🚀 go-pugleaf

Paul E. Sincaglia posts:

PS>  I realize thereare about as many differenet opinions as there are
PS>  plastic cements (or other glues) but the reason I am posting this
PS>  is to see what the "general public" prefers and more importantly why?

PS>  Answer this simple question:

PS>  How do YOU join seems and fill gaps?  What are the benefits and
PS>  the downfalls of your particular favorite "stuff" and why?

My favorite glue is good ole Testors Liquid cement, which is Methyl Ethyl 
Ketone.  It melts and welds the plastic together providing a very, very solid 
joint.  For good models that fit well, the little melted plastic fills in the 
seams and all that is usually needed is to sand the seam. The only draw back 
is that this is fairly slow drying, although this is an advantage at times.  
Say you are gluing a large joint.  Well, if the surfaces to be glued are 
large, capillary action is not sufficient, so you have to pre apply cement to 
the surfaces.  Testors gives you some working time to apply the liquid before 
it evaporates.

I do use some other glues too.  If I want a solid joint that is truly welded, 
but I want to have it set quickly I use Tenax-7R.  This stuff dries FAST, and 
is only applicable by capillary action.  You can glue a part, even a seam on 
the spine of an A/C, and can sand the seam within a few minutes of using the 
Tenax-7R.  My only problem is that this sometimes is just too fast setting up 
for me.  I've also noticed that it tends to produce pin-hole bubbles in the 
seam much more so than testors.  Since Testors sets slower, you can clamp, and 
really press the parts tight.  

Something I have used when in a pinch is Dio-Sol.  Yes, Dio-Sol.  If you 
aren't acquainted with this, Dio-Sol is the thinner for paints produced by 
Floquil.  It is toluene and xylene based, so it melts plastic.  It works about 
as well as Testors.  It's also the only thing I use to thin paints for 
airbrushing.  It gives the paint that "bite" to actually bond with the 
plastic.  I use if with Floquil paints, as well as Testor Model Master, 
Humbrol, X-tra Colour and any other enamels.  

For most landing gear, and other detail parts, and of course any photoetch 
brass or cast resin parts, I use cyanoacrylate.  For nice flat parts like 
photoetch, I use thin superglue.  For other parts, like landing gear, drop 
tanks, etc, I use gelled super glues.

Now for filling gaps.  For large gaps, I use Dr.Microtools red putty.  It has 
a finer texture than Squadron Green.  Once the large gap is filled and 
sanded, there are ususally bubbles in the putty.  I then use thin super glue 
on this.  The putty is kind of porous, and the super glue is absorbed and 
fills the holes.  Once set, the gap can be sanded and even polished.  But 
since I build 1/72, most gaps aren't that big.  For small seams, sink holes, 
etc, I use gap filling super glue, and for very small seams, I use Mr.Surfacer 
from Gunze Sango.  This is a great product.  

Happy Modelling
Darrel Monroe
dmonroe@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu