Are there any good alternatives anyone knows of for cemeting styrene models? There is not a store around here that carries Testers or Tenax or anything like that. Clerks haven’t even heard of styrene cement. I really don’t want to pay seven or eight bucks shipping for a three dollar bottle.
I’ve tried Lacquer thinner with no results and trying to aviod buying a gallon of MEK.
Plastruck Plastic Weld. It’s more aggressive than Testors liquid cement and evaporates quickly. I don’t like it for more delicate parts for that reason. Testors you can order online from M.B. Klein. Hobbytown carries Plastruck products.
Michael’s also stocks Testors 3507 Liquid Plastic Cement. Any RC hobby shop will stock it too. The Model Railroad hobby shop closed its doors here seven years a go but there is still a couple of RC shops, they’re normally good for building supplies.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I was really disappointed to see Tenax being discontinued. I have tried several “stand-ins” and out of all of them I like this the best. It is a bit “slower” acting than Tenax but nearly as strong.
There is a thicker variety, too, but I have not tried it.
Horizon Hobby (aka Athearn) has pretty reasonable and fast shipping on this. I bought four bottles which mitigates the per bottle cost a bit. My total was $21 for four bottles.
Economy shipping is $3 or FedEx is $5. within the lower 48.
You can get MEK in pints and quarts from homedepot and lowes and paint stores and hardware stores. Only problem i find is since each place orders seperately. You have to bounce between olaces to find one that does stock the pint and quart. You could also get pint containers, buy a gallon and split it amoung a group. Or buy yours self a pint container and donate the rest to a local group or club
What about some of the glues from the people that make ‘Gorilla Glue’? They have so many different kinds, and all available at the likes of Home Depot…
Testors Model Master in the odd shaped black plastic bottle with the needle nose applicator works just fine. You can find it anywhere that deals in hobbies of any kind.
I bought a gallon of MEK after they changed the formula for lacquer thinner, making it useless as a cement for styrene.
The MEK works well, but has a shorter working-time than lacquer thinner had. This is most noticeable on large areas, where even applying it with a 2" brush can’t cover the entire area before the area first-coated has dried.
The almost $40.00 cost was a bit of a surprise, too, but even the puny U.S. gallon will do a lot of refills of the Testors bottle.
I also use the MEK. As Doc Wayne says, for large areas, it evaporates quickly.
In the trades, I used it as a general solvent when cleaning concrete floors, before doing a light acid wash, to clean and prepare a concrete floor for a finish sealer.