What Brand/type of glue for PE? CA Not working

As has been mentioned above, CA glues have good tensile strength but have very poor shear strength.

Another key to good bonds with CA is surface area. If the two surfaces being glued do not have much contact area, then there's no way you will get a good bond. Take two rounded pieces of sprue and try to glue them together one across the other. It's nearly impossible to get it to hold regardless of how much glue you put on the joint. Sand or file a small flat on each piece and use a tiny drop of glue - you will find that it holds up very well.

A couple of issues here. 1) Most PE frets have some kind of releasing or finishing agent on them, so they need to be cleaned. That also helps to give them "tooth" so the paint sticks well. I always give mine a bath in plain old white vinegar (5% acidity) to remove anything on the frets and to mildly etch them, then a good rinsing in cool water and thorough air drying.

2) CA glues, as many of you have discovered, are great for holding things together as long as no lateral strain is put on the parts after joining them (which makes it great for 1/700 ship railings and such). You MAY have better luck with the gel-type CA glues, which is what I use since they also have slower drying times, and they tend to fill in any irregularities between the two bonding surfaces to give a tighter overall bond. I use Pacer Sheet Zap, PT-30, in the blue bottle. It's actually intended for the R/C crowd but I need that extra few seconds of working time. I've never had problems with parts popping off or seperating after using this stuff, quite the contrary ... there are times when I wish I could get them to separate after experiencing one of those " Oh !" moments we all have right after we have glued the wrong parts together.

I emailed them and he said if they know it is going to colder climates they wrap the bottle in insulation and take measures to keep it from freezing. He said he hasn't had a complaint yet on a frozen product. I will be ordering some today as well.

I ordered some of that gator glue today. If it freezes then so will it thaw. The website never indicated there were negative affects of the freezing.

Haven't tried the Gator stuff but it looks interesting.  Been using Gorrilla brand CA with no problems.  It seems to have an added ingredient that allows for a little flexibillity making it harder to break off small pieces.

I've noticed over the last year or so some PE has an oily finish to it so have been using mild detergent and water to clean it off.  I have gotten better glue joints since doing this.

                                                                                  Pat. 

I think I have seen this glue at Hobby Lobby. I will be there later today getting some primer, so I am going to check this out. I really like that applicator. CA is such a hassle trying to use a toothpick or think brass wire to apply.

That gator stuff sounds strong!! I am in WI so it may be awhile before i could have it mailed. I can't belive it is so strong that you can pick up a model by a railing. I have such a hard time paininting because I have to be so fragile with the model because of any etch details.

I've never tried the stuff, will have to wait until the spring thaw to order some though!!

It is. I've been using it about a year and so far no problems. It's white but drys clear and another great thing about it is you can wash the brush you use to apply the glue off with water when you are though.

You can also order these

http://www.gatorsmask.com/applicators.html

They are perefct for neat applications and once you are though you wash the applicators and needles out with warm soapy water, they will be ready to go the next time you need them.

Kentucky: Man, that sounds like one strong glue. I'll have to try it.

http://www.gatorsmask.com/gatorglueorder.html

I used to use CA but started to have the same problems you posted. I tried this and once it drys everything stays on, in fact it's flixable. I found that out by mistake when I picked up a finished model wrong and I thought for sure I had ruined the PE but once I took my hand off the PE parts went back into place where they were guled on. Any other gule would have broken off and I would have to re-gule them on.

One problem. the Gator Gule FREEZES so if you live in the cold states you better wait until spring to order since it will freeze in the mail.

While writting this I reached over and picked up my Dragon 1/350 USS Buchanan and I'm holding the whole model up by part of the PE rails, the rails are not coming off.

I've been using Zap-a-gap's CA, both thin and gap-filling versions with no problems. CA just doesn't behave like the "welder" type glues for plastic, those actually melt the plastic from the two parts into each other. CA behaves just like you described - it'll glue anything to anything, but if you push the pieces in the right direction, they will pop off & leave flaky dried glue behind. I also try to seal it up afterward with a coat of Future or dullcoat to help strengthen the bond.