What would you guys suggest using in order to hold parts together after cementing? I’ve been trying to use rubber bands however I find that they don’t exert enough pressure on the pieces to form a good bond.
I’ve also tried holding them together with my fingers however I often get excess cement on my fingers which then leave a fingerprint mark on my model.
Any help appreciated!
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Hello!
The way your question is worded makes me think that maybe you have a problem with your build that is basically parts not fitting well. You see unless you are building a short run or something like that, most mainstream models have pins, tabs and stuff like that, so basically the parts hold themselves. You then just add a little liquid glue and wait - and that’s it. You don’t need tons of pressure or anything.
So let’s say you have a problematic kit that doesn’t have pins, tabs, and the fuselage halves are warped - then you need to improve the fit so long, that the parts finally start fitting, and just then glue them. For example if the dry fit (you do dry fitting, right?) shows the cockpit is too wide and prevents the fuselage halves from joining, you sand the cockip and thin the fuselage halves until everything fits better without using lots of force. If the fuselage halves don’t want to fit you sand the mating surfaces to improve the fit and if you need to bend them for glueing, you can glue a point on one end, and then just clamp the other end - after glue on the first joint dries and after checking that you don’t need so much force again.
For some special or exotic cases you can use your creativity and you can drill some holes and wire the parts together (then plug the holes once everything is dry), or glue some tabs that can be clamped together - and then cut them off. But most of the times you can prevent all that extra work by doing some extra work of fitting the parts right in the first place.
Hope it helps - good luck with your builds and have a nice day
Paweł
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For me, I use a combination of tools to clamp parts together - alligator clips along the edges of stablilizers, wings, or rudders, various sizes of spring clamps that can often hold thicker wings or portions of a fuselage, hobby-sized bar clamps for larger parts like fuselages, and rubber bands when I can’t get the clamps to hold around a particular curved surface. Finally, I’ve been known to run masking tape across surfaces, or from wingtip to wingtip over the fuselage top to enforce a dihedral.
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I use rubber bands mostly, because they can apply even pressure all around the piece. I use rubber bands of various thicknesses, depending on the need. The rubber bands used to bundle vegetables are good to use, too.
I use spring clothespins, too, depending on the piece, You have to take care about applying too much pressure at a single point and distorting the piece.
And I use masking tape sometimes. Like Aggieman, I’ll use tape to hold wings at the right dihedral till the glue sets.
Best regards,
Brad
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I have a background in woodworking, which offers specific challenges in holding work while the glue is drying. It can easily slip out of place, and this can also happen when building a model kit.
The key things I do with models or really anything is to attempt a dry fit to understand where your points of pressure should be. That allows you to find the proper clamping mechanism to support those key points.
For modeling, you could use rubber bands, clothespins, mini spring clamps (I get these at Harbor Freight). If you needed additional pressure, I would revisit the connection points and try to understand why that much clamping force is required. It most likely is an improper fit that needs adjustment, or simply a sub-optimal design by the manufacturer.
I used to have the same exact issue. It was frustrating because I used to only use hand pressure for my cementing. Smaller parts required my fingers to be closer to the cement, which would get on my fingers and mar the finish.
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I bought a bunch of Velcro double sided so it sticks to itself. It’s great for holding larger parts such as ship hull and aircraft fuselages together. You can also use it for wings and flat pieces by using blocks. It comes in a roll so you can make different lengths. Great stuff. It also comes in differing widths too. Check your local craft store.
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If it’s an area that is larger and I want to spread the pressure out over a larger area, I use cedar shake shims. I put one on each side (works great on wings) then either rubber bands or small clamps. This avoids pressure points and the cedar isn’t affected by model glue. You still have to be careful as any glue around to shim will soften the plastic and leave marks.
I’ll be rounding up everything I can find that ya’ll have suggested for next time I work on my model. I’m very new to hobby modeling, and to be honest its been kind of daunting with all the different materials and techniques and such that the hobby involves. It helps to have forums like this though where everyone’s so eager to help, so thanks to all of you 
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Twist ties off bread bags. Sort of similar to a tournaquet.
Hit the glued parts with ACCELERATOR immediately after gluing. The accelerator dries clear so don’t worry about over spraying or too much. Also, use the correct glue for the part. You should have from VERY THIN, to thin, to medium to thick glues.
ACCELERATOR is for CA glues. Plastic cements work by melting/softening the plastic so you always can actually put too much pressure on a plastic joint that you can deform the plastic so bad that you ruin your project. Always take that extra second to make sure that your parts fit correctly and if they don’t recheck that maybe you missed a sprue gate or something else.
Lastly, unless you’re using epoxy or wood glue, anything slow setting really, CA and Plastic cements work fast so the time needed to hold parts together should be really quick. If your glues seem to not work maybe they’re contaminated or the wrong glue for your purpose.
I know someone recommended Harbor freight clamps, the spring clamps are good, the C clamps are good, the small trigger clamps, they’ll keep slipping on you. Purchase the Irwin or a little better quality. You can never have enough clamping devices!
Background, I returned to modeling building scale wooden plank on frame scale boats years ago so I’ve probably 200+ different hobby clamps and stuff.
We maynot talking about the same thing. An accelerator is a liquid that makes the CA glue bind up rapidly, so there is very little waiting curing time for the glue to dry. The CA glue is completely separate and has nothing to do with accelerator.
I use accelerator when I need two plastic parts to quickly hold together so I can free my hands from holding them.
Hello @itisgregory. As a newbie, I did not understand your statement.
If the CA glue has nothing to do with the accelerator, then how does it cure fast?
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What I meant by that was that the accelerator makes the glue set up very quickly.
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I use clamps, C clamps, quick action clamps and even rubber bands. I usually go with finding something that works with my style of building and using items that work with it.
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Actually, that’s a beneficial effect. It’s a weld, basically, and if you apply just the right pressure, you extrude a bead of melted plastic along the seam. When the glue cures and the plastic has set, you can scrape away that bead, and this minimizes the visible seam. It’s a common technique.
You are correct, though, you can exert too much pressure. But it’s easy enough to get the hang of it and avoid damaging the parts.
Best regards,
Brad