Like the majority, I like acetate. Office Max print shop sells transparency sheets for a little over a buck a sheet. Unlike the rest, however, I don't use glue. I get that thin double stick tape used to apply window insulation film. HD & Lowe's sell individual rolls in the same aisle with the film. I find it much faster, no mess, no wait for drying. The tapes dirt cheap too.
Thanks for the suggestions, all!
I used canopy glue very sparingly to glue the real glass coverslip pieces into the cab windows in my McKeen Motor Car. There was very little evidence of the glue when it dried. You have to work fairly quickly so the glue doesn't dry out before the glass is in position.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I use Jewlers cement for all window glazing....styrene, acetate, glass, mostly in buildings and the truck/car miniatures I build.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/G-S-watch-crystal-hypo-cement-3-oz-gl411/148418788?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=5633&adid=22222222227000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-310687321802:pla-51320962143&wl5=9021618&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=114221094&wl11=online&wl12=148418788&wl13=&veh=sem
All You need is a few tiny drops around the perimeter of the part..It will stick to some painted surfaces. I paint many things before using it for instance on truck/car windshields, structures.
Take Care!
Frank
TheGampTo the coverslip aficionados, what type of glue do you recommend for bonding the glass to a styrene frame?
I use spray adhesive. A quick squirt and drop the slide on.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thinned white glue. Or solvent cement almost evaporated to dryness after application to the contact surface with an appropriate tip or needle.
CA is near-worthless; it will blotch and run and wick and then dry cloudy in ways that cannot be cleaned. Any adhesive with much of a meniscus or bead will leave a gap between frame/muntins and the glass surface or the edge of the bead will bulge out vIsibly. Even if this happens with the thinned white glue the 'line' will shrink as it dries, and then be reasonably straight and clear.
I advise you to develop ways to seat the glass carefully and as near vertically into the frame as you can to avoid bulging or smearing. Sometimes I would 'cheat' with a small lump of blue poster adhesive on the 'centroid' of the pane, allowing me to lower straight down as with suction cups on prototype glass using curved-tip or hairspring tweezers, then gently and cleanly roll the lump off after the glue had set.
BigDaddy Thanks Frank
Thanks Frank
Henry,
You can usually find that same brand in some craft stores also. I don't go out much so I use direct ordering alot. I don't drive anymore either......gave that up. Spent most of My life driving all over the US & Canada......I had My fill...LOL. Takes an act of Congress, to get Me to go out with the nuts on the road.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
hon30critter... how to make round windows for a McKeen Motor Car. Getting the round windows cut accurately out of .005 clear styrene was a total failure. Then I tried round cover slips ...
One relatively easy way is to make up a round dap to hold the glass, grind the edge gently wet against a proper abrasive wheel, and use a good dial caliper to get size.
... but I couldn't glue them into place without making a mess. Even worse was the fact that they didn't line up on the same plane so even if I had managed to make a neat job of gluing them in place the misalignment would have looked horrible.
This is two separate steps. The first is to glue the straight, specular glass face to something that will back it up with a gluing or other attach surface, like a thin styrene disk solvent-welded to a square backing plate. This positions the glass at the right 'porthole frame' position without all the crap involved with trying to structural-edge-glue thin glass to, say, painted brass.
Step two is to level them horizontally and vertically. Note that a close fit between the styrene dissk snd whatever backing you have that holds it will retain alignment while you fiddle. Then you gently adjust those four backing corners to get final alignment. I cheated and built an optical reflective spot out of an old ballistic-galvanometer mechanism that would accurately 'level' the pane to a reflective reference patch on the car side; need to get them ACTUALLY level and not just 'angled in common' as with electric-train driver quartering as the relative 'deviance' of the real thing's glass fit and porthole-frame alignment, likely only a few thou, scales directly with reduction (so high effective accuracy, not just consistent precision, is needed.) Of course if you model one or more of the windows swung open, even a bit, the alignment becomes effectively no critical for it...
The right glass is more important for a good 'prototype' look than you probably think...
Last project an engine house I put clear scotch moving tape (I was not detailing the interior and sprayed dullcote to make it foggy.
Joe Staten Island West
I did a project a while ago where I spent hours, and a good deal of forum members time, trying to figure out how to make round windows for a McKeen Motor Car. Getting the round windows cut accurately out of .005 clear styrene was a total failure. Then I tried round cover slips but I couldn't glue them into place without making a mess. Even worse was the fact that they didn't line up on the same plane so even if I had managed to make a neat job of gluing them in place the misalignment would have looked horrible. My final solution was to forget about installing window glazing entirely in the passenger compartment. I'm going to assume that the motor car is operating in hot weather so all the passenger car windows would be open. However, I was able to install Ngineering cover slip glass in the square cab windows and it looks great. I purchased a diamond tipped scriber to cut the glass. Be prepared to waste some cover slips if you go that route.
I also forgo window glazing in the switchers that I build from scratch like the one in my avatar. I am too ham fisted to make it look clean and convincing.
My personal theory is that the absence of glazing will go largely unnoticed, but the presence of poor glazing will stick out like a sore thumb.
Clear styrene bought in sheets.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
UNCLEBUTCHThe clear plastic that almost everything you buy comes in. Its free,easy to cut,
Ditto, except I use canopy glue as an adhesive.
I have used a clear CD cover for a Cary S-2/4 shell windows, lots more work but worth it, I think.
As for glass, the Bear would end up with a big mess, cut paws, and a very bad temper!!!! Hats off to those with the skill to work with it.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I used acetate in the '50s and '60s, but now prefer clear styrene, as it doesn't yellow with age, like acetate did. Easy to cut, and affixes to styrene with solvent-type cement, or to metal with contact cement. I also use the thick plastic "glass" which comes with most structure kits, but I seldom bother with interiors, so it's "good enough" for my needs.
