Armor gluing question

Tamiya thin is actually better in my opinion -- especially with its fine brush applicator. Hold the part to the LAV body and touch a tiny bit of thin cement on the joint.

Superglue (CA) has bad shear resistance.   I never use it for plastic to plastic joints.  I only use it when needed (such as bonding metal or resin to plastic or each other).

By the way: I hint I learned long ago -- when your Tamiya extra thin is used up, refill it using another cement.  The key to the Tamiya extra thin, IMHO, is the applicator brush.  I bought a $5 can of MEK from the hardware store and have been using it for years to refill my Tamiya bottle.

What he said... I highly recommend using the Tamiya Extra Thin for getting a stronger, longer lasting attachemnt bond of plastic to plastic. You only want to use CA when attaching dissimilar materials to styrene.

Great tips!

For me, I recently tried the Model Master Liquid Cement for Plastic Models.

It comes in a wedge shaped container with a long metal capillary tube.

Using the technique that T26 recommends, hold the plastic part in place, and touch the tip to the part.  This especially is useful when you can get under a part out of site.

Practice the "touch" on something less obvious until you can get used to the flow.  You can also use a microbrush or toothpick if you need to guarantee less glue.

A LOT of people in for forums recommend the "touch and flow" system for applications like this, but I personally haven't bought it or tried it yet because my LHS doesn't carry it, but they had the MM cement.

@stik,  I know that different glues affect styrene in different ways, so maybe the Tam glue is better, but so far, the MM glue hasn't caused any ill effects on my parts.

I believe the main ingredient in Tamiya Extra thin is MEK -- that's why I switched to MEK directly.  It basically welds the two pieces into one.  That's why it's superior to CA for plastic to plastic joins.

Ken, I like the MM stuff as well. It has a bit more viscosity to it and is great for holding a heavier part in place. I use both glues depending upon the join at hand. But the Tamiya glue seems to be a little "hotter" so to speak. And it also leaves less residue around the edges.  

Thanks so much for these tips. I have some insanely tiny parts in my kit. I've heard that Tamiya regular cement might be better for the smaller parts, but some people claim to build entire kits with the extra thin.

It is perfectly good for building an entire kit with. But when there was the shortage of the stuff, I started usng other types of liquid cements. Humbrol liquid cement is also very good, although their applicator brush sucks.

I like Tenax R7. Don't know what it is, but it rocks the styrene pretty hard!

Yes, that is good stuff. It was the ONLY stuff I could get to work on my Trumpeter T-54. But isn't Tenax history now? No longer produced?

Stik, I think Tenax went out for a spell, but I think it is back in production.  A quick google search has turned up a few sites....I assume new stuff, but maybe just old stock????

Brian