A year or two ago I assembled a Juneco Scale Models K2 CPR wooden caboose kit. to glue the metal castings to the wood frame, I used medium viscosity CA, but to my dismay, they fell off a few times before they stuck. I am no slowly working on the k1 CN caboose and looked at the instructions. They say to use Walther's goo or Contact cement but my LHS was out of goo and wasn't sure when more would arrive. Is goo the thing to use or is there something else that will work?
Lone Geep
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I have found two part epoxy to be superior to superglue for wood to metal joints. I was having similar problems with a wood and metal caboose kit.
Matthew
Super Glue (CA) isn't usually a good choice for wood to metal joints, but GOO should be adequate in most cases. I'm surprised your LHS is having trouble getting GOO, and I suspect you can find it elsewhere if you look around. Maybe somebody else can address that. Epoxy might be necessary if extra strength is needed. Any adhesive that holds two surfaces together is potentially subject to shear forces. The abiility of most adhesives to adhere will be improved by roughing up the surface. In extreme cases, where great strength is needed, it might be best to dispense with the adhesive and attach by mechanical means, such as pins or screws. The pins or screws could be supplemented with an adhesive, but this isn't usually necessary.
Tom
Pliobond most hardware stores have it , don't get the wood only one .
Outgassing from Goo may cause a problem for plastics.
I believe that revelation came up from people Goo-ing metal weights onto plastic floors inside plastic cars.
Ed
I use a product called 'Gloozit' which I bought at a local hardware store. I'm in Canada but I doubt that it is a product exclusive to us. The only problem with it is that it forms strings, but that issue can be reduced if you pause for a couple of seconds before quickly pulling the tube away. That causes the string to harden enough to break when you remove the tube.
https://nlsproducts.ca/shop/products/gloozit
Scroll to the bottom to see a list of retailers.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I've had really good luck with Zap Gel PT-27, for wood to metal, brass, plastic's etc:
http://supergluemsds.com/Docs/PT26%20-%20Zap%20Gel%20-%20PT-26,%20PT-27%20-%20Sales%20Sheet%20-%20rev%202%20-%202013.pdf
Take Care!
Frank
Unfortunately I have not ben able to use Goo successfully for any type of joint in over 40 years. It is just too thick and stringy. I can't imagine it being used for very small parts. I think I remember reading someplace a long time ago that it could be somehow diluted (possibly with acetone?) to thin it out to be a more usable product.
I have very good results using CA glues on wood/metal joints. But epoxy would work well if you prefer to avoid CA's.
Goo works well if applied right for the bond you want to form. If the instructions call for it, you probably want to use it or something with similar properties, which it's a solvent-based contact cement.
Epoxy will generally also substitute, but depending on what you're trying to assemble, it just may not be as practical. Epoxy is stronger and more permanent, if done right.
In my experience, CA works well for similar materials, as wood-to-wood, but generally not so well where they are dissimilar, like metal-to-wood, because the different expansion rates will loosen things up. There are some interesting new CAs, but shear force is the key to whether they will work or not in a particular situation.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
A great trick for reinforcing joints that will be concealed on the finished model:
Apply some Arm & Hammer Baking Soda onto the joint area, then drip thin CA onto the Baking Soda. It will wick into the soda and create a rock hard fillet. Works great for filleting an inside 90 deg corner, or securing wire to a flat wood surface.
I find that the CA glues sold in bottles at hobby stores are much more effective than what you get at a hardware store in tubes. Also having some accelerator is very useful for modeling. If you don't want to spray it on, you can apply a drop with a brush or piece of wire without coating the surrounding area.
ACY Super Glue (CA) isn't usually a good choice for wood to metal joints, but GOO should be adequate in most cases. I'm surprised your LHS is having trouble getting GOO, and I suspect you can find it elsewhere if you look around. Maybe somebody else can address that. Epoxy might be necessary if extra strength is needed. Any adhesive that holds two surfaces together is potentially subject to shear forces. The abiility of most adhesives to adhere will be improved by roughing up the surface. In extreme cases, where great strength is needed, it might be best to dispense with the adhesive and attach by mechanical means, such as pins or screws. The pins or screws could be supplemented with an adhesive, but this isn't usually necessary. Tom
As for the getting the Goo problem. Since I'm in the Great White North, shipping regulations are slightly different. Since goo is classified as a "hazardous substance" here, Walthers can't ship it directly to the LHS so they has to get it from a Canadian distributer and if some fly by night delivery service does deliver directly from Walthers, they would have to pay a couple thousand loonies if they were caught. Oh the joys of rules and regulations... Anyways, thanks for all the advice!
For wood items, I have found it helpful to apply a thin layer of thin super glue to the wood surface and let it dry. This seems to seal the wood surface and allow the final CA application to work better.