Acquired recently a Fine Scale Miniatures ICE STATION kit. Mostly wood...Being new to this, a basic question:What glue(s) would you reco for the assembly? Know its simple but want to approach it right..Thanks in advance
Built this and a few others. Gel CA is what I used and if you don't get sloppy with the glue you can many times get away without pre staining. But with a FSM kit, I would defently pre-stain. Built the ice house and the coaling station and finished an engine house. Now when you get to the shingles, use white glue instead of water to moisten the strips or they will come loose over time. Now the ice house had one flaw that I found in a door opening being a bit the wrong opening size, so test fit. Also if I remember right this is one that was reisued and on all of their kits the more recent one is a better kit in small ways, for example on the engine house the first kit of it had acetate windows but the second had cast.
Thanks for your reco..I really like FSM offerings but getting difficult to find except on EBay..Have you any other sources? Thanks again,
I have built a few of these kits (Dexter's Dead End, Franklin Watchworks, Houligan's Alley, Elijah Roth, currently working on Hazen Boyd) - I love the things! I use Titebond II for most of the wood work, white glue for some things like signage and shingles, gap filling CA for attaching details etc.
The later kits come with a sheet with tips - under Part 2 Glues, George Sellios himself states: " You might have your own favorite glue, but I prefer to use Elmers White Glue ... in certain situations I also use Carpenter's Wood Glue because it has more body ... When waterproof glue is called for, I use Titebond II. Super glue and two-part epoxy are also used on my kits as mentioned in the text"
George is not very into forums, he only came once to the kit manufactures forum and that was because of bad press. A great many kit manufactures suggested CA for the basic build, that and lots of bracing, like lots. The reason is you could build faster and no warp.
As for where to buy, e-bay, cheaper by a long shot.
Good advice and recos!!! Thank you all..Ready to dive in soon, after I buy some glue. Thank you.
CA is clear but you should not be able to see it as it is ussually hidden by your work. With CA if you get too much on an item you can grab some back with a pointed type q-tip once item is put in place. I even used an alcohol stain after I put another brand of little kit after I had already glued it and it looked great even though I had done a mistep but wiped it up with a que.