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How to unglue?

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  • Member since
    November 2013
How to unglue?
Posted by Spitfire on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 6:05 PM

Working on the Revell Corsair F-4U 1/48 scale, and learned after the fact that the instructions are wrong on the wing hinge.  They illustrate them wrong side up.  The problem is the glue has long since set days ago.  Is there a way to 'unglue' and re-affix?

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 10:11 PM

No. Break it off and hope you can repair it. Model glue melts plastic together, just as if you applied heat to it.

Personally, I"d leave it, or you might do more damage you could possibly hope to repair.

  • Member since
    April 2005
Posted by ddp59 on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 10:15 PM

could try freezing it that try taking it apart while still cold.

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: 29° 58' N 95° 21' W
Posted by seasick on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 11:58 PM

It depends on the glue you are using. The usual Testors is a solvent that melts the parts together. Super glue (cyanoacrylate) can be unbonded, White glue can be dissolved if your careful. Epoxy-resin can depending on the type.  

If you absolutely have to separate the parts my suggestion would be if its possible to wait until the glue is entirely set, and then carefully saw the joint apart with a fine tooth exacto saw blade.  

Tags: Glue

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  • Member since
    August 2012
Posted by JimNTENN on Thursday, January 23, 2014 4:53 AM

I agree with seasick as far as trying to saw it apart. If you can find it there is a small saw blade for exacto knives that is shaped like the No. 11 blade except that it has teeth on the straight edge of the blade. I use one on occasion and find it very useful. It might just do the trick in your case. I have also used a regular No.11 blade to separate parts but doing so can be tricky. If you can find a spot where there is a gap or where the glue didn't cover completely and left a void try to insert the tip of the No. 11 blade there and very slowly push it through the seam in a slicing motion rather than trying to forcefully pry it apart. Think of it like splitting a log. It's the shape of the splitting head that does the trick forcing the log to split along its grains. It's very similar in this case with the seam being the grain and the shape of the knife blade forcing it to split along that "grain." The big difference in this case is that you must go very slowly. Patience is key. I have used this method, successfully, to break apart model parts bonded with both model cement and CA.

As far as models bonded with CA I used debonder once to dissolve a seam and had disastrous results. I never tried debonder again. I was building Revell's 1/570 Titanic for a friend and used CA to bond the hull together. I made a mistake....don't remember what it was...and had to break the hull apart. I applied debonder made for CA to the seam and as I started trying to slowly break the seam apart the hull, where I applied the debonder, actually started cracking and literally falling apart. The damage was so bad that I eneded up buying a second kit for replacement parts. It's entirely possible that I did something wrong when using the debonder so I would recommend testing it on some scrap pieces of plastic if you ever want to try that method.

Current project(s): Hobby Boss: 1/72 F9F-2 Panther

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  • Member since
    April 2006
  • From: ON, Canada
Posted by jgeratic on Thursday, January 23, 2014 8:53 AM

Considering the instructions were at fault, try contacting Revell to have the required parts replaced by them?

regards,

Jack

  • Member since
    February 2007
Posted by mitsdude on Thursday, January 23, 2014 9:36 AM

Although I've had great success with the freezer trick working on kits that have been glued for many years the same is not true with freshly glued seams.

I agree with the others about using tools to physically removing the part. This will depend on what kind of access you have to the area and is it where tool marks will be visible.

One idea that was inspired by me cleaning keyboards and electronic innards is the use of canned air. If you concentrate the air flow at one point and leave it for a few seconds it can freeze the area. I've yet to use this idea but its something to throw out there.

  • Member since
    November 2013
Posted by Spitfire on Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:42 AM

Thanks for all the good suggestions.  I essentially used that 'saw' method to get it off, then flipped it to it's proper position and glued and seems to have worked.  

I looked at the instructions and they are copyrighted 2011.  I can't believe that that error has been let go for this long.  And it's not a minor error either because if you don't fix it, the wings won't attach properly.

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