Darned if there isn't a useful guide for The Polish Formerly Known As Future:
http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html
The 'final step' solution in a DVD repair kit might also fill in the small etching spots that the 'kicker' has produced in the plastic surface with a material close to the 'same' index of refraction.
A problem is that most of the people who have worked out the chemistry to fill small glass or plastic scratches durably have seen dollar signs in their future and carefully marketed the material as part of an expensive kit or worse yet, a proprietary franchisable 'repair system'. That is why you can't just drop a little solution (from a nice large bottle with reasonably long shelf life) on a cracked windshield to wick in with capillary action, or fill in a gouge or scratch and trim it level with a straight-edge blade.
Hey, glad it was useful.
What about trying the stuff that is used to clear the fog on the clear plastic exterior of car headlights? Perhaps on a Qtip or microswab.
Dave Nelson
snjroy In the past, I was successful applying a thin coat of Future wax, but I haven't tried the product that replaces it (is it Pledge? I forget). Simon
In the past, I was successful applying a thin coat of Future wax, but I haven't tried the product that replaces it (is it Pledge? I forget).
Simon
Stix,
Just about the best there is for gluing disimilar materials, drys crystal clear for an extremely strong bond. Loctite GO-2 Gel. I highly recommend it. Been using it for a few yrs. now and it beats the hell out of Canopy glue, which I have also used. For the acetate and styrene windows in the scale trucks I build, I use G-S Hypo Cement, which is a Jewlers cement. Goes on clear and drys crystal clear, also a very strong bond. Most modelers in the know, use it, instead of canopy glue.
The above adhesives are NOT CA/ACC.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-GO2-Gel-All-Purpose-0-6-fl-oz-Glue-1832982/205478359
https://www.amazon.com/Hypo-XTL-1001-Precise-Essential-Applicator/dp/B000RB60I8/ref=asc_df_B000RB60I8/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=194857335027&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9186295205583710136&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021618&hvtargid=pla-312761312627&psc=1
Take Care!
Frank
I wasn't gluing the windows, I was gluing fairly heavy metal figures to the side of the caboose since there was no interior - no seats - and there really was no other way to do it. The glue had to support the figures. Canopy glue is usefull when gluing windows in place, but not for gluing metal to plastic. Besides, I didn't get glue on the window, it was ZipKicker spray.
Re price - interesting thing that. The 'Great Train Show" was in St.Paul Saturday, and there was a dealer selling a lot of Bachmann stuff. I thought the prices were good but wasn't sure how good - then realized right across the aisle was the Bachmann display booth with free catalogues. I got a new catalogue and found out the prices at the retailer were about 1/2 of list price, so picked up the caboose and one of the new covered hoppers with flashing EOTD for less than the list price of the caboose by itself.
My now NLA B&O Spring Mills Depot caboose was $60
The lighted Athearn bay window lighted caboose is $93 and with sound and lights $121 at a popular NY mail order strore.
$61 MSRP for a Bachmann caboose is optimistic. $40 at a different online shop.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
richhotrain Slightly off topic, but $61 for a plastic caboose??? Rich
Slightly off topic, but $61 for a plastic caboose???
Rich
Have you not seen the Athearn Genesis bay window cabooeses? The version in 2012 without lights was discount priced at about $60 give or take.
The Centralia Intermountain SP Bay Window cabooses are MSRP $59.95.
The up coming "plastic" Genesis bay window cabooses are will be MSRP 109.98 and 149.98 and will look better than brass.
And don't forget Tangent "plastic" cabooses B&O/Chessie $89.95 and they sold out pretty fast.
So while some may be ok with Athearn blue box or MDC generic cabooses, or Atlas etc. some who model particular railroads find having model cabooses that actually match that RR's cabooes a must. I know for me, trains just looked "wrong" without the correct caboose. I'm sure Mike L can relate.
