I have a situation where I’m going to need to glue pieces of wood to the plastic parts of a kit I’m building. I was just wondering what would achive a stronger bond- superglue or epoxy. I’ve worked with superglue and I’m not convinced that’d do the trick. I’ve never worked with epoxy, though, so I don’t know how well it works. Thanks in advance for any advice I get. [;)][tup]
Depends on the type of superglue you use - if you’re using the very thin penetrating kind, then it might not hold if the parts are ever flexed or strained. But if you can get the thicker superglue (sometimes called gap filling, sometimes called slow drying or gel), then it should work fine. You may have to buy a tube and squeeze some out to get a feel for how thick it is.
Two-part expoxy is by its nature thick and gooey - you mix the cement and the bonder together and then apply it to the surfaces. I have never had a bond fail when using it, just make sure it is thoroughly dry before you close up the fuselage halves.
For dissimilar materials, I’d use epoxy. Superglues are very strong in tension, but weak in shear. Epoxies are strong in both. Superglues are also brittle, and epoxies less so. Epoxies are less surface dependent than epoxies, as well.
The viscosity of epoxies varies. Most of the 5 to 15 minute types used in scale modeling are fairly thick, although viscosity decreases as they heat up. And they do heat up, considerably. Use only enough to form a good surface to surface bond.