Back in the mid-fifties, when I was at school, it was easy to get what you needed to make "bangers" and rockets. It was available in high street chemists, I got mine from Boots. A mortar and pestle "recycled" from the science lab was always handy. Our speciality, was a banger tied to a rocket.
An army cadet friend a few years older, one year, was able to recycle a few thunderflashes. These were quite spectacular at a Bonfire Night gathering.
A golfing pal ten years older than I told me about his experiences. His father was in the Home Guard and was in charge of the ammunition, which he kept in his garden shed. Mostly 303 cartridges.
After the war, no one came to collect it. The contents could be used to make quite spectacular bangers. He and his friends used to put them under galvanised dustbins and lay a fuse. He said the explosion would send a dustbin up in the air, which would come down barrel shaped.
A friend of mine broke the family washbasin in their bathroom with a hand grenade.
We were developing some films in the bathroom and he used a deactivated hand grenade an uncle had given him placed on the bottom of the blind on the windowsill, to stop it moving, as we were using it to block out the light. A gust of wind made the blind move and the grenade rolled off the windowsill and went straight through the basin.
An army cadet friend a few years older, one year, was able to recycle a few thunderflashes. These were quite spectacular at a Bonfire Night gathering.
A golfing pal ten years older than I told me about his experiences. His father was in the Home Guard and was in charge of the ammunition, which he kept in his garden shed. Mostly 303 cartridges.
After the war, no one came to collect it. The contents could be used to make quite spectacular bangers. He and his friends used to put them under galvanised dustbins and lay a fuse. He said the explosion would send a dustbin up in the air, which would come down barrel shaped.
A friend of mine broke the family washbasin in their bathroom with a hand grenade.
We were developing some films in the bathroom and he used a deactivated hand grenade an uncle had given him placed on the bottom of the blind on the windowsill, to stop it moving, as we were using it to block out the light. A gust of wind made the blind move and the grenade rolled off the windowsill and went straight through the basin.
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lol!
We made our own explosives from information in encyclopedias (remember what they were?). We had three main grades of gun powder recipes, and flash powder(magnesium powder). Removing the powder from "fire crackers" and Fireworks made more raw material for us to survive experimenting with. We brought back some "M-80s from the USA, those were ... interesting. Local police were convinced someone was discharging a shotgun.
The slow burning gunpowder was melted down into straw sized lengths, they made very reliable fuses, cut to select time.
What we did then would be mind-blowing to today's youth. But we were careful and would never hurt anyone, I can't say this would be true today.
A thunderflash, probably called a "Flash-bang" here. Too much excitement I would say! lol!
We made our own explosives from information in encyclopedias (remember what they were?). We had three main grades of gun powder recipes, and flash powder(magnesium powder). Removing the powder from "fire crackers" and Fireworks made more raw material for us to survive experimenting with. We brought back some "M-80s from the USA, those were ... interesting. Local police were convinced someone was discharging a shotgun.
The slow burning gunpowder was melted down into straw sized lengths, they made very reliable fuses, cut to select time.
What we did then would be mind-blowing to today's youth. But we were careful and would never hurt anyone, I can't say this would be true today.
A thunderflash, probably called a "Flash-bang" here. Too much excitement I would say! lol!
Chemistry sets were popluar back then and most boys had one. Some sets came with the ingredients to make gun powder and the recipe could be found in the encylopedia.
And you could always get more ingredients from the drug store when the chemisrty set ran out.
So we made our own "bangers" and a favorite used the aluminum can that 35mm camera film came in, which made quite a loud bang compared to the premade stuff.
We used to take our old plastic model kit cars and trucks to the beach and blow them up just for fun.
And you could always get more ingredients from the drug store when the chemisrty set ran out.
So we made our own "bangers" and a favorite used the aluminum can that 35mm camera film came in, which made quite a loud bang compared to the premade stuff.
We used to take our old plastic model kit cars and trucks to the beach and blow them up just for fun.
Sewerside: Death by talking too much crap.
Potassium chlorate got removed from labs and shops due to misuse... and I have mentioned joss sticks as delayed action fuses earlier in this thread, as in pranks on unsuspecting school toilet users.
And horizontal rockets on unsuspecting ladies groups....that was a bit rude.
We had ladies taking a crap in groups in the open spaces and fields, sometimes they would gossip as well in the dark, a torch would upset them, a rocket was most upsetting!
And horizontal rockets on unsuspecting ladies groups....that was a bit rude.
We had ladies taking a crap in groups in the open spaces and fields, sometimes they would gossip as well in the dark, a torch would upset them, a rocket was most upsetting!
The lower picture looks like the IKEA christmas tree kit.
It's more like the engineer's view point on top and the product manager's view ( BoM ) on the bottom.
Agreed about the Ikea comment too. Whenever I buy anything that needs to be assembled, it gets set up as in the bottom picture before it ends up, with luck, as the top picture - with no spare parts.