Wayne
I’m with Overmod: cover slides or some other type of real glass. The inaccurate specularity/reflection of anything else drives me nuts, and I’m by no means a prototype modeler much less a rivet counter. Real glass has significant reflection from any angle other than 90 degrees—and as that reflection increases, opacity decreases. That’s why when you walk down the street, the windows ahead of you reflect their surroundings—and the only ones you can see directly into are the ones you are immediately in front of. Plastic or acetate just doesn’t act that way.
BigDaddy Is acetate found in hobby stores and train shops?
Is acetate found in hobby stores and train shops?
I get mine through Amazon...two sizes, thin for My truck/car models and medium for structures. It is crystal clear with protective covering on both sides easy to remove/cut:
https://www.amazon.com/Clear-020-Craft-Plastic-Sheets/dp/B01A2U0PZW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475189424&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=Grafixarts+Clear+Craft+Plastic
Enough to last a life time....
I use crystal clear Acetate and some times glass from Ngineering which is.005''....problem with those are...they only come in two sizes and extremely hard to cut, without damage.
In the pic'..one of the buildings has real glass for the windows and the rest have the Acetate........can You tell the difference?
The fix-it plumbing has the real glass.
The pic' may be clicked on for a larger view.
.005 styreen .
selectorThis. I also use it for shimming under my low rails and for superelevation. I operate my turnouts manually, some with rods and levers, some just with a kabob skewer if they are within reach. Some of those are a little loose at the throwbar, so a shim of the same material under the throwbar seems to tighten things enough that a thrown point will stay where I need it. If it shows up in imagery, a light 'weathering' with acrylics takes care of that
I just happen to have that problem, I'll try that, thanks
UNCLEBUTCH The clear plastic that almost everything you buy comes in. Its free,easy to cut, I use a CA to glue it,should you screw up;toss it grab another , did I mention free
The clear plastic that almost everything you buy comes in. Its free,easy to cut, I use a CA to glue it,should you screw up;toss it grab another , did I mention free
This. I also use it for shimming under my low rails and for superelevation. I operate my turnouts manually, some with rods and levers, some just with a kabob skewer if they are within reach. Some of those are a little loose at the throwbar, so a shim of the same material under the throwbar seems to tighten things enough that a thrown point will stay where I need it. If it shows up in imagery, a light 'weathering' with acrylics takes care of that.
Acetate is just so easy to cut and it looks fine to my eye.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
I have used microscope cover slips for a different reason: I can't stand unprototypical window-opening depth or nonscale specular reflection from windows. This applies far more to locomotives and rolling stock than to most fixed structures.
For a while I applied the cover slips over the sort of 'press-in' thick plastic block window that puts the apparent glass surface 'where it ought to be', using glass-grinding tools and materials to shape the thin glass and an adhesive with reasonably comparable index of refraction. This can be refined into cutting away most of the center of the plastic pane, leaving just a frame to cement the thin slip to. I have also tried beveling thick shells 'from the back' and cementing slip glass in the resulting opening with flexible clear adhesive, but you need watchmaker skillz to do this on any particular scale, and lining up parallel windows in passenger cars is an exercise in frustration.
Probably the 'best' solution for streamlined passenger-car windows is the use of thin brass or acetate car sides, with detail painted (or today, perhaps, 3D-printed) on both sides 'to scale'. This either with acetate/transparency sheet or glass for the window 'layer' or band. I did experiment with thin-glass car sides (obtained from a source making large cover slips before they cut them to size as slips; today you'd get Gorilla Glass stock for making smartphone screen protectors) with built-up reinforcement (including acetate printed sides on the front and structural siding, including brass sheet, on the reverse). These require the care in handling you'd expect but the windows stay aligned and clear 'forever' and are more easily cleaned than acetate ones. However, they do produce a "system" exquisitely amenable to producing any combination of exterior paint scheme and window configuration for relatively low marginal tooling and setup cost, same as the older systems of appliqué car sides or component strips (e.g letterboard or window-strip stock) to go over a car frame or filed-down shell.
DigitalGriffin BATMAN Cover slips Brent, Are these microscope slide covers? How do you cut them? (Updated my choice list to add your cover slips)
BATMAN Cover slips
Brent,
Are these microscope slide covers? How do you cut them? (Updated my choice list to add your cover slips)
They are microscope slide coverslips. You can score them and snap them but you will lose some along the way. They come in many different sizes though and I have been able to get close enough just by having different sizes on hand.
You can order unsterile ones from China for pennies, so I ordered about five different sizes, all for under $5.00 including postage.
Spray adhesive is a really good glue to use with them.
Clear acetate for me, too. It's easy to work with and comes with most kits, anyway. Thick plastic is cloudy and obscures the view of the interior.
City Classics sells acetate sheets pre-printed with signs, window shades and curtains. Just cut them out and glue them in.
I like to use Canopy Cement to glue windows to the inside of the walls. It holds well and turns clear when set. At that point, you can scrape off any excess with a toothpick without damaging the window or the frame.
I've used Canopy Cement and filled the space between the mullions. The effect is that of "bullet glass" because it does not dry flat and you end up with a small distorting "lens" in each window pane. This transmits light well, but it's impossible to focus through the windows. That's ideal for a large structure that you want to illuminate but not bother with detailing the interior.
I've never tried real glass.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I usually work with clear acetate since it is inexpensive, cuts easily and does not scratch easily. However, another model railroad magazine has an article this month about using plastic food wrap and hair spray to glaze window frames. Sounds interesting and something I'll have to try.
Hornblower