Can white glue be used as a permanent adhesive for a plastic model. Thanks. Hank, Support The Troops
“White glue” is usually water based and water soluble. It hardens by evaporation. It works well on porous materials where it penetrates the surface slightly and thus forms a mechanical bond with the substances involved. It cannot do that with styrene, and is thus a poor adhesive for that purpose.
Depends on what you expect from permament I guess. I use white glue for canopies, but I expect that it wouldn’t be all that hard to pop off the canopy if I wanted to. In fact, I would consider that a benefit! Mind you CA glue isn’t actually permament either, if fact it has poor sheer strength. The only truly permament adhesive IMHO is the liquid cements that actually work by melting the styrene together.
I know a guy who uses white glue due to allergies with anything stronger, and his kits manage to hold together.
If that is the case, some white glues are better than others. Sobo brand appears to be one of the best for this practice.
Expect kits glued in this way to be more fragile than those made with more conventional adhesives. You will also have to hold the parts together for a much longer time.
Thanks to all of you for the info. Hank Support The Troops
If you use the white glue all the way around the canopy it will hold very well.
Heck, on my latest build I needed to set the model up on its landing skids so that I could make some adjustments to the landing gear. I used Elmers white glue on the skids and let it sit for about an hour and the gear held suprisingly well…and I really didn’t use that much glue.