Smoke and gunfire?

[Eddy Matthews]

Has anyone figured out a way to produce realistic amounts of black smoke for a paddler - Not the wimpy white smoke that most smoke generators churn out? If so, please share details here as I'd love to add it to a model I have in mind....

I'd also like to get some cannons to flash, maybe give a puff of smoke, and add a sound generator to simulate cannon fire. Can anyone help with that?

Regards
Eddy

[Talisman]

Hi Eddy,
Have you seen this article?
http://www.ehow.com/how_6135685_make-colorful-smoke-bombs.html

Maybe soak a piece of lint, allow to dry  use nichrome wire as ignition?

Only an idea. I  haven't really got time to experiment with it but If some one does come up with black smoke it would be great

Regards,
Kim

[Eddy Matthews]

It sounds a bit dodgy for use inside a model Kim! Mind you, it would certainly produce plenty of smoke as the model went up in flames and sank

Regards
Eddy

[Harold H. Duncan]

Eddy,
I have some details of canon's which use party poppers as the bang and smoke. Also some smoke generators Ive been fiddling with for my upcoming Waikato river paddler, which is an 1864 vintage boiler and engines, and they ran on local coal, which is notorious for its production of black smoke and soot. Same coal source as Wanganui Paddler Waimarie still uses.
Will dig it all out as soon as I can find it. Am still in the final stages of moving house and trying to unpack my modelling stuff at the moment.
Hopefully over the coming week it will appear
cheers
Kiwi

[Talisman]

Mind you, it would certainly produce plenty of smoke as the model went up in flames and sank

Regards
Eddy

Sounds pretty realistic to me. Ok, so it may be a pain making a new model every week. 

[Eddy Matthews]

Thanks Kiwi,

I'd never thought of party poppers.... If you can find the stuff on black smoke that would certainly be appreciated!

Regards
Eddy

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi Eddy,
Still trying to sort my office/workshop, but try this link for working cannon.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1136541

Not the party-poppers, but will start you off.

Will keep looking for the article and once I've sorted things will post some info on black smoke. My experiments where cut short just before Christmas, but will continue very soon.
Dribbs and drabbs I'm afraid, but still looking
cheers
kiwi

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=520465

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1048580

http://home.comcast.net/~dplewandowski/site/?/home/

[Harold H. Duncan]

Back again,
must have been a couple of senior moments holding hands there for a while.
Jimmy James, on Model Boat Mayhem, was the originator of the party-popper canon, Eddy.

Larry you saw the pictures of the cannon I use ...they are normal model brass guns or carrionads .. I bore them out to 4mm and then bore a 2nd x 1.5mm hole in the breach of the gun (as the gun has virtually no pressure on it when fired you don't need a heavy weight of metal also there is no recoil) in UK you can buy party poppers in most super markets ...To charge the guns i stick a bit of fuse wire through the breach and pick up the firing string on the popper the gun is then put in position and the firing cord (or cords) are attached to a servo ... when the servo is activated it pull the string ... for more smoke put a bit of talc down the muzzle For more modern turret guns use 4mm brass tube ,cap the end and drill a 1.5mm hole in the breach Turrets with 2 or 3 guns in them should have the firing cords slightly different lengths ...the same applies if you are firing broad sidesJimmy
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27317.0

Has a couple of other threads and photos as well - do a search - party poppers on the forum.
cheers
kiwi

[Eddy Matthews]

That's brilliant Harry - I've now got quite a bit of reading to do with all that lot to browse!

Many thanks
Eddy

[Walter Snowdon]

Hello folks. Ref. the ehow article on making smoke bombs. DONT GO DOWN THAT ROAD. What you have is a BOMB. If for some reason the mixture is contained (ie in a funnel etc) the rate of burn could turn it into a shrapnel bomb and you are minus  an eye or a limb. This mixture is the basis of all terrorist bombs and should not be tampered with. BE WARNED. I have seen the result of detonating this type of contraption both accidental and deliberate and it is not a pretty sight. Sorry to be a killjoy but when you have searched a bomb scene you get to be VERY cautious. Regards, Walterr.

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi Walter,
I was not advocating any sort of mixing for making canon sound and smoke. I referenced Jimmy James' article because he uses party-poppers, and even these should be used very cautiously.
I especially do not suggest taking the gunpowder from fire-crackers either as a couple of friends at school did this and now have a finger or two missing.
I read the article on Mayhem I think your reffering to and thought Martin had deleted it.
The funnel smoke I have been playing with is totally safe, involves no mixing and once I've got it totally sorted will post on here.
cheers
kiwi

[Walter Snowdon]

Hello Kiwi. I wasnt critiscising - just urging caution! As well as being a Scenes of Crime officer up to retirement I was also a firearms officer in the VERY distant past. Have you seen the model wargaming using compressed gas to fire ball bearings at other models to sink them?. This has a large following in USA and I was approached by a fellow modeller to try and introduce it into the UK. As a formality I contacted the Home Office and back came the reply THIS IS A PROHIBITED WEAPON UNDER THE FIRARMS ACT AND CARRIES A TEN YEAR PRISON SENTENCE!!!! IN THE UK. How does USA and Australia get away with it!!!. Technicaly it is a machine gun! So different rule for different countries!
The best smoke maker I ever saw consisted of burning green garden twine in a funnel. this produces a very dense grey brown smoke in great volume. I saw it at the Model Engineers exhibition in London a few years ago. Ity produced more smoke than the live steam locos- so much so that it set of the Alexandra Palace smoke alarms and emptied the whole vast building! Consequently it wa banned from further demonstation. It was only fitted in a 44 inch trawler. Regards, Walter.

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi Walter,
No critiscisum taken, as I totally agree with you.
I don't know how the US and AU get away with them either. Not sure how they go with the law here in NZ. (spent to long living in AU, and only been home a few years).
Like the twine idea and will have a play. Here we get that twine in to different types, the old type, I think is hemp, and the new poly one. look very similar, but assume its the natural one.
Thanks for your input, very much appreciated
regards
kiwi

[Eddy Matthews]

No need to worry Walter, I for one, will not be building a model and stuffing it full of gunpowder!

The party poppers do look like a possibility though

Eddy

[mjt60a]

on the subject of highly dangerous explosives, I saw a similar demonstration to this* at the model engineer ex about 15 years ago...
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFOFBqXIGUg&feature=related