"'Frosting' or 'powdering' of figures from Superglue" Topic

Evening all.

Recently based some plastic chariots, after painting them. The bases are plasticard, the area of contact small (the bottom of the wheels and about 1 in 3 of the horses feet) and I was feeling lazy – so I really slopped the superglue on the base in the general area of where the figures would touch them, then left to dry.

The glue has dried, but the evaporating superglue has left a powdery frosting on the figures, above where the glue was, for several cm. It is quite tough, can't brush it off, need to wipe it with a damp cloth.

I have not encountered this before, and wonder if it's the brand of glue (cheapo), the plastic, or some other factor. It's a pain in the butt to be honest – 10 minutes wiping of each of 15 hittite chariots.

Anyone encountered this before?

Pat

Yes, I've had it happen. I'm not sure why it happens, nor do I seem to be able to predict when it'll happen.

Try a coat of gloss varnish, which usually kills it, and follow that with matt varnish.

Something to do with the fumes reacting when there are a lot of 'em – superglue's sometimes used as a quick and dirty way of checking for fingerprints because of it, as they show up and photograph beautifully when exposed to a hefty dose of cyano-acrylate fumes…. It's neither the glue nor the plastic, but rather the liberal application….

Dom.

Varnish will likely kill it. So will a quick brush with acetone, if that won't hurt the figure.

I think it is due to a high humidity/heat level. The fumes react with it and leave this deposit.

I've found that licking it (when dry, obviously!) removes the frosting. Presumably, a light scrubbing with a wet brush should do the same job.

"I've found that licking it (when dry, obviously!) removes the frosting."

It also shows your affection for your miniatures. Use your tongue, baby!

But seriously, how about using an epoxy glue, rather than licking superglue off your figures?

Unless you plan on using an accelerator (I use the brush on kind myself), ventilation is a key factor. Keeping them under a constant breeze from a fan should do the trick. It doesn't really dry the glue any faster, but it prevents fumes from lingering.

Sane

An unvented area can cause it. As Aestivalis has stated.

Yep, cyanide for starters…. (You're safe licking it, though, as it's in a compound….)

Fnk Ou Dom, I tnk yor Mvice nd mnw i cnmt mpn my mth.

Pat

I spray furniture for a living and I get the same thing happening with pre-catalyst laquer. I think it's down to the humidity, as it seems to only do it on muggy days….

Funny , Pat…. :-p

I used to have this problem with superglue on a semi regular basis. It would frost the figures all to hell and back once in a while.

I've found two solutions:

1) glue figs together prior to painting. This makes everything easier anyway.

2) for things that can't, or are more inconveniet to glue together first use the odorless super-glue. This stuff is about 3x as expensive but doesn't frost. I've been using it for about 7 years now and on probably close to 20-30,000 cavalry figures in that time it hasn't frosted one of them. Or any of the other stuff I've assembled with it.

For some reason, I only just recently encountered this phenomenon while glueing painted spears onto hands. Coincidently, I had just purchased a different brand of superglue than I usually used and chalked it up to the company change….

Pictors – good tip; makes sense, as both odour and frosting are caused by the fumes, which odourless superglue is presumably formulated to reduce. Shall have to give that a try, thanks.

Dom.

This probably won't help you because of the plastic involved, but I've heard that baking the figs in an oven at about 250 degrees will clear up the frosting caused by humidity.

By the way, an Easy-Bake Oven or other "kids" oven will actually offer a low, consistent heat better than your kitchen oven (my wife picked one up at a garage sale for $2 USD to use with her Sculpy clay projects).