I’ve built a trestle bridge out of styrene and I need to glue ME bridge track to it. I was planning on using Pliobond. However, at our NMRA meeting last night, a member suggested Locktite 380 Black Max (about $22/oz). Does anyone have experience with either of these adhesives? Are there other, better, alternatives for a permanent bond?
If i were you, i’d install a wooden tie every fifth rail and then spike them down. I also put CA glue along the rail. CA glue like Zap will work fine to hold the rail in place. Here is a bridge i built using balsa wood, dowel rods, and the ties are ME wooden ties. each fifth tie is spiked down with ME rail spikes and CA glue was used to insure the spikes won’t pull out of the wood over time.
chuck
If you’re gluing it to a bridge, you probably don’t want a true permanent bond for maintenance purposes (the voice of experience here). At my club, we have started using Elmer’s Craft Bond or similar. It dries clear, adheres nicely to plastics, and can be removed if necessary.
Just my [2c]. Take it for what it’s worth. [:)]
Hey, I don’t think he thought it was that expensive. But maybe you don’t need much, or a little goes a long ways, at least I hope so at that price. My only experience with Loctite products has been as thread lock and such and it does work really well. i would expect that Loctite 380, advertised as Black Max, would as well.
John,
He was using free samples from a distributor friend. I don’t think he knew the price.
http://www.ellsworth.com/display/productdetail.html?productid=955
Peter
I’d go with the contact cement. I use LePage’s Gelled Contact Cement, which is very neat and easy to apply, although it’s available only in quart or larger sizes - the Pliobond should work fine. I’ve found that ca used without a mechanical joint (such as pins or interlocking parts) does not stand the test of time, and on smooth surfaces, such as styrene and the ME plastic ties, will not likely last too well.
Wayne
Pliobond (and rubber based gues) will stick anything to anything - that’s their beauty, BUT Follow the directions. Carfully position.
What you want is to is to use enough, and not too much.
I used a latex caulking material called Phenoseal. Comes in tubes for caulking guns. Can be found at building supply places. Sticks well to the slippery plastic tie strip and bonded ME track to a long styrene overpass/bridge. Dries transparent, so minor glue squeeze outs are invisible. Dries overnight. Weighted it down with books until dry. Worked like a champ. $3-$4 a tube, and one tube is more than enough for the longest trestle every built.
Black Max is some serious super glue. Works extremely well for most anything.
Note that it is not clear. It is black.
Rotor
If it were me, I’d use Weld Bond or some other such space-age white glue. In fact, that is precisely what I used to keep my Code 70 ME provided with the Micro Engineering 120’ combination girder bridge in place. I would also use Goop, such as Marine Goop…it comes in hefty squeezable tubes. Even Gorilla glue would/should work, although it would be close to permanent. The only other semi-permanent adhesive I would consider would be tiny dabs of plain old acrylic latex caulking. I would use a fine metal file or sand paper to score up the surface on any cross members supporting the tracks, and then use caulk. I think you’ll find it works once it sets. Use small weights to keep the track pressed into the smallish dabs of caulk for about three hours.
Way back in the Middle Ages ('50s & '60s) a lot of modelers used the “Goo and Iron” method of applying rails to wood ties, plywood and such. You run a bead of Hobsco Goo (or other contact cement, such as Pliobond) along the bottoms of the rails in a fairly thin layer, allow it to set up completely, then lay the track in place on the ties or blank plywood (in yards or inside structures), holding it in gauge with a couple of 3-point gauges or a long straight gauge, and apply heat to the rails to melt the cement. It doesn’t have to take much, not enough to melt the plastic ties, and it can eliminate spiking, if that’s your goal. I used this method to lay a couple of Code 100 brass rails on a length of 1x3 for an O scale test track (for rolling tests) and it was quick and efficient.
That said, I’d heed other suggestions of inserting occasional wood ties for spiking and using contact cement in the normal way. If price is any indication–$22/oz (the original Alpha Cyanoacrylate Cement was expensive, too)–the Black Stuff might be super efficient and VERY permanent, not always a Good Thing. I suggest some experimentation is in order.