Selecting Glue Thickness

Welcome to the "retirees club " Martin. I did exactly the same thing and now I have plenty to do while building models.

I use Tamiya thin for most of my styrene plastic on good tight fitting parts. However, as a modeler you should also have quite  a few different glues on your bench for specific uses, such as ; CA ,super glue,in thin and thick does well on filling small gaps and gluing non plastics like metal PE...Non-fogging alphatic type glue ( Elmer's is one ) for clear parts or ( I use laser type bondic for those purposes,the stuff seen on TV )

In one build I'll use all of these every time. Since their are many ways and glues to use,only time and experience will tell you of your favorite ways to stick stuff together so don't be shy about trying different recomended glues . The good people on here will answer any questions you are bound to have.

Jay Jay

I use Tamiya thin for most of my styrene plastic on good tight fitting parts.

That is indeed the key. In fact, the thicker CA glues are sometimes called gap-filling glues. If the two sides of a joint are in intimate contact, you can use the thin stuff.  However, most plastic kits do not have that kind of joint in many areas. If the glue has to bridge any gap at all, use the thicker stuff.

In addition, the thin stuff is very fast acting, and may not allow you time to accurately position the parts carefully.  Good examples are the seams for fuselages, or the hull-halfs of some ships. If you use the thin stuff, the glue that you first put down is already drying when you are finishing the other end of the joint.  So you may want to use the thick stuff, which is also slower setting.

I'm glad I read this.  I always use super glue gel on fuselage halves.  I was about to use some Tamiya thin to attach the top and bottom halves of Finemolds' X-Wing.  This community always has great advice.

Not much I can add to the topic, it really is a matter of trial and error at first but with input from here it narrows down the error margin. I will say that I find a white tacky glue indespensible and even utilize Testors tube glue. Be aware also that the applicators themselves will vary on the type of glue used and the parts you are gluing. Have some fun.

I'll try to help with what experience I have. With CA glue, the thickness is proportional to the set time of the glue. Example, thin CA glue will set/cure faster than thick CA glue. Many of the bottle I have purchase will tell you how long it takes to set. So, if you need some extra time to position a part use a thicker CA glue.

And as was said, thick CA glue can be used to seal gaps.