Certain things are "signature". I was willing to fork over $220 each for most of my painted brass cabooses and as high as $275 recently but for D&RGW I was pleased to get it for that. Two recent D&RGW cabooses sold for $430 and $450, respectively. I did manage to find a brass unpainted D&RGW EV caboose for $90 but I expect Athearn to be adding the Rio Grande EV cabooses to their line-up, so I will not be among those bidding up painted brass EV cabooses to silly prices. I bet they will be kicking themselves when the value drops after the detailed plastic EV cabooses are released.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
NVSRR BigDaddy ACC, as it off gases, can fog the windows as well. A better choice would have been tacky glue or 5 min epoxy canpy glue would do as well
BigDaddy ACC, as it off gases, can fog the windows as well. A better choice would have been tacky glue or 5 min epoxy
ACC, as it off gases, can fog the windows as well. A better choice would have been tacky glue or 5 min epoxy
canpy glue would do as well
That's what I was thinking as well, or why would it be called "canopy" glue? Airplane canopy's are windows too!
Alton Junction
The link below (if it works?) is to the caboose in question. Normally with figures I would be using Walthers Goo to attach them to their seats. However, this caboose doesn't have any interior so I was trying to glue two of the old-style Bowser metal train crew figures to the interior side of the car. In retrospect, I should have "gooed" one guy in place and let it sit for a few hours to harden before turning the car the other way around and gluing the other guy in. But I figured a little ACC might hold the first guy in place and then I could do the other right away. I hadn't figured on a little of the ZipKicker spray getting on the inside of one of the bay windows.
https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=258_324_355_1083&products_id=6737&zenid=kko44f9vld66sskbpr0nv12533
SeeYou190I have never kicked my zip.
Ahh, c'mon Kevin, live a little.
I don't use kicker all that much anymore, although it caught my eye at first learning of it for a time. I like to build with good strong joints and kicker tends to degrade that some. However, CA can be pretty strong stuff, so a little weaker is plenty strong enough most of the time.
That said, I have Essential Tremor, which comes and goes, but which can make positioning things tricky. For some things, I need to be able to place an item and let the CA set before I send it off in some unforeseen tangent. For that sort of stuff, I like to have kicker available.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
SeeYou190 I have never kicked my zip. Am I the only one that prefers slower setting CA glues? I am not good enough to get it right the first time. A kicker seems like I would be inviting a disaster. -Kevin
I have never kicked my zip.
Am I the only one that prefers slower setting CA glues? I am not good enough to get it right the first time. A kicker seems like I would be inviting a disaster.
-Kevin
Plus it states right on the accelerator instructions that it's use, weakens the bond. I stay with Medium CA......Zap-A-Gap and BSI (Bob Smith Ind.) which is an Insta-cure Medium Ca..I build a lot of models that need CA.......especially Brass etched parts for Warships.
The bicycle is 1/87 scale in this photo:
Living the dream.
I don't like to spray the Zip Kicker. It covers too big an area. I dip a fine wire into the bottle and place a small drop directly on the joint.
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
Thanks for the replies. It was kind of an odd situation; I was trying to glue metal figures in place inside one of the new Bachmann HO bay-window cabooses with the small bay windows. I used some ACC and a little ZipKicker spray, and a little got on the side window on one side. It's not opaque now, but isn't as clear as the other one. The caboose doesn't have an interior (it's mostly used up by two stacked weights) so it's not that big a problem that you can't see inside that well I guess...might even be an easy way to 'frost' windows for buildings without interiors.
Does ZipKicker claim it's "foam safe"? If not, it's possible that a foam safe kicker might avoid this issue. I don't use my foam safe kicker much, but haven't had an issue with it yet like this one - but I could just be lucky.
Based on the Zipkicker ingredients (VM&P Naphtha, Dimethyl-p-toluidine, Xylene, Ethylbenzene), I believe your window is probably permanently fogged.
You could avoid this problem in the future by using a mist of plain water or water with a little baking soda dissolved in it as your accelerant.
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.
Over the weekend I was working on a caboose. While using ACC and Zip Kicker spray to glue some parts in place, a little overspray from the Zip Kicker got on the inside of one of the caboose windows and fogged it up. Is there anything I can use to clean the window so it is clear again?