3 Liquid glue tips

[ugly 6]

1

Some plastic liquid glues come with a metal tube applicator ,and Im sure at some stage you have found that this becomes blocked.

What i do is to remove the tube ,find a metal staple ,straighten the staple with pliers and then put a 90 degree turn in the end of the staple. Now place that small piece of the staple into the tube applicator ,The staple now goes into the glue hole as the stopper and the tube is now the handle .No more glue ups.View attachment 11349View attachment 11350

2

Further I always use a cocktail stick to apply the glue.

3

I place a squirt of glue into the bottom reces of an upturned little jar, which has a concave surface this acts as a glue reservoir.

And dip into here as long as the glue is runny and usable.After the glue dries it will form a skin and not adhere to the jar Knock this skin off and start again View attachment 11349View attachment 11350 you will alway have a clean glue pot and surface to work with .Oh! the cocktail stick ,use a new one each time.

ugly 6 out

View attachment 21049

View attachment 21050

 

[dubster72]

Good thinking Ugly although I'd already thought of the handy staple! I guess the concave depression will eventually fill up with hardened glue but I would think that can be scraped off fairly easily. I use the caps from plastic milk jugs myself-clean them up for glue or paint, they're very handy!

Patrick

 

[ugly 6]

Hi dubster

the glue will not build up unless you let it .each time it skins knock it orf as it dosnt stick to the glass infact if it gets a lot it will actually fall off it self .

ugly 6 out

 

[stona]

Which glue are you using Ugly? I use Tamiys extra thin (mainly) and if I tried that it would just evaporate! I like the staple thing,I used to use the Revell stuff with the metal applicator and they forever got clogged up.

Cheers

Steve

 

[ugly 6]

Hi Stona

I just use what I can get my hands on when I remember to get any glue.

Havnt used that Tamiya extra thin yet for some reason no one in this area stocks it, EVEN tamiya stockists ,how wierd is that.

And I believe its £4 a go and as if you say it evaporates thats even more cost.

I need to use some to become a convert

ugly 6 out

 

[stona]

Hi Ugly,I believe there is some problem retailing the tamiya glue,something to do with the labelling. Health and safety gone mad again! I get mine here:

Hiroboy.com - Specialising in Scale Car and Bike Model Kits, Accessories, Paints, etc.

But I see it's out of stock at the moment.

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

hi ugly , I have heard great things about the tamiya extra thin cement too,but have never tried it (probably cause its so scarce) .Personally i have always used cellulose thinners as a liquid cement , it does the same thing ie. melts the plastic allowing the joint to "weld" together. Its always worked fine for me ,plus you can get a 5 litre tin from your average motor factors for about a tenner, itll last me forever .(btw, i put a bit in an old marmite jar and use it with a med paintbrush and keep the big tin safely sealed out of the way) hope this is of some use, cheers tony

 

[ugly 6]

Yak face

Ive actually got a tin of that in the garage .

IS there any particular way to apply any considerations to take into account? .

I might give it a try (on something out of the stash that ill never get to )

ugly 6 out

 

[stona]

I might try that Tony. You can also use MEK available from plumbers merchants and (bizarrely) boat builders/suppliers.

Steve

 

[yak face]

hi guys , i just use it as you would a liquid cement, ie paint it on to the mating surfaces with a brush or touch the brush to a joint being held (loosely)together and let it flow along the joint via capillary action. The only considerations are that like any cement you have to be careful you dont get any on the models surface and ,like a lot of things we use, be careful of inhaling the fumes. By the way if youre only wanting to try it out ,you can buy it in much smaller and cheaper tins ,usually about £3 for a little 500ml tin from any hardware store , Ive had my 5 litre tin for about 5 years and its still half full!! cheers tony

 

[Fenlander]

I started with the Precision glue, with the metal tube, and I believe it has many uses especially using the cocktail stick idea. From the tube, it just flows too fast and I often made a mess with it. I also could not get hold of Tamiya Extra Thin but more readily available is the Humbrol Liquid Poly. Only thing I would say with that though is that the brush is too thick and carries far to much liquid poly, it runs everywhere, so I use a very fine paintbrush.

As said though, it is so easy to get too much liquid run out of a joint which can easily get under your fingers as you hold the parts together resulting in deep fingerprints etched into the plastic and lots of (very) bad language, I speak from very recent experience!!!!!!!

 

[yak face]

graham, many moons ago when i was a young kid , i got hold of the revell 1/32 kawasaki ki61 hien "tony" whilst attempting to use liquid cement for the first time ,i knocked over the bottle into the box DOH!!! the kit was ruined ,all the surfaces were melted , a shame really it was a nice kit (although supposedly the master moulds were lost in a shipwreck ,which is why revell never re-released it and why the kit fetches about 40-50 quid on e-bay ! ) cheers tony

 

[Fenlander]

Oooo, bummer but a lesson well learned. On a serious note, you mention fumes from the cellulose thinners but ALL liquid poly gives off loads of headachy fumes, just be careful if you try it folks, it is VERY strong.

 

[colprit]

Hi Guys, just want to thank tony for this tip I read it a few weeks ago on here and now use it most of the time. works great just as Tony says, thanks tony

 

[wonwinglo]

Some really good tips here regarding glue,for years now I have kept a stranded piece of bowden cable inner in my tool kit,when that pesky tube blocks simple run the slightly curly piece of wire into the tube and twirl it around,the adhesive will flow,must study your mods again to that glue bottle.

 

[yak face]

no problem colin ,glad you found it useful , cheers tony

 

[tonyb6000]

My daughter dropped my (new) liquid poly bottle onto the kitchen tiles. Broken glass and a smell of pear drops everywhere! I'll stick to the MEK. We used some stuff at college, think it was "???...dihydrochloride" for glueing acrylic sheet and polycarb. It was evil, would evaporate in half an hour. I spilled mine in my toolbox and it melted all my file handles together.

 

[stona]

Not sure what that was, most plastic (styrene) cements contain MEK (methylethylketone a.k.a.butanone) and/or trichloromethane. I'm not sure what is in cellulose thinners. I wouldn't want a large dose of any of them!

Steve

 

[tonyb6000]

Yep, trichloromethane rings a bell. My bad, cheers Steve.

 

[stona]

Yep, trichloromethane rings a bell. My bad, cheers Steve.

You definitely wouldn't want a large dose of that. Most people will know it by its common name.....chloroform.

Steve