The Rocket Man

By JENNY FORSYTH

In the final minutes of the century one God-like figure will control explosions all around Auckland with the touch of a computer button. During the countdown to the new millennium the all-powerful controller will be seated at the top of one of the city's tallest buildings in a secret control room, an apocalyptic display of firepower at his hands.

The clock is ticking. Who is this shadowy figure with plans for the night to end all nights?

Our mastermind is Martin Van Tiel: pyrotechnics expert, patents attorney turned firework-maker, the man with the bang. Friends call him the mad professor or the rocket scientist.

His grand scheme is to celebrate the turn of the century by setting off New Zealand's biggest ever firework display -- a 12-minute extravaganza creating the illusion of a volcanic eruption and incandescent silver ferns etched into the night sky.

He's been working on his master plan since March, on a 20ha farm at a secret location somewhere outside Hamilton. There Van Tiel and his team of six have been mixing powders, packing them in papier-mache balls and wiring them for lift-off.

They test rockets and crackers so frequently the cows barely turn a head and Van Tiel gets only occasional complaints about the debris landing in his neighbours' paddocks.

The millennium firework show is his biggest challenge yet and he wants it perfect right down to the last second.

Sponsored by Auckland and North Shore city councils, Sky City and the America's Cup Village, there is big money involved. Normal displays cost around $5000 and Van Tiel says this has "a few more zeros attached."

"It's all choreographed to music. During the slow segments there will be lots of silver willows, then when it goes wild we send up 80 star shells in 10 seconds," he says, demonstrating with fluttering fingers then flailing arms.

"We're going to have barges round the harbour and lots of volcanic images so it looks like Rangitoto is erupting. By the bridge we'll have a 350m waterfall effect and the silver coming out from the Sky Tower will make it look like a giant ponga fern."

Van Tiel describes the harbour show (and the simultaneous large-scale flare-up at the Domain which he is also organising) with wide-eyed enthusiasm. Indeed, despite his PhD and medium-sized business, this 36-year-old firework expert is more like the child who never quite let go of the Christmas chemistry set than an adult and father-of-two.

Fire In The Sky, produced by Logan Brewer and with musical accompaniment via television and radio, is a big challenge compared to Van Tiel's usual two-week projects, or the pyrotechnics he supplies for shows like Hercules and Xena. He's got stars in his eyes already.

"It will be the first time that 24in shells are used in New Zealand," he says, pointing out the beach-ball sized moulds in one of his three factory buildings.

"This one will go up about 500m and will have a 400m-diameter explosion.

"The first big one will be an electric golden diadem willow with purple shell-of-shells pistil with rising tail."

That's a big purple and gold firework to you and me, but firework-makers have their own, mainly floral, vocabulary. Sunflowers, chrysanthemums, peonies, orchids, dahlias, hearts and butterflies are what light up the night.

Van Tiel has been given a few recipes for this garden in the sky, but admits he had to re-learn, on his own, much of the pyrotechnical wisdom collected over the centuries in the Far East.

"The whole industry has been pretty secretive, but now with analysis, that's hard to keep. In the past it was a family thing, with recipes handed down through the generations. I've been on tours through America, Australia and Japan and we've managed to learn a lot of the Japanese secrets.

"I found our firework company meets the same standards as them. It was rewarding to see that my 20 years of research matched 400 years of Japanese research."

Van Tiel's own studies began as a high-school student, when he quickly exhausted his chemistry teacher's few recipes.

"I was fascinated with things that went bang. At high school I tried to make explosives using black powder and flash powder.

"Rocketry was my next thing. All through university I was building supersonic rockets. I built rockets that went from zero to Mach 1.5 in 1.2 seconds.

"By PhD stage [in chemistry], I was researching lots of different combinations."

Van Tiel obviously took no notice of those "don't try this at home" warnings. After one rocket fuel accident, where the rocket propellant self-ignited, he spent eight days in hospital with first and second-degree burns.

"The fuel was contaminated and, yes, I did learn from that. You need to know exactly what chemicals you're working with. The factory here is very safe."

Van Tiel decided to turn his hobby into a job after 18 months working as a patent attorney. He began by supplying New Zealand fireworks to display operators and built the business until he was organising displays, too.

His previous work has appeared at events like Christmas in the Park and the pre-match entertainment at Super 12 and NPC games.

By 1997 he was frustrated by his lack of testing space and located his large, secluded farm. To meet occupational safety standards, he lights fireworks a good 500m from the road and stores the various chemicals and compounds in three separate sheds.

The process starts with Van Tiel - armed with a weighing balance, measuring spoons, mortar and pestle - mixing the chemicals and colours.

The explosive pellets, called stars, are packed inside papier-mache balls and fuelled by a burst charge.

The fireworks are loaded into mortars, packed into racks and wired up to a main computer.

Come midnight on New Year's Eve, all Van Tiel will have to do to bring the show to life is press "enter" on his laptop.

"It will be a huge, tense moment. It's the year's work down to the press of the button. My family will be with me, though, and I'll try and sit back and enjoy it."

Van Tiel says there is a special joy in the mix of chemistry and creativity.

"I wanted to be a rocket scientist at one stage but the Russians and the Americans are too pally after the Cold War. There's not the scope for a little boy from New Zealand, but this is probably the closest thing.

"I love the chemistry and the design of the show. It's quite artistic making images in the sky ... the rest is just hard work."

He is presently working on a solid fuel liquid oxidiser "just for fun" and is entranced with the new range of firework colours - turquoise, pink and orange - that he has recently begun creating.

While son Troy, aged 1, is too young to care, 3-year-old Rebecca is already fascinated by the world of Van Tiel Pyrotechnics.

"Rebecca is always asking if there are 'any fireworks tonight' and there is never any shortage of sparklers for the birthday cakes," he laughs.