Basic Problem

The length of a fusee is diminished in time, but yours does not do that.

Just Kidding.

Product looks good (any way to produce the expended compound to the whitish ash/drippings?

Again, just kidding.

Suggestion

That may be a bit extreme, but what about trying to replicate the way the color changes as the fusee burns out?  That's something I definitely notice when I see one burning.

How about the real thing.

For those (newbies) who have never seen the real Fusees here is an example of what they looked like before they were ignited on the rail ties of the CNR (Canadian National Railway).

Length of 12 & 3/4 inches.  Mfg by CIL (Canadian Industries Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

The bottom end has a spiral nail, and is heavier, so that when dropped it would jam itself into a rail tie.  Once there, it would burn for ten minutes to warn an approaching train of a either a stopped or slow train ahead.

These particular Fusees were manufactured in October, 1971.  They were given to me as a momento of the method of an early warning system used long before today's technology existed.

The fabric sticking out of the top end was pulled off to remove the paper from the igniter.  The igniter was quickly struck over  the bared end of the Fusee causing it to "fire up" with a red glow before being dropped to the railway tie. (No. I do not have a photo of an ignited Fusee, nor will I demonstrate the method.)  Suffice to say the heat from the burning end is hot enough to melt aluminum and/or bronze.  The warnings on the Fusee notes that it must be held away "from the face and body".

My Dad did show us, when we were small children, how the Fusee actually burned.  We never approached one along the rail lines even if it were burned out.  We always notified the authorities and let them deal with it.

"Safety First" was the motto of the CNR and we adhered to it, totally.

G. T.

Color changing or multi-color fusee

Ken,

While developing the Fusee Pro I did try a combination of white and red LEDs. The effect was pretty cool in my opinion but the "problem" is that today's LED manufacturers don't produce a dual color LED small enough to look scale enough for my tastes. The red LED we're using is an 0402 package type which is pretty darn small! The smallest white/red LED I could find was about 50-75% larger than that. Given that these LEDs are square or rectangular such a larger size made for a larger diameter fusee. The other challenge is soldering 3 wires to such a small package rather than 2.

I WILL keep my eye on LED technology and if the opportunity presents itself I'll consider it!

Chuck