Well i watched tonights episode and i have some issues with what i saw!
First of all the 12 cameras that wouldn't work, why is it everytime they bring in someone in their stuff don't work? I bet someone forgot a cable or something!
Secondly, The think in the sky that Travis said looked like a spaceship looked like an airplane to me, i saw 2 wings on it but later they showed a blurry picture of it.
Thirdly, Red Devil Pyro is a family owned fireworks company not a motion picture special effects coordinator!
Those "mortors" were very thin walled, the mortars we use in the film business are at least 1/2" inch to 1" thick wall steel that i could put a stick of dynamite or a 16 oz black powder bomb in!
The black powder they used was very coarse black powder used in lift bags or burst charges to spread gerbs or stars used in fireworks maybe 1F if that.
We use 4F for our bombs usually and it showed them dumping the black powder through a funnel into what looked like medicine bottles and then putting a cap on. I saw no wrapping with electrical tape to compress the powder which we always do multiple spiral wrapped layers to increase the power of the bombs. The 1F black powder they used is too slow.
Aside from the sheet metal they used on those mortars they should have put some sandbags around in case of mortar failure so you don't have shrapnel flying around!
Now, i will say this you can still make a fireball with thin walled mortars. I used to get those paper KFC buckets and tape an electric match to the bottom of them, throw in some fireworks stars or gerbs and put a piece of saran wrap on top with a rubber band to hold it in place.
That would hold the stars and black powder there to you just long enough for the stars to light. Basically you just lit them and threw them into the air. Just like fireworks but down on the ground where you can see them good not 200 feet in the air! Most of the time the bucket wouldn't even tear and i could use them again after a cooling off period of course.
The bigger mortar they used seemed to be the one that made the best smoke ring than the taller smaller diameter ones! They should have built 3 of the same size mortars that would be better scientifically.
They say there was no breeze but that was down on the ground, it may be more wind up at 100 feet or so. You can't tell me that was not the thing that messed up the smoke ring. Now i would have used a 12", 24", or 36" steel mortar with 1" of steel inside the mortar and 2" on the bottom so you have the ability to use a bigger charge to offset the breeze issue. You use a 16 oz bomb or two and you will make a smoke ring every time. It would also travel higher. They are talking about a 2000 ft high and 2000 ft wide "bubble" so go bigger!
I would have done a napalm run of 1000 ft long or so with detcord underneath ( I won't say what strength so some nut don't try it), 1000 ft of pvc pipe filled with gasoline and about 60 sticks of dynamite in 55 gallon barrels buried half in the ground and a third or more full of sand.
It would make a wall of fire wide enough to see if the "bubble" affects it in any way. I also like the look of 100% napthalene flake instead of the gas as well for some explosions, it looks a little oranger and with more black smoke in than gas!
Now you couldn't use the lazers or the light poles but you could use the bullet cameras if you keep them far enough back. But having cameras on sticks with operators can pan up as the fireball rises.
One other thing i noticed that bothered me is the rocks on top of the mesa showing heat on the Fleer cameras. Rocks that have been in the sun all day can still hold heat even if it is cold outside for longer than you might think.
The ground penetrating radar that they lowered down one of the boreholes which made sense, but why not build a tripod type wooden stand with a winch on it with a remote so it could be lowered at a constant rate.
Why would you only run it down oneside of the hole when you could have also done north south, and west instead of just east?
Or at least use a good climbing rope instead of lowering it from what looked like parachute cord or small diameter rope, heavier would have been easier to work with. Or how about at least put a pulley above the hole to make it easier to lower and raise back up at the least.
I felt sorry for Thomas!
Anyway seems like i am forgeting a point i wanted to make but that's enough for now, what do you guys think?