What is the best type of glue/adhesive to use for building a plastic freight car kit. I have several Accurail and Athearn BB kits. I’ve been lurking around the site for about a year now off and on, but this is my first post. Thank you for you help.
Johnny
[#welcome] Welcome to the forum!! Probably the best glue for the plastic (styrene) kits is Testors liquid ot Tenax. CCA (Crazy glue) will also work - I prefer the gel or gap filling type. [swg]
Testors liquid cement works really good. It melts the surfaces so they “weld” together. CA only bonds the surfaces together.
I bought a quart can of MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) from my local Ace Hardware store for about what a small bottle of Tenax costs. I kept the small bottle, because of the applicator brush, and just refill it when it needs it. It does the same thing (melts the plastic parts together). As with the above mentioned products, use this in an area with good ventilation. I have a small box fan at the end of my work bench to keep the air flowing.
I use Testors liquid for styrene and other plastic kit work, mostly. I’ve got a little container of Cyanoacrylate (CA, or super-glue) which works better for non-plastics and dis-similar materials, like wood-to-plastic. White glue (Elmers) works well for wood, and holds most slightly-porous surfaces pretty well, but it takes a while to harden. For special applications where other stuff doesn’t seem to work, try Gorilla Glue or even silicone caulk. (I’ve used silicone caulk for a Hydrocal-casting-to-styrene bond, where nothing else would work.)
Remember that most of these products work best on clean, unpainted surfaces. If you’re painting your model prior to assembly, try not to get too much paint on the mating surfaces, or you will be gluing layers of paint to each other, and the model will probably fall apart. (Hmmm, how does he know this?)
And regardless of what material these glues are designed for, all of them will stick to your fingers better than anything else.
The liquid styrene plastic cements, Tenax, PlasticWeld, Testors and others are your best bet on plastic. The dissolve the plastic in to a soft sticky state. The two pieces joind together and when the stuff evaporates you have a joint as strong as the plastic itself. The liquid is applied to the hidden side of the joint and capillary action sucks it deep inside the joint. It’s fairly easy to prevent glue spills on the “show” side of the joint. It dries enough to hold the joint tegether in a minute, and gains full strength in a hour. You don’t have to clamp it like you do for wood gluing.
Take care not to spill. The stuff dissolves paint, varnish, plastic, linoleum and a lot of other things. A spill can make a real mess and/or ruin the model under contruction
The brush-in-cap applicator is OK for larger work. A real small paint brush is better for fine work. Hardware store MEK, sold by the quart, works about the same and costs less.
Hobby store “model cement” sold in tubes for plastic cars/planes/boats is about the same stuff with a thickener added to prevent it from running. I prefer the liquid stuff as being easier to get it where it should be and not where it shouldn’t be.
Folks:
I use a good-quality gel CA of some sort (I think it’s from Great Planes) or Testor’s liquid cement. It’s true that CA is a glue rather than a solvent weld, but it’s a very strong glue. In practice, the two seem to be comparably strong. I like CA because it’s fast and I’m impatient.
Basically, if a kit has a few parts that need gluing, like a Bowser freight car kit, I use CA. If it has lots of parts of the same plastic, like a structure kit, I use plastic cement.
I use MEK on styrene.
Ed
So Testers Liquid cement (item #704-3502 at Walthers) will work for Accurail and Athearn BB kits? What should I use to apply it with? Somebody posted above that a fine paint brush. Wouldn’t that gum up the bristles pretty quick? I’m sorry for all these questions, I’ve tried doing some research and just recently found the forum search link, but there is so much information it is overwhelming. Just the shear number of how to/planning books is slowy starting to drive me towards insanity.
Johnny
I use a product called Methylene Chloride. A 9 oz. can cost $9.00 Canadian. I found it at a store called INDUSTRIAL PLASTICS & PAINT. It welds the two surfaces together like Plastruct. It’s good for styrene, ABS and acrylic. They also sell styrene in sheets up to 4x8 feet. A 2x4 sheet of 60 thou costs $8.00. Mike
That’s OK - if you’re a model railroader the drive is a short one. [:)] [%-)]
The Testor’s liquid cement (or MEK - same stuff) is very volatile, and does not gum up the bristles of the brush. In fact, MEK is sold as a paint thinner, and is used for cleaning brushes.
The number of how-to and planning books are out there because this is a very complex hobby, incorporating a huge number of disciplines. Pick and choose, and use them wisely, grasshopper…
The Testors cement comes in a small glass bottle. The applicator brush is attached to the inside of the cap. As long as you put the cap back on, the brush will stay in the liquid and will not dry out or gum up.
You can buy this stuff at any hobby shop. It’s a popular glue for any plastic kit - trains, planes or automobiles.
I use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) from Lowes or Home Depot. A one quart can is a good ten year supply of glue. It doesn’t get hard or go bad in the bottle. It won’t leave glue marks if it’s wiped away in due time like testors will, and it’s a lot easier and neater to work with. You’ll need a needle applicator bottle to apply it but it’s well worth the cost for the investment. It makes a strong smooth bond just like the other glues. One can of MEK is equal to about 50 bottles of testors model glue so in the long run the MEK is a lot more economical and makes a cleaner surface bond than testors…chuck