I’m not having any luck painting first. glue didn’t stick. too small to glue first then paint. any ideas
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I feel your pain. On small parts such as you describe, I will paint on the sprue, then carefully sand or scrape the paint from the areas where the glue will go. This will ensure a solid bond. As you know, the ingredients in the glue react poorly to the ingredients in the paint, making a gloopy mess.
That is because the glue is designed to melt the styrene surfaces allowing for a “plastic weld” rather than just a glue bond. Sanding away the paint cleans up the surface so the glue can melt the plastic as intended. Give it a try!
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thanks for responding. I’m building a 1/72 scale b29. wow is the cockpit small. I’m 76 and shake a little and my eyes give up on me. but I’m not going to stop. it’s always been my hobby and the finished product looks good at 5ft. it’s going to get worse when i do a b52. again thanks
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Before priming or painting I often put a dab of liquid mask on the glue points. After painting, the mask can be peeled off leaving bare plastic for a good gluing surface. Less messy and easier than scraping or sanding off paint.
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Thank you Troy i never thought of trying that. I’ll do that.
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Chin up mate, I am 70 and have your same problems, but age doesn’t count if someone is still young at heart and I believe that you, like me, are that kind of young at heart. So, do not relent nor despair, just take your time and enjoy every moment of it as I do. If needed, use good magnifying glasses or even one of those amplifying goggles one places around the head with a plastic ring. My hands are just like those of a butcher’s and have a great deal of difficulty in handling tiny pieces, but that’s why we have tweezers and if ever, also sticky sticks to apply those forsaken microscopic bits.
But as “mrb865” also stated, try to avoid to put paint where the gluing joint would go, or again, like “Antique Troy” said, just apply a tiny bit of liquid mask where the glue should go while painting the parts.
Both gave you a wise advice and I just wanted to convince you that age is not a good reason to abandon what we all love so much.
Although I am your junior by six years I am convinced about this and will continue to create stuff as long as I live.
This is why we are alive after all: to create something of value for ourselves, and if others admire what we do this is the best medicine to keep young a little bit longer.
All my best wishes to you, young fellow, you… 
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hey there Crazy Creator. i will never give up on models although 1/72 leaves a lot to be desired…wow those parts are small. i have never heard of sticky strips I’ll look into that too. that’s what its all about… never to old to learn. thank you. i don’t think I’m old.. i day dream of doing all the things i use to then i remind myself of almost the limitations because of pain. so that doesn’t stop me of daydreamin though.
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Great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?
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I’m in the same boat with pain. My body has enough milage for three lifetimes, and since I just can’t do the things I used to, modeling fills the void and gives me purpose. Hang in there! Ask lots! Of questions in the forums. One of will have the solution you are looking for.
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Hi Terry_Oltmanns, so many things you said in your response to me sound very loud and clear in my ears and I too get constantly reminded of not being a spring chicken anymore. So be comforted in thinking that you are not alone in this.
Concerning the sticky “sticks”, here are some examples and links you may try to acquire them:
or you may use this:
which you can find a bit anywhere online. It seems little, but it goes a long way since once a little dab is applied to, say, a blunt toothpick or dull pencil and used, one can then replace it in the original box ready to be used again.
28g seems indeed a very small amount but as I said, one only uses a very tiny amount of it at any time.
If you have more parts to pick up and paint, or simply place on a model, just prepare a few toothpicks with that material applied in droplets rounded between your fingers and then stick the other end in plasticine or any other holder to have them all ready,
Remember this is not a glue and therefore it might happen that the tiny parts may detach itself from it. If that happens, just apply a little bit more of the Tacky Wax and press the part firmly on it. And as stated before, once finished, even if stained with some paint, the material is still usable and therefore just put it back in its container ready for use the next time.
Remember to always firmly close the lid on the tiny container in order to maintain the tacky consistency of the wax.
I hope this will be of some help to you.
My very best wishes to you and your daydreams.
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wow crazy creator what a nice response. thank you. i will get some for sure. i only have 15 models but i like them all. they are from WWll
my favorite is a B17, Memphis Belle. i was in Viet Nam and will start on some of them soon.
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your right there MRB865 when i ask questions I get good answers, and I appreciate it. all of my planes are 1/48 scale except for my newest B29. I’ll make a B52 And a KC135 in 1/144 scale so that will take forever but i have forever…i think. thanks again
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You are one of the lucky ones who managed to return from that hell. I tip my hat to you. I, myself only served in a peaceful Army, more a parade one than anything else, although marches and exercises are a common pain in ours as well, which is the Swiss Army.
