I bought some Monroe Models bridge abutments. They are stunning. And brittle. Half of the set were broken when they arrived, and Bruce Monroe quickly sent out a whole new set and told me not to bother returning anything. I was favorably impressed by his customer service, but their brittleness leaves me unsure how to proceed.
The place where I put my bridge is a curved "corner" cantilevered out from the benchwork and hanging over empty space. Before I cut through the subroadbed to install the bridge, the subroadbed held everything up, and that stretch of subRB was in turn supported by the benchwork at each end. In other words, the subRB was itself already a bridge, a trestle of sorts. But now I've cut that subRB span in the middle, and the bridge spans the gap. I have a vertical plywood support at each end of the bridge that the abutment can...uh... abut, but... how do I affix the abutment to that plywood?
The abutments are cast in a plastery gypsum, so I cannot imagine you could drill through it without it turning to powder. I imagine they are designed to sit ON TOP of the layout's surface, and I suppose I could build something to reach out underneath it, but it's starting to get a little bit like a Dr. Seuess construct as I build stuff out over empty space. I'd prefer to glue their backs against the plywood if there's a glue that would hold gypsum/plaster to plywood.
Have any of you done this? What do you recommend? Have I described it enough so that you can picture this?
I will try to post a photo later. Any help, much appreciated.
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
I hope you can see this. I affixed the two vertical pieces of plywood to the L-girder so they extend out to support the subroadbed at each end of the bridge, and then I chopped the track and subroadbed out between them. The bridge is actually being held up here by rail joiners. I want to put the abutments with their backs against these plywood pieces. Glue?
Thanks,
Could you try hot glue on a broken piece? To experiment?
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
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crossthedogGlue?
DAP Alex latex caulk.
saronaterryCould you try hot glue on a broken piece?
I believe hot glue would get too tacky and begin to harden as the plaster pulls the heat out of it before you can align the pieces.
I would slightly dampen the pieces so the moisture doesn't get pulled out of the glue too soon and use a PVA like Weldbond, perhaps even slightly thinned, then carefully align and join the pieces. Once set add a little more to the back side of the break.
Good Luck, Ed
Hi
My name is Mark Ballschmieder and am the previous owner of AIM Products having sold it to Bruce Monroe about 5 years ago. Bruce is first class all the way and will always make things right for the modeler.
Having said that I did manage to break a few pieces when I was making them and tried a few different ways to attach them to bench work or just repair the piece itself. For attaching them to the bench work I used PL 300 as it was the closest at hand and it worked well. Other adhesives may work as well or better but I never tried them. Also wipe off any plaster dust that might be on the surface you want to attach. I also tried drilling pieces and found that if you used a light touch with the drill you could get a hole in a casting. To repair a break it was important to wet the castings' broken surface. A quick rinse or dunk into a bowl of water. This added moisture to the casting so that the moisture in the adhesive would not be drawn out too quickly which made for a very weak joint. I used Elmer's White Carpenters Glue. Put a dab on each broken surface and and push them together and let dry over night. Be careful not to get glue on the surface that is going to be painted. The glue will seal the surface and make it impossible to paint. I hope this helps and others that have answered seem to be on the right track(no pun intended)
Mark B.
I would think applying one coat of latex paint to the exposed surfaces of to act as a sealant would suffice. Then just use white glue or an adhesive caulk to secure them. Any visible cracks could easily be spackled over and then sanded prior to coloring.
Mark B Hi My name is Mark Ballschmieder... bench work or just repair the piece itself. For attaching them to the bench work I used PLA 300 as it was the closest at hand and it worked well. ... Mark B.
My name is Mark Ballschmieder... bench work or just repair the piece itself. For attaching them to the bench work I used PLA 300 as it was the closest at hand and it worked well. ...
This is precisely the product I used, also because I had it on hand, for affixing W/S plaster portals to my plywood roadbed, now on two layouts. PL300 is foam safe, so it makes some sense to have it handy if you're likely to want to stack some bits of foam to carve them and form hills or to use as filler here and there.
The PL300 doesn't harden over night. It takes several days, but it will stiffen up enough over about 24 hours to let upright things stand on their own while you work nearby, even if they lean by 2 deg or so...no more.
