I have this kit and several others.
I guess you would call them vacumform kits? sides of buildings, etc cut off sheets of plastic. This leaves very thin edges to glue together.
Am I supposed to build a frame inside each section to reinforce the sides?
Glue together then hopefully smooth the sides with putty?
Never worked with anything with super thin edges.
Suggestions/tips.. please.
Craig
Musicman59 wrote the following:
Are both sides finished, i.e. viewable from either side of the diorama? If not, brace it up with wood or plastic scraps on the backside. If both sides are viewable, perhaps join the pieces with gel CA. Maybe some wood bracing between the front and back pieces.
both sides are finished so I guess I have to strengthen the sides and clean up a lot of seams.
craig
Yes, vacuumform models often need to be reinforced.
It sometimes helps to first glue tabs of scrap plastic along the inside edges of both sides; when you put the sides together, the tabs on one side slide underneath the other side, and vice versa, helping to keep them aligned. Then glue with gel CA like willshak said.
After it's glued together, put tape along and across all the seams so you can fill it with a reinforcing material. Some modelers use expanding foam, but it expands a LOT and is very sticky, so wear gloves and cover everything you don't want covered with foam. You may need a temporary framework around the model to keep it from bulging out as the foam expands. When the foam is fully cured, trim off the excess with a razor knife.
However, for a kit consisting of free-standing walls as in your link, gluing it first and then filling with expanding foam probably isn't a good idea, it'd likely cause both sides of the wall to bulge badly. It may be wiser to use a different filler (plaster of paris, perhaps); or fill the parts with expanding foam BEFORE cutting & gluing them, then cut out the part and trim the excess foam.
Or you could reinforce the walls with thick sheet styrene or other rigid material. Do it before cutting & gluing the parts. Cut a reinforcing panel to fit inside the wall. Lay one wall half face down, press balls of epoxy putty onto it, and a rope of putty along the inside edges. Place the reinforcing panel on it and press down firmly. Test fit the other wall half to make sure the edges of the two halves will touch; if not, press down to flatten the putty a bit more until they do. When the putty is hard, lay the other wall half face down, add putty as before, and press the first reinforced wall half onto it; if the edges touch, use bigger balls of putty. Then press down to flatten the putty until the edges of the halves meet. After the putty hardens, run gel CA along the seams to fill any openings.
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