for my recently delivered Central Valley bridge cannot be found. Shelves are near empty at Michaels on the 28th. Would have been a perfect weekend to get it started being snow bound. Sad.
Cold steal,
No sweat! There are better and stronger alternative adhesives than what You seek anyway!
Click on photo for larger view:
Being built:
Main adhesive used:
Take Care!
Frank
I use Fallers glue in the white bottle with the blue cap. Has a nice needle tip and I found it to work much better than anything that Testors has offered thru the years. Nice bridge in that pic! Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Get Weld-on 3 from a plastics store like Tap. What I went to after Pro-weld went away, much cheaper too. When you build that bridge it is much better to tension fit the upper truss work rather than make the whole thing one peice, especialy when installing it.
I also prefer Testors liquid cement over other options. Mainly because my wife is least-offended by its odor compared to the other options I have tried.
I have a pretty good stash, but not a lifetime supply.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Wow. I'm also scratch building a curved stone viaduct. If I ever figure out how to post a pic I will.
I like the glue in the Testor's black diamond shaped bottle with the needle nose applicator. I use it on most of my models.
Rich
Edit: Like the one in Ed's photo below.
Alton Junction
I use either MEK or industrial strength lacquer thinner for building with styrene. You can probably buy it in pint or quart amounts, but I prefer gallons. I recently found a source of lacquer thinner, with qualities that lacqer thinner once had, before some component(s) were removed to make it "safer".Of the two, I prefer the industrial lacquer thinner - it's cheaper, less volatile (odour) and doesn't evapourate as quickly as does MEK.
This is a concern only when you're building large items, as by the time you coat one large surface with MEK and then move on to doing the piece to which it will be attached, the first piece will be too dry to make a good bond.On small items, it works great....if the pieces are in their proper position, just a touch with a brush dipped into either MEK or the real lacquer thinner will secure the items in place.
Wayne
cold steal for my recently delivered Central Valley bridge cannot be found. Shelves are near empty at Michaels on the 28th. Would have been a perfect weekend to get it started being snow bound. Sad.
Not trying to be a wise guy, but I gotta ask: Did you run out before getting more? ;)
Seriously, I try to keep a backup of anything I use on a regular basis. OTOH, I've often been pleased trying an alternative when the hobby store is out of what I regularly use. I've now got a number of glues that I use for different purposes.
www.bostontype.com
I recall the Central Valley kits I've put together in the past and remember that the type of styrene they use is very susceptable to softening when exposed to too much solvent.
Since Tenax* is off the market I've switched to mostly Tamiya and Faller cements in both extra thin (fast acting) and the slower varieties, depending on the joint.
Attempting to construct the C-V box girders with anything but liquid cement would seem to be a real task.
Solvent_cements by Edmund, on Flickr
* What Luck, while I was pulling these out of the cabinet for the photo I found six bottles of Tenax I forgot I had
Good Luck, Ed
Have you tried Hobby Lobby for plastic glue?
Amazon has different varities in stock too.
gmpullmanWhat Luck, while I was pulling these out of the cabinet for the photo I found six bottles of Tenax I forgot I had
I cannot imagine all the stuff I will "find" when I finally unpack all the items for my train room.
doctorwayne I use either MEK or industrial strength lacquer thinner for building with styrene. You can probably buy it in pint or quart amounts, but I prefer gallons. I recently found a source of lacquer thinner, with qualities that lacqer thinner once had, before some component(s) were removed to make it "safer".Of the two, I prefer the industrial lacquer thinner - it's cheaper, less volatile (odour) and doesn't evapourate as quickly as does MEK. This is a concern only when you're building large items, as by the time you coat one large surface with MEK and then move on to doing the piece to which it will be attached, the first piece will be too dry to make a good bond.On small items, it works great....if the pieces are in their proper position, just a touch with a brush dipped into either MEK or the real lacquer thinner will secure the items in place. Wayne
Testors liquid cement is basically MEK with a few additives to slow drying time. And MEK substitute supposedly works the same (since true MEK is harder to find due to enviro rules)
Yes. everyone in south Jersey is still out of stock. Unbelievable!
Saw them for sale on Amazon $8 free shipping. Seller had about a dozen left. Tough to get...
I use to use the testors glue in the metal squeeze tube the little one. But stopped using it cause it was toxit and melted the,The plastic one the buildings I glued it with.I use a lil bit of hot glue from a hot glue gun.for little things iI use gorila super glue the thick clear glue.
In my books, there is no such thing as a "silver bullet" glue. Depending on the task, I have a little arsenal of adhesives, including white glue, CA, Testor's, Gorilla, epoxy, silicone and caulk. And when the surface is small, I try to combine with a mechanical bond, like a screw or a wire attached to both parts. But for buildings, I find that a small quantity of Testors is hard to beat. Not much is needed to hold the thing together, and small quantities allow me to redo it if something goes wrong for some reason. CA will speed things up, but I've learned to be patient by working on 2 or 3 projects at a time to allow for drying time.
Simon
I have spot welded with tube glue and came back with liquid to finish the job on real complex stuff.