Glue Questions

For stytreen : revell contacta and faller, both in a bottle with a needle. I sometimes use tube cement (also revell contacta) when I want a long drieing time to adjust the parts.

for canopies: micro kristal klear

for pe and resin: CA (superglue) I mostly use the gel variant. I put a small puddle on a piece of paper and use a toothpick to get the glue on the parts.

I also use white glue (pva/wood glue?) for general purposes.

General rule for PE-parts seems to be: use CA (super glue). The fumes and your fingerprints (now you know at what level I'm at ) might mess up things a little. White glue is just great for these things. And if you don't like it the way it's glued - just tear it of again (gently offcourse). The glue can be easily removed like a rubbery layer. Kristal Klear works the same, although if you don't need it to dry out perfectly clear, Í use white glue. Frankly only because the white glue bottle is easier in use cause of it's shape. Cheaper too!

For miniature details you might want to use CA. I spill some on a peace of paper, and apply it with a needle. After having applied the part, I try to get the needle of my fingers again, and hope the paper can be removed from the table... viva el White glue...

zap a gap ca is great for pe and resin. I apply it with a toothpick. I also use excellerator with it too. I use either MEK or testors model glue and Tanex on long seams

For styrene I use Tenax 7 for the most part, which dries very fast. I will use Testors liquid cement if I think I may need to adjust the part I'm gluing as it dries a little slower. I apply both with a couple smaller brushes.

PE and small parts I will use CA glue applied with a toothpick and accelerator.

Clear parts get Testors Clear Parts Cement or Future, applied with a small paintbrush.

Primarily I use Tamiya regular cement, the one that comes in the little square glass bottle. I use the brush applicator that comes with it. I've also heard very good things about their extra-thin cement, and am itching to try it. I still use tube glue here and there for slower setting times.
CA glue I apply with a home-made applicator. I sharpened a popsicle stick to a fine point, so it's either that or a pin that I use to apply it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Model Grandpa For styrene I use Tenax 7 for the most part, which dries very fast. I will use Testors liquid cement if I think I may need to adjust the part I'm gluing as it dries a little slower. I apply both with a couple smaller brushes. PE and small parts I will use CA glue applied with a toothpick and accelerator. Clear parts get Testors Clear Parts Cement or Future, applied with a small paintbrush.

Except I use the little metal tube to apply the Testors and gentle pressure.

Cheers
Thom

Plastruct plastic weld with the orange label for putting different kinds of plastic together... styrene, acrylic, butyrate and abs. Just started using it recently. It's the best for those jobs. I could use the Touch n Flow with that, but I just use the brush & put a puddle where I'm gonna do the gluing.

Ambroid pro weld for same to same plastic. I do that with Touch n Flow most often. Sometimes I just do the puddle thing with the lid brush.

I'd rather use clear paint to bond photoetched or similar types of parts instead of super glue.

Super glue is brittle. Everything I've ever glued together with it just became easier to break, so I don't use it for anything permanent. I use it to glue tiny sandpaper dots onto the ends of toothpicks. That's to make extremely small sanding sticks in case you were wondering, and it works great for that!

I also use super glue to temporarily stick model parts on plastic sticks for airbrushing when the part has no way for a gator clip or a taped stick to hang onto it. The parts snap off from the stick clean & easy when it's time.

The Testors orange tube is something I rarely use anymore, but that's the best stuff I know of for when I've gotta move a part around before the glue starts to harden. That's also good stuff for gluing a car interior to a floor pan or anything that takes too much time to set in place for those welding solvents.

I concoct tricky schemes for clear parts so I can use Ambroid or Plastruct solvents. I'm just no fan of clear parts cement. I like stuff to be ultra permanent. I either build mounts in hidden areas with sheet styrene to hold clear parts in place, or search for a welding area that can be hidden by paint or bare metal foil... stuff like that.

Wow thanks for all the input everyone! I'll have to make a shopping list and start experimenting!

Thanks!!

Fred

One more thing... What's touch-n-flow??

Thanks!!
Fred

Hello and welcome.

To answer your origanl question, I use Ambroid Pro-Weld with a Touch-n-Flow or Testor's Orange Tube Cement. I weld seams with teh touch and flow. I mostly use the Tube on alignment pins. Sets slow so I can line things up for the seam weld. I am new back to modelling, and haven't tried any resin nor PE yet.

About your second question. I just got my Touch-n-Flow this week. ITS GREAT! All it is, is a glass tube with a steel needle cemented in one end. It fills with capillary action by putting the glass end into your jar of cement. Then you turn it over and let the cement settle to the needle end. You now have a tool to deliver a controlled drop of cement in a spot; bye holding it straight up. Or you can drag it accross a seam and get just enough cement in place (again trhough cappilary action) to make a great seam. I thought I was doing great with the brush from the bottle til I got my hands on this little gem. Now I won't ever go back.

One tip I learned from the guys here on the board. If you do go with the Touch-n-Flow; always empty it ENTIRELY before attempting to re-fill. This means the cement in the Needle not just the cement seen in the tube.

Hope this helps.

Yolev

Thanks Yolev!! I'll have to get my hands on one!

One tip. When you glue the transparent parts together, always glue the non-transparent part and attach the transparent part to it. It's best to use some non-welding glue (only one of which I know is Revell Contacta Liquid Special, it's also good for chrome parts).
I find that tube glues usually have a powerful sovent and glue more firmly than the precise ones (sorts which have application needles).
You can make your own glue easily by dissolving transparent sprues and other transparent PS waste in some solvent. MEK, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and butyl acetate work nice. DCM will make a fast-drying and powerful glue, but it will also be more destructive to plastic (sometimes when you have some narrow situations you don't want this).
Don't teach me about safety issues as I think they are much overblown, just work with open windows and don't inhale the fumes and everything will be perfectly OK. I spilled DCM on me several times and I'm still alive :) DCM gives a feeling of extreme cold when you spill it on you (it vaporizes very quickly and so cools down a lot) so it's very noticeable. If this happens just wash it off with water.