I bought a steel coil load set for dirt cheap. It comes in various sizes that need to be glued together. Should I get the needed testers glue now or wait until I have more to glue? I thought to wait so the glue won’t dry out.
Cheers,
Lee
I use Testor’s glue in the red/white tube and often have it on hand for years without it drying out in the tube.
I use the same.
I have a tube that is at least four years old (been open that long) and use it every now and again…It’s fine!
Just be sure the cap is on tight.
Same as everyone else. I’ve never had testers dry out. As long as the cap gets put back on should last for years.
Using Testor’s Tube cement?
Wouldn’t using Testor’s liquid cement (which also lasts a long time in it’s glass bottle) be better (I usually toss the little applicator brush attached to the cap’s inside, and use a small, worn artist’s paint brush to apply the glue - there are many other applicators available).
One thing I did have evaporate on me was Tenax 7R, although the current bottle is holding up find (maybe the cap was bad).
Big bottles of CA can solidify on you before you run out too, if you don’t use it that much - this is why, in general, I use small tubes of CA from Home Depot and the like.
I tried the liquid cement back in the 70’s. Never did like it much. It was too easy to spill and had a nasty odor.
Liquid glue is the most preferable for all modeling activities. Brush it onto both sides, move the parts together and it actually softens the plastic, welding it together. No glue oozing out of the joint, dries fast. To avoid spilling the bottle, make yourself a wide base for it with wood or even a chunk of Styrofoam, just cut out a hole for the bottle. I have a small fan on my workbench, use it if I’m going to be doing a lot of gluing with the stuff.
Actually I find the tube glue hard to beat…I tried the liquid glues and found the tube is still the hands down winner for my needs…
Each his own though.
Exactly. [:)]
I prefer the liquid glues (Tenax 7R, mostly). Fit the parts together, THEN apply the glue to the back side of the joint. But there are definitely times when the tube glue comes in handy too.
I used the liquid glue in building some structure kits recently. It was OK but it didn’t seem to work as well as the tube glue. I found on many of the joints I needed to go back with tube glue to make them solid.
Don’t forget MEK. $7.00 will buy a quart which s/b a lifetime supply. Get an A-West needle applicator set with bottles and the most you can spill is a couple of drops. MEK is great for styrene, but won’t weld ABS plastics.
But I use them all depending on the application. Tenax 7R, PlasticWeld, Tube, etc.
Absolutely. The Testors in the black palstic bottle with the little needle-applicator makes for a much more precise amount of glue on the surface.
Tenax 7R is equally good for this–you apply it with a small brush.
I have bottles of both that have lasted for years.
I haven’t used the tubes of glue since I was a kid.
This is what I do (and to be fair, is what the majority of the modeling press recommends - the ‘capillary’ method of gluing styrene) and it is leaves a much cleaner (and perhaps stronger - I can’t really say) joint (albiet, you have to be sparing with the cement application, and think a bit ahead - the goal is to avoid crazing the visible surface of the model, which smeared or dripped cement will definitely cause).
Back in the mid-70s, when I began modeling, I used tube cement (lemon scented, so us kids wouldn’t be tempted to glue-sniffing), and it just seemed somewhat unwieldy and messy - how do you achieve good results with it (comparing it to, say Walthers Goo [contact cement], which I only have used to glue interior or other non-visible surfaces with - e.g. car weights)
I’m with the MEK school of thought. It works great, but as with most liquids, they must be used with adequate ventilation.
Testor’s tube cement comes in two types. Red and white tube; good to use, works well, bonds quickly. Blue and white tube, nice smell, non-toxic, messy, slow bonding, worth avoiding.
Jeffrey, most all tube glues are messy!!! Testors, Duco (do they still make that?), Walthers Goo, etc. They are thicker than CCA gel, string out like hot melt glue, and leave an ugly yellowish residue around the joints!! I’d guess that about 99% of modelers use “bottle glue”, or CCA, about 99% of the time!! My [2c][2c]
That is the same problem I found on Walthers Corner Stone kits with the liquid glue…I went back and reglued the joints with tube glue…