In the scene below, there's a portal standing on its own, but the roadbed is part of a helix, so it's sloped. I would have buttressed this plaster portal with something for at least a full 24 hours, and then removed the blocks of whatever, maybe a heavy Fast Tracks point tool. Click on the image, it will enlarge, and if you squint you can see the gobs of tan coloured putty, really PL300 construction adhesive, under the legs of the plaster portals.
Grab-it works Just make sure all the dust is off both the abutment and wood.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
The PL 300 would definitely work, but I'd be inclined to use WELDBOND...as it says on the label, it sticks just about anything to anything.
Wayne
Once again, thanks all for the replies. It occurred to me, after I posted this and ran off for the evening to help a friend, that there must be at least as many suitable adhesives on the market as there are members of the forum, and that I might inadvertantly have ignited a flaming "bake-off" among proponents of different products, so it doesn't surprise me to find quite a broad array of ideas here. Thanks heaps (or should I say thanks gobs ha).
Mark B For attaching them to the bench work I used PLA 300 as it was the closest at hand and it worked well.
Is this the same as Loctite PL300?
If so, yes, that stuff works great for all kinds of gluing needs.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Kevin-
I meant the PL300. Sorry about the extra letter. I just got home from a 13 day road trip and this old brain was/is a bit punchy.
Mark
Mark BI meant the PL300. Sorry about the extra letter.
I figured we were talking about the same stuff.
I had not used any of the Loctite PL adhesives until I started working on my house. Now I love them. I know I will be using these a lot when I finally get going on the layout.
As a tip, you need to store the tip....properly. Once you cut open the nib, and puncture the seal, you'll want to use as much of it as you can at one go, but not strictly necessary...IF you preserve what is left in the tube properly. I drive a screw into the smallish hole I make, then wrap the screw with plastic, say a shopping bag remnant, and then tape over that to effect a decent seal with masking tape/painter's tape. That should buy you about three months. After that, all bets are off.
I did a lot of attaching hydrocal castings to foam and styrene years ago as I was just learning how to do scenery. I eventually used silicone sealant, and it did hold up. Perhaps it would be a good idea to cover the back surface of the casting with a sealant, as glues aren't going to take to a smooth casting surface get well.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I used a lot of AIM castings on last layout (a lot), I just cauked them in place, then plastered an seams, once stained you could not tell where the seams were.
What I used a long time ago was a mix of dyed plaster with diluted Weldbond, on the principle of acrylic binder. Dampened the back of the plaster castings first, and brushed on some of the diluted Weldbond as a sort of primer, then troweled the material where the portals or abutments were to go and then bedded the castings in with a bit of water misted on the contact area just before to assure adhesion.
Welp, I decide to save the AIM/Monroe abutments (gypsum castings) for a different bridge which has yet to be bought, much less built. So for the bridge in the original photo I'm going to use some Chooch abutments I have. These are made of resin.
After the first responses to this post several weeks ago, I made up my mind to use Weldbond or Loctite PL300, whichever I could find first. Last week I found PL300 and bought some, forgetting that I had decided to use the resin abutments instead of the gypsum ones.
My question now is... does the change from gypsum to resin change anybody's input above, about how I should treat the surfaces or even whether I can use PL300 on them? There was a lot of talk about slightly dampening the abutment surface before applying adhesive. Same with resin? Any other warnings? Unless someone tells me "whatever you do, DON'T use PL300 on resin!" it's about to happen.
As always, thanks guys.
You can still use the PL300. No dampening neede. But I would recommend sanding the back of the casting to remove the glass smooth finish. Giving the resin some tooth for the 300 to bond to. The. Wash into dish soap and water to remove dust and release agents. Paint and adhesives don't bond to that agent for a reason.
shane
Good morning
Years ago I did quite a few tests before choosing an adhesive for my layout which is mainly foam.
This was by far superior to any of the other adhesives gluing foam to foam or anything else to foam and I've been using it for years. It's designed to adhere to glazed tile so it sticks to anything.
I call it super elastic bubble plastic
TF