"Suitable glue for soft plastic?" Topic

So I have just bought a box of 'A Call to Arms' 1/72nd plastics and need to stick some arms and pikes to the figures.

Can anyone suggest a good glue that will melt/bond this type of soft plastic? (think airfix toy soldiers – not GW hard plastic) Preferably with a link to a UK supplier :-)

While I'm here I've decided that I want to do a couple of cheap, fast armies for ECW games but am having a hard time tracking down any cavalry – any suggestions?

Wallpaper border adhesive works well. It's specially formulated white glue that's very strong. And, since one of the intended uses is to affix vinyl border to vinyl wallpaper, it works on smooth surfaces. Any home decorating store should have it.

For ECW cavalry, find some Revell Thirty Years War Swedish Cavalry—long out of production, but they still pop up on eBay regularly. Each box contains a variety of cavalry types, including lobsters.

Is Loctite's cyanoacrylate-with-activator available in the UK?

link

PVO

One type of glue that's not real well known but deserves more attention is polyurethane glue. Gorilla Glue was the first, Elmer's has ProBond, and there are some other brands, too. It will do just about everything, plastic, paper, metal, leather, wood, ceramic, stone, glass, and the bond is very strong. Really strong.

It is a bit fiddly. It cures in the presence of moisture, so you dampen one surface and put the glue on the other. It expands just a bit, in a slightly foamy way. This is good, since it makes a great gap-filling glue and it expands into porous materials, but the downside is that if you want a tight fit you have to clamp your work in some way (that's mostly a woodworking detail). I've heard it can stain skin, but I've never had a problem with it; you might want to use gloves. It does like skin, because skin has moisture in it.

It cures fully in 24 hours. The cured glue is yellowy-white, not at all invisible. Its sandable, cutable, paintable.

I haven't used it on soft plastics that I can remember, but if I had soft plastics to glue right now it would be my go to adhesive. Other glues tend to be temporary on soft plastic. I would expect the polyurethane glue to be permanent.

Never used the wallpaper border stuff.

You know what? I have some softplastic sprues sitting around somewhere. There they are. I just glued some together to test this application. I glued two straight pieces side-by-side, and one at a right angle. I'll check them tomorrow and report back. How's that for service?

Andrew

Polyurethane glue is indeed great if you can control the foaming—I find the swelling too excessive for the small scale of 1/72 figures, but I haven't really experimented with smaller dosages since I found Loctite.

I also had a devil of a time getting the bottle open the second time right after I bought it—that stuff bonds HARD.

PVO

I keep getting a plug in the nozzle, a chunck of glue stuck in the tapering section of the bottle. I remove this top, poke in from the tip with a toothpick, and out comes a little cone. Kind of a chore. I try to keep moisture away from the tip, but there you go.

Luckily, I think the top is made of polypropylene (sp?), the one type of plastic that virtually nothing sticks to.

It does foam a little, but you can cut/scrape away unpleasant parts and paint over what's left. One hates to add another step to the process, but you do get a good bond.

Polyurethane glue is relatively new. I'm hoping it improves over the next few years.

LocTite is a CA glue, right?

Andrew

Right – thanks all. I'll try my local DIY place for Loctite 'All Plastic' and some wallpaper border adhesive too (I can always use it round the house).

I was hoping that the Revell cavalry wouldnt be my only option as they are hard to get hold of. I think I'll need about 5 boxes in total for the forces I want and cant spend the money they go for on Ebay or wait for them to turn up.

It looks like I may have to make a few riders out of metal instead. If I'd known the cavalry were out of production I probably wouldnt have started!

Curse Revell and their stupid 'some of our stuff isnt in production but maybe one day we'll release it again' policy – reminds me of Foundry.

I third the Loctite glue.

This will sound weird, but you might look around for large-ish 15mm figs—many are closer to 18mm, which is pretty close to the Revell figs, especially if you use a slightly thicker base. I used Museum 15mm minis British Grenadier Guards next to Italieri Crimean War Russians, and they were a pretty good match.

Loctite glue works great – the border adhesive didnt even look like it would stick borders.

The polyurethane glue popped off the soft plastic instantly. Virtually no bond at all. Glad I tried it, we're all that much wiser.

Andrew

Once I get something stuck together with Loctite, I go back over the join with a coat of epoxy to give it a mechanical grip as well if doing so doesn't obscure important detail.

That combination has yet to fail me.

PVO

i too am trying to hunt down those elusive swedish cavalry!!! they need rereleasing

Hot glue works great hard on small stuff: a small applicator (a pin in a wooden handle) is the only way to get some onto the join from a small puddle (deposited into a metal tin lid to keep the heat in) in the 15 seconds before it goes off. Never tried the loctite but will.

Speaking of hot glue, I've discovered a construction grade glue stick that adheres to almost anything and it was in Wal-Mart. I tried it on my Germanic tribesman from Warlord Games, bonding metal to plastic and it works great.

What department in Wal-Mart? What is the product's name? Does it work in regular Hot Glue Guns? Cheers!