Yes, I am Swiss by birth but studied, lived and legally worked in the United States for many years only to return to my home Country due to my mom’s aging ailments, having been her only son.
And I too love to build World War II models, but mostly for diorama purposes.
While I was at work as a stage actor, then as a stage director and finally as an artistic director I simply didn’t have the time to build anything but did in time collect a ton of models which I swore I would one day be able to put together.
Well, I had to wait until my retirement to be finally able to do so. That was about eight years ago.
I massed up so many models that when I finally returned to Switzerland I had three large containers full of them being shipped from the United States and the problem arose to find a suitable place to stack them all.
Thankfully my mother and I had a large cellar where I could steep all of them in one place. I then moved, when my poor mom finally died and once again, thanks to some luck I found a large enough apartment and same size cellar to move them all in.
I do not own just World War II models (1/35 scale for Armor and Figures - 1/72 scale for again the same and Aircraft), but also many aircraft involved in Operation Desert Storm (both Coalition and Iraqi ones, all in 1/72 scale), as well as Star Trek models in various scales all ready to be built, lit, painted and decaled, and to end it all, also real space models stemming from the Space Race Era, including a launch pad for the Space Shuttle, the Space Shuttle in 1/72 scale itself and the International Space Station in 1/144 scale.
With all that to build who has time for anything else?
Add to this, collected paints by the hundreds, tons of diorama material, all sorts of tools and, and, and… need to say more?
Why? Good question.
Because I was always afraid that in time those very same items would one day go steeply up in price and I wouldn’t be able to afford them anymore and indeed I was right. Some models that now cost seventy or even more dollars did cost me between twenty-five or thirty dollars maximum back in the day.
Some aircraft models came even cheaper.
Today, if I need something I stick to AliExpress or Etsy since they both have the most competitive prices ever. The only downside to have stuff coming from either China or even Russia is the time it takes to receive them.
I sometimes bought resin figures by the dozen at the same price I would pay for just one here in Europe or in the United States and sometimes I don’t even have to pay shipment fees.
When one is retired he also learns to appreciate a good bargain, especially if his pension is not worth gold.
I apologize for the length of this message, and I didn’t want to brag with my ownership of things, but now I always have a full day at hand and something really creative to do.
I doubt I will be ever be able to build all my hidden jewels, but as long as I have life I will be unto them full time.
I hope you will understand.
Be well Terry_Oltmanns and let me see your other marvels as well.
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wow what an awesome story. thank you so much… I’m jealous.
of the models you have are they sealed… the ones that you bought sealed. i can never wait i have to open the box and check out the parts and wonder how they fit. then i read the instructions and look for problem areas.
another thing i do is imagine getting in the different positions? wow how could these fingers ever sleep after shooting down a zero. it’s crazy trying to thing of what they went through back then. my planes look good enough to imagine them running and going thru a preflight checklist.
If a76 year old man can’t dream… what’s left. anyway thank you for a awesome story of your life. keep glueing and painting… and dreaming
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Use epoxy or cyanoacrylate glue as they will stick to painted parts without issue.
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I just mark where the cockpit edges are on the fuselage sides with an exacto blade and put a strip of tape down and paint the interior.
The use liquid glue applied with a paint brush.
No muss, no fuss. Gear doors & such I use a gel superglue, if they break loose I use the thin superglue to reattach.
Tweezers for the fiddly bits…and no coffee before tiny parts assemblage… and I’m only 66…
“NEENAIR NEENAIR NEENAIR !” (great Monty Python quote)
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I’ve sure learned a lot from you guys. thank you. i didn’t know there where do many different guys. i shake whenever l purposely do something. so tweezers are a challenge. recently i painted my b 29 silver… that looked really bad so it’s now olive drab. i pretty well info finishing guys one and moving on. again thanks guys.
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This is true, but one thing to keep in mind – the bond will only be as strong as the paint’s bond to the plastic. Acrylic paint, especially without primer, makes for a weak joint.
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Hi Terry, I read most of the replies, and they’re all good, but you may also want to use an Optivisor if you don’t already have one. I’m 73 and build mostly 1/700 scale ships, and have a 7.25 magnification Optivisor. It helps a lot. Also, in the B-29 build, you can get away with brush painting the interior parts, as you can’t really see the interior through the windows anyway. Naturally it’s a different situation when you’re spraying external parts, such as gun barrels, prop blades, etc,.
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i agreed Bobby, you can see in the windows really well.. i brush paint everything but the outside. this b29 is my first 1/72 scale and have made too many mistakes. I’m in the 5ft rule now and looking forward to being done. thanks for your help
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