# An old new member



## jamesarnold140 (Nov 10, 2008)

Hello! This looks like a great site to stumble onto. My daughter started dancing ballet at the age of 6. It didn't take long for the company to discover that dad the mechanic knew which end of a crewdriver to hang on to. She has long since graduated from college and I'm still here now as stage/tech manager.I even get paid seasonally. The first thing I would want to do is thank the great prfessional staff of our Minneapolis and Saint Paul theaters for their invaluable assistance over the years. My new assigned project for the Nutcracker this year is a cannon. As it will be operated by children,and we have no pyrotechnic skills or license,I've been seeking information on something air or CO2 operated that would offer up a fake smoke ball or ring. I don't find anything in my digging larger than paintball gun sizes available commercially. Has anyone built something like ths before? The scene happens right before intermission so spilling small amounts of a powder on the floor can be dealt with for clean-up. Thanks


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## jamesarnold140 (Nov 10, 2008)

whiskers


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## Kelite (Nov 11, 2008)

jamesarnold140 said:


> whiskers



Hmmmm..... (?)

Thinking of shooting whiskers up in the air during the mouse battle? That could be a theater first!

(Sorry James, could you expound?)


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## gafftaper (Nov 13, 2008)

Welcome to the Booth James! I know there have been discussions of air powered cannons in the past here, I tried to search and didn't find it though. I've never built one but I know they are safe and pretty easy to build. Post your question again over in the special effects forum and I'm sure you'll get some great ideas in a hurry. This forum is primarily for introducing yourself and a lot of our expert readers don't visit here. 

Get to know the search function and the Wiki! There's a lot of information already here waiting for you.


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