Wadding Tamp Tool Part 1

I usually use a dowel to get wadding down inside a body tube. I'll try to pack it down a bit to get a better seal but still leave it loose enough to blow out easily enough at ejection.

The dowel I kept in my range box did an adequate job, but I decided to make a simple tool that could work better in many different sizes of body tubes.

For BT-5 models:
This is a 5/16" diameter dowel about 12" long.
A few wraps of tape were added and an expended 13mm casing was friction fitted on top of that.
The nozzle was kept intact on the "tamping" end.

For larger models up to a BT-60 diameter tube:
A clean 18mm engine casing was slid over the 13mm casing.
I had to remove a paper layer from the inside of the 18mm casing to get a good fit over the 13mm casing.
At the front, a thick card stock disk was glued on for a flat tamping surface.

Don't glue the 18mm casing onto the 13mm casing. This way you can slip the larger casing on or off for different diameter models.

Here's an example of some crepe paper wadding with the sides tamped into a more even "piston".
I couldn't have gotten this side seal on the body tube walls without using the tool.

Don't use this tool to mash the wadding too tight in the tube! Use it to get a better seal on the body tube sides.