Redoing a section of my layout and forming some hills using strips of tag board (tried and true method). Last time I did all this, I stapled the strips together. This time, I decided to try hot gluing them. Will say that it has some advantages such as being able to fasten strips to spots a stapler couldn't reach or connect strips to faces of the wood supports that are too small to fasten a stapler to - at least easily.
Downside is sometimes having to hold pieces a bit until glue sets (which it does quickly) and the little strings of hot glue that end up collecting everywhere. Not a big deal, more a minor annoyance than a true problem.
Anyone else use a glue gun for this (or is this a standard practice which I haven't read about before)?
I've been using my hot glue gun like that for over 20 years on scenery. I use the heavy duty fast set sticks, they bond almost instantly.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
I have two workhorse hot glue guns.
The old Bostik gun I have had for what seems like forever. It gets very hot, and it can be used continuously. This one probably predates a lot of safety protocols. It will put big blisters on your fingers.
The AirTech gun says "High Temp", but it does not get anywhere near as hot as the Bostik tool. The Bostic tool will melt foam, this one will not.
I once built an entire layout using only hot glue as an adhesive!
cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/262808/2962624.aspx
Well, for some reason I can't seem to make the link clickable. Sorry.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I always use hot glue for cardboard strips. I keep some dollar store clothespins handy to clamp joints, which make construction go much faster.
Rob Spangler
SeeYou190Well, for some reason I can't seem to make the link clickable.
When the forum gets wonky, you just have to cheat.
https://tinyurl.com/y5pozv9k
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I used hot glue and cardboard strips on my last layout.
And plan to do the same when I reach that stage on the present one.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Heh - if my cardboard strips looked that neatly organized and pretty my wife would object to covering them with scenic material!
Dave Nelson
I made part of a tunnel using a glue gun. Yes, annoying to hold the cardboard strips down on the foam. I then put plaster cloth on top before using Plaster of Paris to cover up any holes. Afterward, I painted the area and added bushes (again with a glue gun).
In short, glue guns have their place. I also like that they are cheap and easy to use without much of a mess. It also doesn't require a lot of brain power.
dknelson Heh - if my cardboard strips looked that neatly organized and pretty my wife would object to covering them with scenic material! Dave Nelson
The idea there was to actually make landforms with cardboard strips. It turned out yes you can!
Same scene with plaster gauz and sanded grout for texture - overlaying the cardboard strips.
kasskaboose I made part of a tunnel using a glue gun. Yes, annoying to hold the cardboard strips down on the foam. I then put plaster cloth on top before using Plaster of Paris to cover up any holes. Afterward, I painted the area and added bushes (again with a glue gun). In short, glue guns have their place. I also like that they are cheap and easy to use without much of a mess. It also doesn't require a lot of brain power.
Yeah, lack of brainpower is definitely a plus if not an outright requirement.
This wouldn't matter for cardboard strips since you are going to put plaster over it, but in other applications does hot glue continue to hold over time? Any tips to make it work at it's best?
Rick
I used a hot glue gun to build a hill with tunnel, using cardboard strips, on my grandson's 4x6 layout years ago. It worked well so I used that method considerably on my current layout, though I also tried foam layers and also hydrocal and rubber rocks. In many cases, the various methods were integrated. I'm glad I tried them all.
My wife's old glue gun acted strangely last year on a minor project, so I bought a new one on Amazon. Not even sure how I chose it, other than examining the ratings.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Not surprised in the least that this method has been used quite a bit by many others, I am usually late to any party. Plus, model railroaders are nothing if not imaginative and always on the lookout for a better, easier, or just different way to do something. The hot glue holding up over time is an interesting question. I would suspect it should be fine - but that opinion is based largely on wishful thinking.
I have also used a HGG for attaching ground foam to the tree armatures of the Woodland Scenics plastic "tree" trunks/limbs. You can sometimes see the glue showing up as shiney spots mixed in amongst the foam but a dab here and there of flat craft paint takes care of that while providing some additional color variety.
I used the Bostik to glue the splines.
I also used it on the cardboard strips and on glueing layers of foam.
My chief people painter uses the glue gun to put the little ones on a stick for painting.
You can get glue sticks with different melting temps/setting times so I have a variety on hand which is really handy for making adjustments. The older I get, the slower I work.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Brent - seeing your pics impresses me. Most of us only dream about converting our living rooms into our layouts spaces...whereas you seem to have pulled it off.
reasearchhound Brent - seeing your pics impresses me. Most of us only dream about converting our living rooms into our layouts spaces...whereas you seem to have pulled it off.
Thanks, that's not my living room, it's the two bedroom Nanny suite and we no longer have a Nanny. One bedroom is now the guest room and the other is my trainroom office.
I am indeed spoiled as I also have a trainroom bar and lazy boy.
I would have preferred a large basement instead, but I'll take it.
riogrande5761 I used hot glue and cardboard strips on my last layout.
Sorry about going off topic, but how did you do the waterway? Is that plywood with plaster gauze on top of it?
BATMANI would have preferred a large basement instead, but I'll take it.
besides, we all know Batman's basement is in use for other things, dont we?
hbgatsf riogrande5761 I used hot glue and cardboard strips on my last layout. Rick
The river bed was done using a piece of Luan and following Rob Spanglers suggestion, I put drywall mud on it and then sanded it smooth. The cardboard strips were attached to it with hotglue forming the river banks.