As promised, I put together a page of various behind-the-scenes setup photos from the 2009 season. They're not linked yet on the main pages, but you can see them here: http://montreal-fireworks.com/setup2009.html

Enjoy!

Paul.

Very nice ! The technical-inclined among us (including myself) now have some material to satisfy our cravings !

For those who never saw a 10-inch shell out of its mortar, here is a picture I've taken last week while conducting an interview with Paul Csukassy for my university's newspaper

.

The calculator is for scale, as everyone at the ÉTS (École de Technologie Supérieure, my school) has one.

Thanks so much Paul for the photos!

Very enjoyable! I had a feeling Foti would have alot of big mortars behind those blast shields. Because Foti is one of the firms that uses mostly large shells in their displays, aside from Howard & Sons.

The 1.1g storage photo is all where 12" shells are kept for the moment?

The photo of Royal's IPS, must be the dragon eggs shot in the finale 2 minutes right? As well as the salutes?

Speaking of which back to above for Foti. Behind that blast shield are 12 at the left, 10 in the middle and 8 inside right? Those are bigger mortars than I thought!

Would it be possible for you to do the same next year? Great photos Paul!

Pat

The 1.1g storage photo is all where 12" shells are kept for the moment?
8", 10" and 12"

The photo of Royal's IPS, must be the dragon eggs shot in the finale 2 minutes right? As well as the salutes?

The dragon eggs are actually from cakes and the salutes were from Panzera Thunder Mine candles. The "IPS" was a joke by Yanick as it stood for "install, plug, shoot" and what you see in the photo is a lot of their ramp 3 and 5 one shots and other low-level effects.

Behind that blast shield are 12 at the left, 10 in the middle and 8 inside right? Those are bigger mortars than I thought!

That's right - the 12" are closest to the river; the 8" are closest to the concrete.

Paul.

p.s. I will take more photos next year of course

Paul, in this photo: http://montreal-fireworks.com/cgi-bin/photogen.cgi?Pics2009/Setup2009/ HPIM0904.JPG,800,603 you see basically behind the blast shields. Those buckets on top of those mortars are removed minutes before the show right? Or would they leave them on there? Because I wonder if shrapnel from a bucket could ever injure someone. Just wondering out of curiosity.

Also, during the ceremonies before the display, they fire shells. What shells would those be?

Oh goodness, I can't wait to see a photo setup of IPON if they ever give a display at La Ronde!

Panzera Thunder Mine Candles come in how many shots? In Panzera in 2004, they must have racked up about 10 of those each area on Ramp 3 during the finale 10 seconds.

How did I forget about dragon eggs. Yeah but they sometimes have mines as well, or at least I think they do.

p.s. I will take more photos next year of course

WOOHOO!

Pat

I would say that they remove the buckets on top of the mortar... It's a bit stupid to let them stay on top of the mortars while the shells are firing Ipon's set-ups will probably be just the same as any other country's set up

vander

Buckets are placed on top of empty mortars that are not being used in the display.

You will see in the photo you are speaking of, that the mortars being utilized for the display have been covered in plastic.

Sean

Also, during the ceremonies before the display, they fire shells. What shells would those be?

They are leftovers. Paul Csukassy asks two members of his crew to make what is called a "bouquet" with them (basically, filling the sky from top to bottom) and they can choose whatever pieces they wish (colors, patterns, etc.) They usually prepare the mortars Friday afternoon and they fire them manually on Saturday (it's around 2-3 lines on the console, fired in rapid succession).

As for the salutes, they are indeed 3" titanium salutes. I think that La Ronde buys them, but I'm not sure.

They are leftovers.

I was speaking of the ceremonies before each display. But they would be donated shells or just leftover shells from the year prior?

Hard to believe those salutes are 3", they aren't powerful at all.

I've seen the mortars located closer to Le Vampire. Speaking of that, they usually fire the salutes in the ceremony, while the rides continue to do their run. But for Le Vampire, due to it being close to the mortars, is there any danger at all? Should they stop the ride and wait till it's been set off?

Buckets are placed on top of empty mortars that are not being used in the display.

Has the been any firm in the compeition that has used every single mortar in the ramps?

Pat

I was speaking of the ceremonies before each display. But they would be donated shells or just leftover shells from the year prior?

Yes, I was also referring to the shells used for the ceremony. They are leftovers from the previous year or the current season, depending on when the show occurs.

Hard to believe those salutes are 3", they aren't powerful at all.

Well, they are ! From La Ronde, they seem powerful enough to me ! They do not shake you as much as a good ol' barrage, but the loud BANG ! surprises me sometimes when I do not pay attention.

Well, they are ! From La Ronde, they seem powerful enough to me ! They do not shake you as much as a good ol' barrage, but the loud BANG ! surprises me sometimes when I do not pay attention.

It's much more noisy on Notre-Dame. But for me it's nothing. I'm used to that loudness from seeing many finales.

The teams who do the fireworks setup must also have a secondary job in the winter right? I mean how would they support their families or themselves without a job in the winter? I'd love to setup racks and load mortars. But I wouldn't know where to go to be able to do that stuff.

Those shells used for the cermony are 3-5" in size, right?

Pat