My LHS recently stopped stocking my current glue of choice and I need to find a new supply.
What kinds of glue do you guys use and would recommend?
thanks for the replies!
I like Tamiya Extra thin - or if I can’t find that I use MEK (methyl ethyl ketone but it’s becoming hard to find as well). I also use white glue, epoxy, CA, TiteBond and watch crystal cement depending on the job.
I second the Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. I use it for everything involving plastic. If you can’t get it, Gunze’s Mr.Cement Deluxe is similar, but it smells a lot more.
I have Tamiya, Testors & Gunze cements. I like Tamiya Regular and Extra Thin the best. Gunze’s Mr. Cement has a really terrible toxic smell, much worse than lacquer thinner.
Tamiya Extra Thin for sure
I have to add myself to the fan base of Tamiya Extra Thin. It’s excellent, both the cement and the bottle/applicator. I also like Testors Liquid Cement in the odd-shaped black container with the metal applicator tube
Great, I’ll see if my LHS has Tamiya extra thin cement.
When you say “types” rather than “brands”, do you mean like solvent cement vs CA vs epoxy, etc.?
If you are talking brands of cements, I have been very happy with Humbrol Liquid Poly for plastic welding. Seems to grab better than my Plastruct or Testors did.
I bought a can of MEK at the hardware store and it seems to weld plastic ricky-tick. Cheaper in bulk than Ambroid from Hobby Lobby too.
Gary
Im talking about different brands of glue, sorry for the mix up.
Tamiya extra thin, revell liquid glue ( with needle) and CA
Tex, that’s interesting. I use MEK at work to clean sheet metal for sealing. That stuff is seriously toxic. I bet it welds plastic with ease. I never thought of using it for that. I bet it works very good. Probably have to be careful with it though. I certainly wouldn’t breathe much of it, and be careful getting it on your skin. It attacks the nervous system
I use about 90% of the time Plast-I-Weld plastic welder with the Touch-N-Flow applicator. Ever since I have mastered using the applicator, this is my system of choice. It melts the plastic, welding both pieces making a solid join. This some times reduces the use of fillers since the plastic melts and fills the voids,
I also use Aleens tacky glue on certain pe or plastic applications. it’s extremely strong and flexible. For clear parts I use Testors clear parts cement. Also thick CA for some pe applications.
Glad you figured that TNF out, never could get it to work for me.
Fellow modelers.
A caution to all regarding the liquid cements listed here, I believe most, if not all, use MEK as an ingredient. The Material Safety Data Sheet, (MSDS,) for MEK identifies it as highly carcinogenic, or cancer causing. The smell of liquid cements is horrible, these cements should be used only in areas with positive ventilation, (as in you should not detect it when in use.)
A Medical Doctor friend tells me it is considered “accumalative,” meaning the stuff leaves your body so slowly you’ll never get rid of all of it. I’m not a world famous expert on this, but I assure one and all that it places a real risk to your lives and health, if not used with respect and caution.
Even Tenax, which I think has the least obnoxious odor, has MEK listed on the ingredients label. Please use care, I want all of you to avoid health issues because of inhaling toxic fumes. The skin is just another body organ and highly absorptive, these agents are easily taken in through your skin. Proper gloves are called for as well.
Be careful and be well.
Patrick
Are you sure of this. I’ve looked at the MSDS for MEK and don’t find such information. What I find is information like:
“CANCER, REPRODUCTIVE & OTHER CHRONIC HAZARDS:
This product has no carcinogens listed by IARC, NTP, NIOSH, OSHA or ACGIH, as of this date, greater or equal to 0.1%.”
Which is quoted from this https://www.tapplastics.com/uploads/pdf/MSDS_MEKS.pdf; link.
If you have lacquer thinner around, try that. I have been using it for some time now, and it works great.
Tamiya Extra Thin is what I use. Gunze Mr. Cement is good and pretty much the same as far as odor and bonding strength but the bad part is that it has a broad applicator brush and not the fine point brush Tamiya Extra Thin cement has.
Another good brand is Proweld it a thin liquid like Tamiya but it dries really fast but the bond is really strong. The only bad part about that is that the bottle is really tall & skinny and easy to tip over, it doesn’t have a fine tip brush applicator and you have to make sure you leave the cap on or else it’ll evaporate really quickly.
For styrene, I use Testor’s tube glue (I can hear the collective gasp throughout cyberspace as I write this) and Plastruct’s Bondene/Weldene liquid glues. For CA glue, I use HobbyTown’s store brand, extra-thin. I also use their store brand of 2-part epoxy. For white glue, it’s Elmer’s.