Bad Fireworks Finale

[displayfireworks1]

It would be great to get some opinions on this video. This is video from my most recent fireworks adventure. When we loaded this finale, each string of 10 shells was packaged in a plastic bag then placed in a box. I was not the one that opened the case the boxes were in so I do not know if it was a fresh case unopened from China or repackaged here in United States. What I do remember is the box a string of 10 was in did appear was wet at one time and dried. I do remember when we were loading these shells the fuse easily pulled out of at least two shells and we had to repair them. We also used other Flower King shells in the body, I noticed the fusing was sloppy. You will see that in the full video when it eventually releases.
The date code is May 02 2014 Liu Yang China. The shells are not that old to be in such poor condition. I often hear rumors of poor quality fireworks out of China during the "Rainy Season" . From what I read, it looks like the time of production it would be in southern China.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sv4wDui-QQg/Tg86dwk7G3I/AAAAAAAAAv0/RXO2vn4-BMI/s320/fireworks+center+in+China.jpg

"Rainy Season" applies to different parts of China at different times over the course of the spring and summer. If you will be in China between April and July and will be traveling around the country, then it is highly likely that you will hit rainy season in some part of China.

Rainy season starts in the south and moves north as the months go by. South China will be rainier earlier in the spring from April-May. The plum rains,梅雨 meiyu, or “may yoo” in Mandarin, nicknamed for the season when the fruit ripens, hit eastern China in May-June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRFg8Sal9sc
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My opinion on this Flower King fireworks needs to look at its quality control, considering the condition of these finale shells and the fusing on the single shells, it appears to body of the shell is made properly, however when it gets moved into fusing that is where the problem is. The one upside for Flower King on this finale is, each finale had male/female red/blue connector that made setup much quicker by just connecting. When you put good connectors on poor quality fuse it not as good practice.

[UniversalPyro]

Ive seen this from Kellners products 5'' shells once. Had to return them.

[Dion]

Dave that really SUCKS! I would be so pissed off. I have to say that when you made that comment about shift 1 I was laughing my ass off!! Looks like the product was damp. That quick match looks to have had taken fire and did nothing? Must have been damp. Just go's to show that everyone should always fully inspect the shells and there boxes they came in for signs of been wet. If you find the shit then test it first otherwise you will get F**cked at the show! I've never done a 1.3 show before but I felt your pain when that crap was failing you at the finally.

[displayfireworks1]

I may have covered some of this in the video that will eventually post. I remembered the fusing on all of this Flower King just looked sloppy, some of it had black electrical tape holding the electric match port on. I remember thinking the shells looked ok but the fuse looked bad. It really makes you mad when the finale on a display does not go well.

[CTPYRO]

I just shot a show for Bay on Sunday night in Redding CT @ a country club.. yea it poured like hell and good to have plenty of plastic rolls on site. The finale had a ton of 2.5 stings 8/10 per case which had these blue and red connectors which made the process of loading alot quicker, but all the shells were also in bags as well like you mentioned. All of the 400 2.5's went up except for 1 which was stuck in the tube with no leader on it. The 3's,4's and 5's were not in bags although some of those failed to lift. I always wondered why some came with bags over the shells and others not.... interesting

[Dion]

The bags are mainly to keep the comp from escaping in the case the shell gets damaged. This keeps the friction ignition problem to a minimum. Comp leaking down to bottom of shell boxes and onto the bottom side of said box and the box being slid on the floor or other boxes are killing people so its a great practice. The bags will help with rain hitting them but the leader still needs to be protected.

[Northern Sky]

Separation of racks and securing of the quick match would help a lot.

Not to mention dropping the F-bombs and other vulgarity on video.

[PGH_Pyro]

F bomb schmeff bomb. vulgarity schmulgarity . who cares ?
you gotta say what you gotta say when the shit hits the fan .

[Northern Sky]

F bomb schmeff bomb. vulgarity schmulgarity . who cares ?
you gotta say what you gotta say when the shit hits the fan .

If you say so then.

Funny that you comment on the F-Bomb and not the technique.

I guess you missed that part because I didn't curse enough to make it stand out

[PGH_Pyro]

everyone has their own technique(s) . it's not my place to comment or critique on Dave's ways & means .

[CTPYRO]

I can't say seperation of racks would have made the difference... but the more connections you have the more likely it can break apart. I shot a show here in CT and all the finale chains had these plastic connectors to make the set up nice and quick. There were 3 rows of racks from 2.5 to 5" on the finale and after hitting all 3 the last one had to be hit 3 times do to breaks in the chain.

[displayfireworks1]

I apologize for my behavior, its just very frustrating to see this sort of thing. For what is worth, when you watch my videos you see it like it is most of time. I could have edited the video but I chose not to.
I sent my video to the Flower King contact listed on the website. They did respond and ask me a series of questions about rain and any other similar problems. Bad 1.3 fireworks coming out of China is nothing new. If you think about it how many people other than me are out there video documenting their 1.3 finales and set ups. This is why more and more people I know are starting to look more at quality 1.3 fireworks rather than the cheapest 1.3 fireworks. The downside of quality fireworks is , when everyone flocks to purchase them the companies start to contract out the work to other fireworks companies to keep up with demand, then the quality drops. It is a strange cycle, the more I use 1.3 fireworks the more I may be in favor of AFSL approved products.

[joewad]

Mosture is my enemy. Yoiu will never know where in the chain that this occurred

[Dion]

I still believe that shift one needs to PAY THE **** ATENTION!! LOL!!!