Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
Capt. GrimekI'm about to tackle four M.E. city viaduct kits. They have lots of parts some fairly small. For kits such as these (styrene) is there a viable way to temporarily glue them into a whole to be sure the instructions are understood or parts not well described can be test fit, later taking the assembly apart for permanent gluing? A friend recommended "tack welding" them with just a dot of Testor's etc. and using a hobby knife to separate them for permanent re-gluing. Is there another or better way? Would crazy glue de-gluers work better? Caulk? Anyone do this sort of thing? Thanks!
For temporary assembly, I'd recommend what's usually sold as "School Glue." It's a white glue that's even more water soluable than ones like Elmer's Glue (designed to be washed out of kid's clothes, also nontoxic, for obvious reasons). Apply it with a tooth pick or even a pin end for finer applications. Just soak it in water to disassemble, which shouldn't hurt the plastic parts.
I wouldn't recommend any solvent type glue or crazy glue for temporary assembly, they'll damage the surface with the removal of the glue, the crazy glue solvent is usually a type of MEK of lacquer thinner which will dissolve plastic, and the solvent type glues will damage the parts during disassembly, the smaller the part the better the chance for damage.
For permanent assembly, pick up one of the liquid solvent glues, I use Plastruct's Plastic Weld, and a set of A-West's needle points with dispenser bottle. The thin needle gives great control of the glue application. They have several sets, but here's an example:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/158-73
It kind of depends on how small some of the bits are. You could try clamps or some silly putty.
I use rubber cement. It does not dry so hard the you cannot get it apart. Just use an xacto knife in the joint and then rub off the rubber cement with my fingers. Does not damage the parts aor leave any reisdue.
I have used clear tape with good results. I use it on the outside of the walls.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Pieces of blue "Painter's Tape" works well for me. I use strips inside at each corner and outside if necessary. It peels off easy without leaving a residue.
At present I am using it to hold the walls of a 9-stall roundhouse together while I work on the inspection pits.
Doc
Capt. GrimekI'm about to tackle four M.E. city viaduct kits.
My advice, for what it might be worth, is to just give the instructions a good reading and then dry-fit the parts together as you go along. If they appear to fit properly, then apply your solvent cement. I think the ME instructions are pretty good, and I think that they have some illustrations that show where everything is supposed to go. If you take your time with the first kit, you'll be an expert before you get to the fourth.
My issue with all the other suggestions is that you'll end up spending an awful amount of time cleaning up the residue from the other cements plus, depending on how far you go with the temporary assembly, you'll end up with a bunch of possibly similar looking parts that are no longer attached to the sprues containing the part numbers.
The one suggestion relating to the blue tape will not leave residue, but I don't see that as a viable method of attaching the small parts.
Good luck.
I have to conur with Maxman I make mock ups of builds etc. either out of foamcore or cardboard when it comes to things like bridges etc. you wil be wasting too much time and effort. My reasoning for mock ups is jsut to see how a structure will look in a scene IE: is the building too over powering or just doesn't fit etc. a bridge is a bridge is a bridge all it has to do is reach the other side of what it is crossing. I built all my bridges before I started laying subroadbed and laying track. I make the scenery fit the bridge not the bridge fit the scenery. If your just a hair too short or too long it will mess up the whole deal.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
shayfan84325When i was building doll houses (1/12 scale houses), I frequently used masking tape to temporarily assemble complex roof sections (dormers, etc.) it worked well for that. I think the school glue idea would work well for small parts, but I've never tried it.
The problem I see with any of the temporary glue-type products is getting the residue off. Even the masking tape will leave behind some goop that will interfere with any final painting unless removed completely. The other issue with tape, especially the painters tape, is not that it won't work, but that it won't work (IMO) for the small parts that I think come with the kits in question. We're not talking about large flat expanses of walls in a structure kit, but rather little brackets and braces.
I agree with Maxman: don't temporarily glue. Read the instructions carefully and dry-fit parts. Bridges like this are no more than an assembly of repetitive sub-assemblies. Work slowly with the first ones and soon you'll find yourself putting them together like you were born to it. If you think of the model as subassemblies each made up just several parts, the task won't seem as daunting. Some models like wood trestles go together best using homemade jigs, but I don't think it will be necessary with your plastic kits.
Mark