Sweatin' the small stuff - landing gear

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

First, let me say I’m working in 1/72 scale. And I’m new to modeling, but enthused.

I’m having fun assembling cockpits and wings and fuselages, etc. Then I come to the small stuff, the landing gear. Gee, this stuff is small! Most of the gear is made up of several small parts that need to be cemented or glued.

My question is, what makes a stronger bond - liquid cement (testors) or super glue (zap-a-gap)? It is hard to imagine the model being supported by these wispy little pieces of plastic, but I assume it is based on all the fine models I’ve seen in FMS.[:o)]

2

[:)]Hi demondoctor,

I find liquid cement or super-glue are just as good as each other, the trick is making sure you allow plenty of time for the landing gear to dry in place. I usually leave mine to dry overnight, along with any weapons pylons I’ve glued into place while I’ve got the model resting upside down.

Hope this helps,

Darren.[;)]

3

I use zap a gap or model master ca glue for landing gear works great, even for 1/48th planes with fagile landing gear like Revelgrams F-84.

4

I use both at different times. If I paint the gear and bay first I’m likely to use CA. Otherwise, liquid cement (ambroid in my case)

5

i have only 7 aircraft built and i just put the landing gear up and forget about the glue. No really i don’t paint where it connects to the wheel well and use testors glue. it works well, and it is still holding my 1/32 typhoon up after a year.

6

Since I’m scratchbuilding fully-operating undercarriage on my 1/72 VG104, I’m using a combination of brass, aluminium and plastic. Neddless to say, I’m using a combination of CA and solvent, along with heat welding of pivot pins

7

cmtaylor - I would realy like to see pics of that 104 gear when you are done!

Beyond that, I think it would make a great article for FSM. Here’s hoping they’re watching, or maybe you should contact them.

stinger

8

Doc,

The thing I do is this - I airbrush all of the small parts while they are still on the sprues, including landing gear parts. This makes it very easy to paint them. I let the paint dry for a few days while I assemble the wings, stabilizers, bombs, missiles, etc. (anything that doesn’t require paint before assembly). When the time comes for attaching the small parts, I attach them with superglue, and I usually DON’T remove the paint from the glued areas (depends on the parts). I’ve never had a problem doing this. I’ve read all the horror stories about how the glue won’t stick to the paint (which is true for tube glue and liquid cement), but it seems to work for me when using super glue. But, I only do this for small parts that don’t have a lot of tension on them. I DO use this technique for landing gear, though, which usually has compression stress and not tension stress. As I said before, I’ve never had a problem with this technique. Give it a try.

9

I use this Taiya glue i got at my LHS it really works great even on paint. It also dries VERY quickly not to mention when it dries it dries very clear and doesn’t ruin the paint like some tube glue can. Hope this helps you out.