was extremely pleased to hear a nearby car alarm start
immediately after the first bang.
I was really impressed by both the Comet [Millennium] and Medusa [Kimbolton]
rockets that I had bought. Both performed very well for the cost with
effects like Gold Brocade and silver stars changing to a twinkling sphere,
similar to the King Cobra. These sort of effects are amazing for the
cost of these.
The 2 Black Cat Sky Sovereign rockets ( Silver Glitter & Brocade Crown
) performed quite well With quite a good spread and a good hang time
for the Brocade.
The Atomic Meltdown rocket (Brightstar ) was very good with a similar
double break effect to the Neutron pulse but only costing £6.99.
Finally, I used a Black Cat Whoppa ( White Willow) rocket to finish
which I felt was well worth the expense for the good loud bang and large
spread of twinkling silver stars.
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