glue

"Glue-All" (white glue) is good. Titebond (pale yellow "carpentry glue") is a bit better. (It's what I generally used in my Model Rocket days.)

-dave w

Titebond or any yellow wood glue.

The primary disadvantage of elmers white glue is that it is not waterproof. It is also not as strong as titebond II.

Can you find it anywhere in a bottle with a tip that isn't designed for carpentry applications? In otherwords, a tip like the old Superbond glue had. Narrow, round, instead of a long slot like most carpentry glues have.

You can BUY alternate tips at plastic supply houses or buy a "Boston bottle".

Somebody sells the very bottles Centuri purchased, filled and labeled. I got one in every Enerjet kit!

You can pick up one of those little Elmer's school glue bottles for less than a buck. Dump out the white glue, wash it out with water, then refill it from your bigger bottle of yellow wood glue. In addition to the small round tip, the physically smaller bottle is easier to get into the tight spots.

As for the wood glue, I always use Elmer's ProBond weatherproof exterior grade. It is good stuff.

-Scott

Perhaps more importantly, Titebond II sets up faster.

I've found that I get better results not using the glue bottle tip at all. I squeeze out a spot of glue onto an old plastic bag, then use a toothpick or coffee stir stick to pick up a bit of glue and place it where I want it. Uses much less glue and is neater. I don't wind up wiping excess glue off with my fingers and looking like my fingertips are peeling off.

Also, no one mentioned it, but stay away from the Polyester Wood Glues, AKA Gorilla Glue or Brown Glue. It does have a very high strength bond, but everything must be clamped tightly (hard to do with balsa and paper) or the glue's expansion will push parts out of place.

Bob Ellis

I use yellow glues & epoxy, but a few words of wisdom. If gluing the motor mount assembly into the body tube with yellow glue, do it fast & don't stop. That yellow glue seems to tack up & bind much faster than white glue in that application, ie. MMT may stop shy of where you want it. Or better yet, use epoxy, but sure MMT is held somehow; the epoxy can be so slippery that MMT slides down lower than you may want it. -- Richard "just got a haircut....who cares?!!" Hickok

Heh. I've seen my yellow glue (Titebond) set up faster than superglue in some cases.

I just did a couple of rockets, and built wooden jigs for assembling. It's a lot easier when you can just press HARD and have the parts stop in just the right places.

Attempting to post again due to newsfeed problem.

be

Attempting to post again due to newsfeed problem.

be

I once built an Estes Black Brant using only Titebond. Despite being more patient than most - especially since I'd had a "taste" of epoxy - I warmed the glue joints (using the two glue joint method) with an electric space heater for about 15 secs from 12" away, doing three reps each. Sets up REEEEAL fast that way.

Flew it on F32's and an F72 until I kissed it up with a G55. I don't have the cajones to do a wood glue 29mm BBII (epoxy and giberglass all the way for a bad girl like that; flew one on an H125 once). Like I said... "once..." :-)>

My just-started-today project is a 24mm 1.66x scale of the original Estes Solar Sailer (not the SSII, which is cheesy looking compared to the original). I'm still using Titebond, but I'm going to put extra gussets in the engine block in preparation for an eventual F21W launch, once the rocket is "broken in". I figure, it's a 24mm mount in a BT55 so there won't be much shear force on the CRs, it's just a matter of glue area and a little stiffening. That, and TTW fins :-)

I buy the big bottles and reload smaller bottles with the stuff. But if you just want the small bottle of yellow glue, you can get them from Sig and probably other sources.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Aaaaakkkk! What a PITA! You can buy empty bottles from American Science and Surplus, Sig, etc. You can buy small bottles of yellow glue from Sig, Tower, etc.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!