Hi all
I've been reading MR for a while now, and one question keeps popping up in my noodle.
Back when I built model cars, using Super Glue was a bit of a no-no, due to it's tendancy to fog clear plastic and paint. But it seems to be a very common item in model railroading.
Am I assuming (incorrectly) that Super Glue is the same "super" glue always mentioned in MR articles? The Micro Mark catalog has so many different glues that sound the same.
Help!
www.newenglanddepot.net
Nell,
Super glue is the common name for cyanoacrylate (CA), which comes in various brand names and also various viscosities - from watery to a thick gel. But it is basically the same stuff.
And yes, it still fogs clear plastic. I use many different adhesives in model railroading:
Metal parts -- CA (superglue)
Plastic parts -- plastic model cement
Dissimilar materials, or things that need a more flexible bond -- Walthers Goo
Cardstock and stripwood -- Tacky or Hobby Glue
Scenery -- dilute matte medium
Track and roadbed -- adhesive caulk.
And so on. There really isn't a "one size fits all" glue.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Sir Madog Nell, Super glue is the common name for cyanoacrylate (CA), which comes in various brand names and also various viscosities - from watery to a thick gel. But it is basically the same stuff.
The only time that I ever use that stuff is to bond metal rails to plastic, like in a roundhouse or back shop or other such buildings.
Alton Junction
I use when I want to bond a locomotive to my hand. Or keys. Screw driver. Clamps. Etc.
Nellschoo
There is a type of glue out that is made specificly for gluing in clear plastic windows, unfortunately I dont
remember what its called or who makes it. maybe someone else out there will know who makes it and what its called. I do remember seeing an ad for it a few years back in an issue of Fine Scale Modeler, you might try picking up a copy of that and looking for it. I will do a little digging and see if i can find that mag. If I do I will post it here. I have used Testors liquid plastic cement with very good results but you have to be very careful not to let it run onto the clear plastic.
Ah, Superglue... Oh the many things you can stick to your hands.
They say that Superglue comes in 2 viscosities: Thick and thin. The thin glue is suppose to run down the seam on two joining parts with capillary-action. It works well for this, but as mentioned, it may be a good idea to not use it on window glasing (although the fogging of the windows is impossible to get off, I have had sucess with fogging windows to simulate the heavy fog that you see on windows everywhere when the Florida wash-outs come)
Also with thin Superglue you can just open the cap and spray the internal cavity of a railcar that needs extra weaght (just make sure you have fishing sinkers in the cavity first) Even though this trick is traditionally used with placing weaght in the nose of a tail-heavy jet with a tri-cycle landing gear, I have had great sucess in using it in those tight spaces in a locomotive shell (I did this about 1 year ago, and apparently it worked, because the locomotive still runs, and I don't hear any rattling)
As with the superglue gel, It is suppose to have a slower setting time than the thin superglue, but when I have used it, it seemed to dry as fast (if not faster) than the thin superglue ( mabe it was my dumb decisions to use some superglue that I bought at the local dollar-store, and then left sitting for months)
While the Superglue does fog window glasing, I have had no troubble with it fogging paint. To test to see if it will fog the paint you will use, paint a scrap piece of styrene with some of the paint you will use (make sure you apply it just as you will for the project)and let it dry. Next, place a drop or two of superglue on the surface and watch it. The glue should be fully dry in 60-secconds without any other surfaces on top of it ( unless if you use superglue gel, where the surface can harden, leaving the inside wet. If that happens stay away from the workbench with the spill, or it may be you who will get glued to the table) Once the glue is dry, look at the surrounding painted surface, and that should tell the tale as to if the paint will be fogged by the glue.
In honor of April Fools Day (The day after I posted this) I will leave you with a pratical joke almost everyone will enjoy for $1.25 (or more, depending on how many "traps" you set)
Step 1: go to a dollar store and buy Superglue Gel
Step 2: get some coins (face value doesn't matter, but the more value it is, the better it works)
Step 3: find a cafe or dinner that you would like to eat at
Step 4: go across the street from that dinner or cafe
Step 5: squeeze a dollap of the superglue to any face of the coin(s) and place it glue-side down on the sidewalk
Step 6: return to the cafe or dinner and request a table or booth with a view of where you placed the coins and wait
nellschoo
was not able to find the magazine that had the article in it, but I did get the brand name of the glue that I mentioned. It is Testors brand, it is called Testors clear part cement & windowmaker. it comes in a small 1oz tube approx 2 inches long with a black metallic cap the tube is semi transparent with a purple sticker on both sides.
this info comes from my cousin in Calif who does a lot of scale model car building and he tells me that he has had the same tube for the last six years so I guess a little bit will last a long time. Happy gluing Neil
Just for the fun of it, we used some Crazy Glue to glue a Silver Dollar to the corner of the counter at a garage where I worked. One day, after about 8 months, I came back from lunch, and the silver dollar was gone. There was a small blob of gelled Crazy Glue, and a strong smell of nail polish remover. Also, a fair amount of the varnish on the counter was disturbed. We had several woman customers that day, two of whom came in a second time during the overlapping lunch break, when about 1/3 of the staff was out at any time, usually leaving the counter unattended.
