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"I'm in love with Elmers wood glue." Topic


19 Posts

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3,770 hits since 5 Jul 2010
©1994-2025 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

Cheomesh05 Jul 2010 11:52 p.m. PST

In the past, I used tacky glue, super glue or that plastic melting glue from Testors to put terrain stuff together.

Super glue makes life crap, since it sticks to everything and only dries instantly when you don't want it to. Testors model glue is only useful for putting small dabs in tight areas due to the way the tip is designed. Tacky glue is a damn workout, and I've never been able to thin it out properly for the life of me.

Wood glue, however, is awesome for a number of reasons.

1) It's thin. The stuff all but smooths itself out by gravity and doesn't get too clingy on things.

2) It's strong. It sticks stuff down well enough without having to worry about it coming up while I paint.

3) It's easy to apply. It goes where ever I want it to without being a pain in the process.

Oddly, nobody's ever recommended it before. Articles just say "white glue" (which I am assuming is the Elmers stuff we used in school), tacky glue or a wartered down variant there of. This means there's probably some horrible drawback to wood glue that I've not yet discovered.

That said, what are your favorite adhesives for basing and scenery making?

M.

Sane Max06 Jul 2010 2:22 a.m. PST

PVA, the substance you are in love with under its 'Elmers Wood Glue' incarnation, is indeed a great substance.

some more plus points you missed –

- Water Based, so no chemicals issues
- Non Toxic
- remains glue however far you thin it – 1 part glue to 10 parts water gives you very slightly adhesive water – a fine substance for painting over a flocked base that will help seal the flock on

My Top Tip – add a drop of some Detergent to your water – when you thin your PVA down with it, it makes it better at flowing into and over things.

Pat

Cosmic Reset06 Jul 2010 4:38 a.m. PST

3M Styrofoam spray adhesive, plastic solvent, and Pacer Tech. Super Glues are chearly the most important to me. Far behind that are Tacky Glue and 5 minute epoxy.

I find it interesting to read of the different materials and methods that we develope and adopt. For example, I have absolutely no use for PVA type glues for any gaming/miniatures/terrain applications, and can't imagine not using super glue.

Cerdic06 Jul 2010 5:04 a.m. PST

In love?!!

You're not supposed to sniff it you know…..

Dances With Words Fezian06 Jul 2010 6:00 a.m. PST

sounds like a pretty 'sticky' situation to me…..

taskforce5806 Jul 2010 6:47 a.m. PST

Another use for PVA – I use watered down PVA as a primer on soft plastic figures. And once the painting is done, another coat of PVA is applied all over, essentially to "sandwich" the paint between two layers of PVA coating. And after that I spray the entire figure with Testor dullcoat.

Personal logo John the OFM Supporting Member of TMP06 Jul 2010 7:26 a.m. PST

For basing? I am definitely in the Elmer's wood glue camp too, but the relationship is entirely platonic.

Plynkes06 Jul 2010 7:44 a.m. PST

Um, that gooey white stuff all over your face…

…it might have come from Elmer, but it isn't wood glue.

Sane Max06 Jul 2010 8:22 a.m. PST

PLYNKES! That's not pleasant at all.

Pat

Korvessa06 Jul 2010 8:30 a.m. PST

I use "mod podge" – it is already thinned out.

RABeery06 Jul 2010 8:32 a.m. PST

I used it to stop my wood stove door gasket from falling off, works good, certainly better than the specialy designed glue.

Dropzonetoe Fezian06 Jul 2010 10:06 a.m. PST

Been using it to death assembling my hirst art molds castings.

Jovian106 Jul 2010 10:14 a.m. PST

Depends on the use. I don't use glue to secure flocking on projects, I use paint. Most Acrylic craft paint is 50% binding agents, so it is like glue, only colored and pre-mixed for spreading with a brush. It lasts as long as the glue methods generally speaking.

Personal logo FingerandToeGlenn Sponsoring Member of TMP06 Jul 2010 1:39 p.m. PST

. . . as well you should be. The old cow rules.

Ditto Tango 2 107 Jul 2010 10:42 a.m. PST

Testors model glue is only useful for putting small dabs in tight area

OMG, please tell me you were not using plastic model cement to affix flock and stuff to bases and terrain?

Seriously?
--
Tim

Cheomesh07 Jul 2010 11:51 a.m. PST

Yeah it doesn't work so well; tried that once or twice.

M.

christot12 Jul 2010 1:32 a.m. PST

PVA/wood glue all the way…anyone who disagrees needs medical help.

Kelroy was here12 Jul 2010 9:04 p.m. PST

The ONLY thing I don't like about wood glue is that it doesn't dry clear, unlike regular PVA/Elmer's white glue. This is usually not a problem, but occasionally the flock/terrain/whatever will not completely cover the glue, and not be in a paintable area, so you get a little yellowing.

It's a very minor complaint.

Mad Guru Supporting Member of TMP14 Jul 2010 5:56 p.m. PST

Kelroy took the note right out of my mouth -- or my fingertips. I use Elmers white glue/PVA rather than wood glue, simply because of the slight yellowish tint, even though most of the time the stuff is going to be completely covered in paint, which means maybe I should switch for the slightly more powerful adhesive, but I have no complaints, so I'll just stick with the white stuff rather than switch to the yellow. In fact I've been going through white glue like crazy, covering 60 square feet of terrain boards with Home Depot soil erosion ballast. And let's not forget another excellent thing about white glue, in addition to all those listed above:

It's INEXPENSIVE.

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