Redoing a section of my layout and forming some hills using strips of tag board (tried and true method). Last time I did all this, I stapled the strips together. This time, I decided to try hot gluing them. Will say that it has some advantages such as being able to fasten strips to spots a stapler couldn’t reach or connect strips to faces of the wood supports that are too small to fasten a stapler to - at least easily.
Downside is sometimes having to hold pieces a bit until glue sets (which it does quickly) and the little strings of hot glue that end up collecting everywhere. Not a big deal, more a minor annoyance than a true problem.
Anyone else use a glue gun for this (or is this a standard practice which I haven’t read about before)?
The old Bostik gun I have had for what seems like forever. It gets very hot, and it can be used continuously. This one probably predates a lot of safety protocols. It will put big blisters on your fingers.
The AirTech gun says “High Temp”, but it does not get anywhere near as hot as the Bostik tool. The Bostic tool will melt foam, this one will not.
I once built an entire layout using only hot glue as an adhesive!
I made part of a tunnel using a glue gun. Yes, annoying to hold the cardboard strips down on the foam. I then put plaster cloth on top before using Plaster of Paris to cover up any holes. Afterward, I painted the area and added bushes (again with a glue gun).
In short, glue guns have their place. I also like that they are cheap and easy to use without much of a mess. It also doesn’t require a lot of brain power.
This wouldn’t matter for cardboard strips since you are going to put plaster over it, but in other applications does hot glue continue to hold over time? Any tips to make it work at it’s best?
I used a hot glue gun to build a hill with tunnel, using cardboard strips, on my grandson’s 4x6 layout years ago. It worked well so I used that method considerably on my current layout, though I also tried foam layers and also hydrocal and rubber rocks. In many cases, the various methods were integrated. I’m glad I tried them all.
My wife’s old glue gun acted strangely last year on a minor project, so I bought a new one on Amazon. Not even sure how I chose it, other than examining the ratings.
Not surprised in the least that this method has been used quite a bit by many others, I am usually late to any party. Plus, model railroaders are nothing if not imaginative and always on the lookout for a better, easier, or just different way to do something. The hot glue holding up over time is an interesting question. I would suspect it should be fine - but that opinion is based largely on wishful thinking.
I have also used a HGG for attaching ground foam to the tree armatures of the Woodland Scenics plastic “tree” trunks/limbs. You can sometimes see the glue showing up as shiney spots mixed in amongst the foam but a dab here and there of flat craft paint takes care of that while providing some additional color variety.
I also used it on the cardboard strips and on glueing layers of foam.
My chief people painter uses the glue gun to put the little ones on a stick for painting.
You can get glue sticks with different melting temps/setting times so I have a variety on hand which is really handy for making adjustments. The older I get, the slower I work.[(-D]
Brent - seeing your pics impresses me. Most of us only dream about converting our living rooms into our layouts spaces…whereas you seem to have pulled it off.
Thanks, that’s not my living room, it’s the two bedroom Nanny suite and we no longer have a Nanny. One bedroom is now the guest room and the other is my trainroom office.
I am indeed spoiled as I also have a trainroom bar and lazy boy.
I would have preferred a large basement instead, but I’ll take it.
The river bed was done using a piece of Luan and following Rob Spanglers suggestion, I put drywall mud on it and then sanded it smooth. The cardboard strips were attached to it with hotglue forming the river banks.
