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MINES
No, we're not talking about land mines or anti-ship mines. Mines are fireworks that are placed into tubes like aerial shells, and when ignited, fire an upward fan-shape blast of colored stars into the sky. They are really beautiful, but are extremely rare on the consumer market. Fortunately, however, they're incredibly simple to make by yourself.
Materials
-cardboard
-Kraft paper
-1 foot piece of 1¼" PVC pipe
-hot glue gun and glue
-plastic baggies (zip lock or whatever...)
-2Fg black powder
-quickmatch
-visco fuse
-firecrackers
Professional mines are usually made of plastic bags filled with effects, but we're going to use paper canisters. Cut several strips of Kraft paper 15" long by 5½" wide. These will be used to make the cans. Find some cardboard (from just a regular old cardboard box), put the PVC pipe up to it, and use a pencil to trace several circles. Cut them out. Now take the Kraft paper strips and wrap them around the PVC pipe, gluing down the edge. It should wrap around about three times. Slid the paper about 1" off the end of the pipe, and place one of the cardboard circles into it until it lies against the pipe. Cover it in hot glue, and fold the paper down over it. Hold it for about 20 seconds or so till the glue dries, then slide the canister off the pipe.
Now you're done with canister and can begin making the lift assembly. First, cut yourself a 1' piece of quickmatch, then a 4" piece of visco. Insert 1" of the visco into the quickmatch, then wrap electrical tape around the connection. The 3" of exposed visco will give you about 7 seconds to run once you light the fuse. You can make it longer if you wish. Now, carefully place 1½ teaspoons of 2Fg black powder into a plastic baggie, and tilt it so all of the powder goes down to one of the corners. Use scissors to cut the bag about 1" above the level of the power. Be careful not to spill any. Take the bare end of the quickmatch and insert it into the bag as far as you can, then tape the edges of the bag to the quickmatch. Only tape it so it's secure, not tight enough so it will prevent the fire from the fuse from reaching the bag. Now insert the bag/fuse assembly into the paper canister. You can then fill the remaining area of the canister with firecrackers. Kind of like a piñata, only not. Fill it with fireworks till there's about ½-1" left of space at the top, then fold down the layers of paper to keep them from falling out. The mine is ready for use.
These mines can be used in any shell launching tube. Hold the mine by the fuse and carefully lower it into the tube, light the fuse, and get away. The visco will burn for a few seconds, then ignite the quickmatch which will instantaneously travel down to the lift charge, shooting the firecrackers into the air. Besides firecrackers, you could also use jumping jacks, small pieces of fuse, or small pieces of wire sparklers.