How Long Do Glues Hold A Kit Together Until It Fails ???

It depends on the type of glue you use.

I found a new one in January called "Sinbad" and unlike normal ACC is it more related to the glues dentists use on crowns. Lots of strength plus sheer strength as well. You may want to try it (see their websitem, just Google "Sinbad" and "glue") as it works well.

It's not cheap -- $55 for a sampler package of seven different products -- but beats the frustration when the ACC shears off.

Cookie Sewell

on 11/12/2007 5:22 PM snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net said the following:

I have 30 year old plastic models, glued with CA, liquid plastic glue, and tube glue, that are still intact.

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote: : : At Berkeley Hardware I overheard a clerk telling a customer that the : Testors blue tube of glue : What is that? Sounds like the "child safe" junk. Anyway, I would never recommend using tube styrene glue. It is not a matter of "if" but "when" you ruin the model with a glue string from the tube. I definitely recommend liquid glues, either the black bottle Testors sells, or the Tamiya green label glue. I do not really recommend Tenax - it is too "hot" and evaporates in the bottle. Ambroid Pro-Weld is okay, but do not try using the brush in the bottle - way too big.

CA I dislike - I become "one with the bottle" way too easily... Or it goes bad too quickly. Sigh.

Bruce

Well, from a fumes perspective, the CA isn't going to be any more pleasant or any less toxic than the epoxy. Wifey has asthma and very sensitive sniffer, so I used to deal with the "what's that smell?!" all the time. Then I started putting parts in a styrofoam shipping box to cure, then uncorking them outside. Even in the Midwest winter I can go outside for thirty seconds to pop the top and let the smell out without the parts getting cold. I don't know what you're building, but shear strength with figures shouldn't be an issue if you drill and pin the appendages. As far as longevity, I have an INDY Lotus I built in about '66 or '67 with Testors orange tube glue, and no glue joints have let go. The only commercial glue I use now is Zap-a-gap CA's, and I use MEK for styrene.

Ambroid Pro-Weld is the bomb. But it's apparently out of production. I have some that I'm using, and when it's gone it's gone. Anyone have a line on a good supply?

Anyway to 'cool' tenax to keep it in the jar longer? I don't care for Tamiya, so maybe back to Testor's liquid. We'll see.

--- Stephen

I have a can of xylene and some polystyrene foam. When I need some glue I add some of the latter to a little of the former. The plastic dissolves almost immediately so it's not hard to make up a 'cement' as viscous or runny as suits the purpose.

got any pics? i bought his baka for future build.

Xylene isn't the safest stuff in the world to work with:

Pat

Of course the usual precautions apply. The one that worries me most is Testors Dullcote. Any idea what the solvent is?

how often do you smell it and for how long? i use normal spray/brush paint precautions and still have only 2 heads.

And no waiting...

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr. ;)

2 opionions, no surety.

Craig, Your question: "How long do glues hold a kit together until it fails?" depends on how long you will have the model sit on the shelf/display case without handling it. I have found thru experience that if the model sits without being touched/handled, it will last forever. But if you are handling it, moving it, or whatever, the time will come when it will eventually break. I have made some repairs to some resin pieces my wife has as decorative items throughout the house, and the CA glue "welds" (for lack of a better word) have been holding on for over 15 years. On the other hand, I glued a toy for my granddaughter a few weeks ago, and it did not last more than two days. Again, it all depends on how you treat the glued item - look at any constructed item in a museum and they have been glued for over 10 to 15 year some even longer.

My two cents.

Ray ===

I can virtually guarantee that dusting models invites mild destruction. Every time I went on a cleaning binge there were parts that detached. The absolute worst case I had was my very first 1/72 B-52. Putting it back on the shelf I managed to catch the vertical tail on the next shelf up. This caused the model to jump out of my hands and dive to the floor and split open. I was so distraught and that hideous Aurora B-29 was sitting there looking too smug. Let's say I had two caualties that day.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

You try to clean this thing sometime:

haven't seen one of those Aurora B-29s in around thirty years or more, actually that's probably more of a collector's item than the B-52, despite being a really crappy model kit. My Monogram B-52 had a very odd end also... I took it to school back in

1973, and it was hung in the Aviation Class classroom. A few days later someone stole it. And it had scratchbuilt H-bombs on it! Who knows? SPECTRE may have them now... :-D

Pat

One of my excuses for building so few is that I also build plexiglass display cases for every project. Never one 6 feet long though...... ;

I think I saw that one before but I definitely remember the part about taking it in the shower with you.

It was over thirty years ago, getting closer to forty, now. I got the B-52 the very first year they came out, somewhat ahead of my B-47.

I wonder how they got that out under their coat.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.