OK, so here’s one for the books. While building a Walthers Cornerstone kit, I put the sides on backwards - don’t ask… So the question is, is there any way to take a glued (Tenex) structure apart? The pieces of buildings I build that I don’t want to come un-glued always do, but of course, this one’s solid as a rock. Abbie
there is product im not sure what it is called but it is a debonder which breaks down the glue so you can pull it apart, you can get at hobby stores
Hello Abbie,
Geez you really glued it good using Tenex. My way of dealing with the problem ,would be to us a sharp Exacto knife and score the walls where joined. This way it you will have less damage than just breaking them apart.
Be sure to be very careful when cutting anything with an Exacto knife ,as these knifes are blood thristy little buggers.
Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Modeling an HO scale steel mill complex.
Thanks for the advice. I may just turn the thing into a flat and put another building beside it to hide the mistake. Abbie
I echo Patrick’s advise and would say use a very sharp x-acto knife and etch the wall. Particularly from the inside of a corner. You should be able to guide the knife alone the joint fairly easily that way without doing untoward damage to the wall itself. I know those Cornerstone items can be fairly pricey and would hate to see you ‘junk’ the model into background status over this.
I think I once read somewhere that if you put the glued item in a deep freezer that this will make the glue brittle and easier to take apart. If this is true can someone else add to this?
I’ll try it and let you know. Thanks Abbie
I would be very hesitant of the plastic becoming brittle in the freezer and the building cracking in the ‘wrong’ place.
the plastic will be fine in the freezer, at least for the purposes of this process… provided the Tenax isn’t one of those plastic welding glues (I still haven’t figured out what type every glue is). The cold makes the glue (amd probably the plastic) shrink, usually just enough the the bond between the glue and the wall is broken.
IF the tenax is one of the welding glues - you’re outta luck with the model… the plastic is melted together, and theres not much that’ll make it come apart (well, cutting it would… but that’ll ruin the fronts/faces of the walls)
Probably your easiest option would be to make the rest of the structure front-side out, and if you can’t see the “back” of it well (and there aren’t any weird structural components on the “inside” of the walls) would be to use brick paper or something to hide the mistake, and put that side towards the back of the layout, in some fashion so it isn’t that easily visible…
Tenax is a solvent-based glue that ‘welds’ plastic together. You’ll have to cut the seams to separate the parts–the “freeze” method won’t work. That method works great on things assembled with super glue though.
You don’t say which building it is but if you could cut the sides on each corner and cut them square, say a half inch from the joint. If the building is brick then maybe you could cut similar material and make pilasters to cover the splice or put a piece of tubing to represent a downspout from the roof.
I don’t think that you will be able to cut the corners at the seams and still get them back together tight. Tenax 7 melts the plastic together like a welder joins metal.
Hope this helps! Jim