I have found lots of uses for my hot glue gun in creating scenery. My one gripe about it is that I invariably end up with lots of glue strings that are created when the glue gun is pulled away from where the glue is being applied. These are extremely thin and hard to see right away but I keep finding them in the scenery days later. They aren't that hard to remove and are more of a nuisance than a real problem. I'm wondering if there is a trick to using the glue gun that would avoid creating all these strings or is that just something that is inevitable when using the glue gun.
I'd like to know too, doing my scenery I had tons of them. I just dealt with it.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I suppose you could use a stick almost the way you use your fork when eating spaghetti -- twirl it around and gather up the strings.
The one way I know to minimize (not totally eliminate) the creation of the glue strings comes at the cost of the speed with which you can do work with a glue gun. That is, you squeeze the trigger, force out the glue, make the joint - and then don't move the gun while the glue cools and hardens. You pull the gun away with few if any strings at that point. Such strings as there are, are short.
But you become very impatient with this approach soon enough and find that it is easier to deal with the strings.
Dave Nelson
dknelson I suppose you could use a stick almost the way you use your fork when eating spaghetti -- twirl it around and gather up the strings. The one way I know to minimize (not totally eliminate) the creation of the glue strings comes at the cost of the speed with which you can do work with a glue gun. That is, you squeeze the trigger, force out the glue, make the joint - and then don't move the gun while the glue cools and hardens. You pull the gun away with few if any strings at that point. Such strings as there are, are short. But you become very impatient with this approach soon enough and find that it is easier to deal with the strings. Dave Nelson
Interesting idea. I'll give it a try. I guess it will come down to which is the greater nuisance.
You can get a plier type stapler for around $15.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
I have a trigger-type hot glue gun. I found that it is helpful to have a scrap of corrugated cardboard handy to make a quick swipe of the tip after completing the dispensing of the glue and this will considerably reduce the number of stringers to deal with.
I kind-of swipe the tip of the gun at a 90° angle across the scrap and using a slight circular motion. Once you get a rythim to your method it seems to go along pretty quickly. I just rest the gun on the same scrap to keep the drips at bay, as well.
Some of our modeling tasks, such as soldering feeders to the rail, seems to take more hands that I was designed with. Hot gluing is surely one of them, too.
Have Fun! Ed
Use a hair dryer. The heat will get rid of the small spider web strings created by the hot glue gun.
Roger Huber
Deer Creek Locomotive Works