Hi everyone! I’ve heard of people using talcum powder in conjunction with super glue. What is the purspose of this? Does it act as an accellerant? Make it easier to sand? Do you just sprinkle it on after gluing the pieces together?
Thanks!
Eric
True talcum powder is just powdered talc—essentially inert. The only way it could serve as an accelerant is as a nucleation site for the CA. Might happen. However, it is very difficult to find talcum powder that contains much, if any, talc. Most of them are cornstarch, these days. Not sure what cornstarch would do. [?] Might work as a thickening agent.
You can use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) as a filler/accelerator. However, the bicarb remains soluble and hydrophilic—it will eventually give you some very interesting, frothy areas on your model[yuck], unless you live in the middle to Death Valley or the Gobi Desert. [sigh] (I found this out the hard way—a T-rex with a bad case of the creeping awfuls! )
Triarius, thank you for the response but could you put that in plane (get it?) English for me? I’ve just heard of people using talcum powder, baby powder, WHATEVER you want to call it and I just wanted to know why they used it with super glue.
Now I have to go find a dictionary so I can look up what “hydrophilic” means and if I should keep it away from my children. I just got an “A” in Physics last semester but I haven’t taken Chemistry yet.
Cheers,
Eric
Edit; I just looked it up. The Wicked Witch of the West was hydrophilic. LOL! I’ve seen the Wizard of Oz with my 4 year old waaaaay too many times.
Eric,
People use talcum and superglue as filler for air bubbles in resin pieces. The talcum thickens the glue and makes it a little easier to sand smooth.
-Fred
Thank you Fred. That’s really good to know because I have a couple of resin kits coming my way. Am I assuming correctly that one sprinkles the powder on after the application of the super glue when using it to fill air bubbles or are you supposed to mix the two in a little container first and then apply it to the air bubbles?
Thank you again,
Eric
Hey Eric,
I stir them together first and them transfer it to the work area. I use superglue gel, because it sets a little slower. What you can do, is use a plastic spoon as a stirring dish, that way you can work right next to where you have to go. Then just use a toothpick to kinda push it in the holes (like spackling a wall).
-Fred
Just as an addendum…
I tend to keep my old thick and stale Cyno’ for exactly this purpose [making filler]. It does give you a bit more “wiggle” room the older it is - Brand new thin glue will go off instantly - overheating and fuming and performing all sorts of nastie’s.
However the older stuff as mentioned is much easier to work with although your wiggle room is still only measured in seconds - two minutes tops. Great thing is though you get a “Green stage” with it too - this means with a sharp blade you can slice a lot of the surplus or waste off reducing your sanding to a minimum.
This technique I’ve been using for years now and I consider it one of the basics available to a budding “Improving modeller”.
Longbow.
I’ve used CA and talc as a gap filler many times - Haven’t used it in a while because I discovered that Micro Ballons & CA seem to work better (somewhat stronger and easier to sand)
Eric here is my tutorial posted elsehwere on my method of filling pinholes in resin. I work with large resin Anime figures and those can be FULL of pinholes at times. Most of my figures body torso have more resin than a squad of 1/35 resin soldeirs combined. I sand within about ten minutes and it comes out glass smooth.
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HTH
David