A few questions about brass

I have never had a problem, but have heard the same thing.  I also use thinned white glue on brass PE, not to give longer life but to make it easier to glue.

Soldering small PE would be akin to soldering ICs on printed circuit boards.  You'd want a low powered iron with a small tip.  Use rosin core solder, not acid core.  I'd practice a lot before you try it on model parts.  I solder large brass assemblies on scratch built models, but don't see any need to solder small PE parts.  I'd stick to glue.  If you are really worried about life of glue and want a very strong bond, consider epoxy.

DON,Supergluing anything ,even brass is okay as long as there will NEVER be torsional stress.I have stuff that was glued over fifteen years ago and it,s doing fine. As far as soldering P.E. is concerned ,you have to watch the heat of your iron and keep the tip tinned.

You need to clean the parts with lacquer thinner and a baby toothbrush (very gently) Then tin it first if you can.If you can,t then use soldering paste flux and the solder will flow very good.I have an adjustable iron and I have found that working with brass, setting 4.25 is perfect

You CANNOT have any breezes over the work,but,have a fan low (below the table top) that takes the fumes away from your face..That,s about it my friend.Good soldering!   TANKER-builder

Thanks for the help gents, much appreciated!  I will give soldering a try, but only for the stress points on the mast

The reason I do not use acid core solder or acid flux is that unless it is cleaned out thoroughly is that the acid will eventually affect the paint.  I find that brass solders so well that rosin core is perfectly adequate and does not affect paint so much.  Now, I mean this for PE brass and clean, fresh stuff. If you are making a part from scrap brass and it is heavily oxidized, you may need a stronger flux, but not for normal PE parts. 

And all the PE I put on ships is never loaded in any way, torsional, sheer, nor tension, and that is why I get away with white glue. All PE I have used is strictly decorative, not a structural member.

There is an article (assuming you are a subscriber) under the "How-to" tab above.  Just go to "How-to" above, select articles under the drop down menu, and in the selection window check the "construction" box.  Should be the second article in PDF I believe.  Think there was an article in a recent FSM as well.  Really helped me out when I was soldering the fenders on a StuG III.  Hope it helps!

If your collection of FSM goes back far enough, I had an article in FSM October 2001 on working with brass.

ok so here is what I learned:  I went to my local train shop where they had extensive knowledge on soldering and working with brass parts (especially the brass locomotive kits).  They have a liquid flux that etches the brass for low heat solder (the kind used with circuit boards).  I also learned that since brass has a self - lubricating quality it does not take super glue so well (thus the reason it will not handle stress).  So I tried their etching liquid, with the low heat solder and it worked like a champ - thanks for the help!