First time I read about CA glue was in an article in a 1958 MR, about a product called Kodak 910 Photomount cement. Then came the guy gluing his shoes or safety hat to an overhead with Crazy Glue. Then one day while scavenging at the local city dunmp in 1963, I obtained my first CA from a box of expired medical suppies. It was a medical CA used for treatment of cuts.
In spite of the multitude of various brands available at many different retail establishments, according to an article a number of years ago in Popular Science, the best and purest are those sold in Hobby Shops, or from industrial supply houses. Some of the most expesive are the small "Single Use" type tubes often sold in grocery Stores.
Sometimes the fogging of clear plastic can be avoided by using the foam safe types, applying a thin coat of light oil to the surface of the plastic, (but not on the gluing surfaces) and/or avoiding the use of accelerators. In fact, I've read that the accelerators may increase the possibility of a person becoming sensitized to CAs.
There are at least a dozen, and probably more, different types of CAs, starting with the original Alpha-Cyanoacrylate.
duckdogger I use when I want to bond a locomotive to my hand. Or keys. Screw driver. Clamps. Etc.
oh my...that's funny duck dog. I needed a laugh!!!!
The St. Francis Consolidated Railroad of the Colorado Rockies
Denver, Colorado
widetrackNellschoo There is a type of glue out that is made specificly for gluing in clear plastic windows, unfortunately I dont remember what its called or who makes it. maybe someone else out there will know who makes it and what its called. I do remember seeing an ad for it a few years back in an issue of Fine Scale Modeler, you might try picking up a copy of that and looking for it. I will do a little digging and see if i can find that mag. If I do I will post it here. I have used Testors liquid plastic cement with very good results but you have to be very careful not to let it run onto the clear plastic.
"Plastic parts -- plastic model cement"
I don't use this glue - for leaking onto adjacent surfaces and spoiling the work, it is far worse (IMHO) than the thicker ACC's. The 'plastic cements' - usually in a bottle with a little brush - may work fine for capillary attraction into small gaps when inserted from the INSIDE of a model - but cause nothing but ugly damage from the outside.
I use thick ACC, applied with a toothpick (or even finer 'tool', like a sharpened toothpick...) very carefully in small amounts.
But never on windows. I use Testors window glass glue for that.
jrc
Canopy glue should be available at any hobby shop that specializes in model airplanes or model race cars.
Here's some information that may prove helpful -- a Super Glue selection guide from the original makers of Super Glue:
http://www.supergluecorp.com/choosingaproduct.html
I think that they are probably the same thing just different manufacturers, I have heard of canopy glue when I was flying rc planes.
widetrackTestors clear part cement & windowmaker
Just bought some of this in the little stand up square plastic bottle with a fine metal applicator coming out of a top corner. I made a couple of slip ups, but the stuff does dry clear. Only on close inspection can you see any evidence that I goofed. My LHS said that someone had had some problem with canopy glue fogging something. I wonder if they missed with some reqular cement. I certainly liked the Testors. When using this type bottle, be sure to give it a squeeze with it standing up when you are done. Wipe off the dribble and you will have a clear tube ready to dispense glue the next time. (If you forget to clear the tube, a piece of paino wire will clear it.)
Good luck,
OK, I have my Micro Mark catalog here. Let me flip to the "sticky" pages... They have 8 different "super glues". But someone here mentioned ACC. That is where I am confused. Is that different from "super glue"?
(gee, I just noticed they have one for plastic kits now!)
ACC stands for Alpha CyanoaCrylate, the most common type of superglue, also known as CA. There are other types of CAs, one of which I've had the opportunity to use is a Methyl Cyanoacrylate. Slightly different properties, didn't seem to cause me the eye irritation that the regular hobby grades we normally ues did. We used it at work for mounting strain and temperature guages to printed circuit boards and casting for vibration and other stress testing.
Micro-Mark also sells a Jewelers Clear Cement or Watch Crystal cement that I've used that really dries quite clear, I've even used it to make up the ropes on ship models. Doesn't seem to leave visible blobs like other cements, even the one time I actually reinstalled a crystal on one of my wife's watches with it.
Can't tell you how useful this simple explanation is to me. These adhesives are referred to constantly in MR articles and I've never really been able to figure out what glues were suitable for what.
Thanks
Things were a lot simpler 62 years ago. Then, I only had to worry about a powdered Caesin wood glue that you mixed with water, an animal hide wood glue that came in a can or a tube, but never seemed to dry on balsa, a thick tube-type plastic cement, a rubber cement, Walther's Goo, Muscilage, which was basically a paper glue, and the ubiquitous household cement, AKA model Airplane cement, available either in fuel proof or non-fuel proof and regular or fast dry. Then came the white glues, then epoxies, then silicon sealant, to the point where in my basement, I have a collection of over 34 different adhesives each for specific applications. (note: no glues, just adhesives!)