another use for Elmer's glue?

[STYRENE-SURFER]

Was trying to get this grill fill in piece to hold its shape while gluing it in.

It was giving me such problems/fits  that I figured using the kit part as a buck to hold its shape and make it easier to place.

I did cut that original kit part down a bit to keep it from being glued in along with the fill. Just the contour was needed.

So I used Elmer's to attache that fill piece to the grill part and also covered the backside to halt glue creep.

Used small clothespins as clamps to hold the fill and kit grill parts together till the glue dried .

Then did some final sanding to fit and glued it into the body as shown.

After the glue dried overnight soaked it in warm water to release that part used as the buck.

No glue creep, and it worked out well. 

I'm going to try this out with CA. I use it all the time but not on so much with this kind of thing because it can really make a mess.

So basically the idea is a barrier for were you don't want the glue to go and a way to hold parts in place/shape while getting it where you want it.  

 Yah, thats how my brain works.

Always experimenting and OCD as ever. ? 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by STYRENE-SURFER
Dang iPad

[afx]

That's a great idea with the temporary buck.  A technique I use is friction fit the part then flow in liquid cement into the seams from the back side using my every trusty Touch-n-Flow applicator.  I love this applicator and use it constantly.

You can get a more precise application than this but this photo shows how it works

Edited February 29, 2020 by afx

[STYRENE-SURFER]

7 hours ago, afx said:

 A technique I use is friction fit the part then flow in liquid cement into the seams from the back side using my every trusty Touch-n-Flow applicator.  I love this applicator and use it constantly.

The piece I was trying to glue in which has a compound curve kept trying to flatten out

and this was after some man handling to get it to comply.  There was a bit of a friction fit

just not enough. That Touch-N-Flow applicator look like the ticket, going to order that kit.

 

[STYRENE-SURFER]

I just did a test on a flat piece of styrene. Made two circles of Elmer's glue brushed on

leaving a void in the middle. After that dried put a puddle of  Tamiya thin in one instant Jet CA

in the other. Neither of them creeped past the white glue barrier. And warm water washed 

the rest away. No pictures because my camera could not pick up the thin layers of glue

on a white styrene surface. Take from this what you will, there are situations when I just

dont have enough hands and fingers and don't want glue getting everywhere ?

Edited March 1, 2020 by STYRENE-SURFER

[STYRENE-SURFER]

Here is a situation where I needed to locate/pin some parts, so they can be accurately assembled after paint.

The two cross members here I plan on gluing in after they are painted. This to hopefully make masking easier.

All parts are temporarily mocked up in this pic. cross members glued in w/Elmer's glue.

I used a light source and from the interior side marked exactly where I wanted to drill the holes for the pins.

I set up a pin vise for the drill size and a short piece of evergreen tube to be used to set the depth. The other one chucked w/the actual rod I chose to use

and also set to the depth for checking my work. (This extra step isn't really that necessary).

 

Then proceeded to drill the holes for the pins through the interior tub and partially into the cross members that are being held on by the Elmer's glue.

 

When I was sure that all the pin placement holes where deep enough I released all the mocked up parts w/water and cleaned things up.

This technique can be modified many ways, you can choose the hole placement first then attach the corresponding part temporally to get the drilled hole exactly where you want.

Or you can do it like I have here which I could not have done with pre painted parts (using light to show thru to establish pin locations)

Keep in mind that it makes things easier to use common sizes on all your pinning because these will need to be most likely reamed out after any paint during final assembly ?

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Great method. I like to have locating pins, but I like the way you go about it here.

[CabDriver]

I really like both of these Elmer’s related tips!

I always assumed Elmer’s wouldn’t be strong enough for a job like you demonstrated in the first tip - I guess I was wrong!  I’ll be filing that one away for future reference.  I like the technique for the pinning too - super clean precise work!

[misterNNL]

I do a lot of scratch building and use Elmer' s for molding corners where flat surfaces come togeather. This works well in areas where putty based molding is not possible. I apply it mostly with either a tooth pick or a wet paint brush. I let it dry overnight then check for it for gaps and holes. This very seldom works with just one application so be patient, it really is worth the effort.

[CabDriver]

3 hours ago, misterNNL said:

I do a lot of scratch building and use Elmer' s for molding corners where flat surfaces come togeather. This works well in areas where putty based molding is not possible. I apply it mostly with either a tooth pick or a wet paint brush. I let it dry overnight then check for it for gaps and holes. This very seldom works with just one application so be patient, it really is worth the effort.

That’s a great one!  So, like, if you made a box and you wanted the inside corners to be smoothed out rather than straight edges you could flow some in there and it will smooth them out in a place where it would normally be difficult or impossible to use filler and sand?  Is that the kind of thing you use this for?  

That’s a really smart idea!

[misterNNL]

10 hours ago, CabDriver said:

That’s a great one!  So, like, if you made a box and you wanted the inside corners to be smoothed out rather than straight edges you could flow some in there and it will smooth them out in a place where it would normally be difficult or impossible to use filler and sand?  Is that the kind of thing you use this for?  

That’s a really smart idea!

Yes. That is one application. A couple years ago I built a model of a Weaver Auto Ambulance which was a device used in the 1920's to tow wrecked vehicles in for repairs. If you Google it you'll see what it looks like. The main piece is a heavy cast part that I built from several pieces of Evergreen sheet and shape. The complexity of it made molding all those small pieces togeather to make it look like a casting  was not possible so Elmers was the perfect solution. When I started building model cars there wasn't any putty as we know it today so I used Plastic Wood. If you have some of that around try it on some scrap plastic to see how much fun that was. I pointed that out only as a historic point of reference as I discovered the Elmer' s trick about the same time. That was in the late '50's.

[peteski]

8 hours ago, misterNNL said:

. . .

 The complexity of it made molding all those small pieces togeather to make it look like a casting  was not possible so Elmers was the perfect solution. When I started building model cars there wasn't any putty as we know it today so I used Plastic Wood. If you have some of that around try it on some scrap plastic to see how much fun that was. I pointed that out only as a historic point of reference as I discovered the Elmer' s trick about the same time. That was in the late '50's.

I wasn't around back then, but I'm wondering if something similar to today's automotive spot glazing putty wasn't around back then (since after they stopped using lead as body gap filler in 1:1 cars)? Or as an alternative to lead?

Edited March 27, 2020 by peteski

[STYRENE-SURFER]

8 hours ago, misterNNL said:

Yes. That is one application. A couple years ago I built a model of a Weaver Auto Ambulance which was a device used in the 1920's to tow wrecked vehicles in for repairs. If you Google it you'll see what it looks like. The main piece is a heavy cast part that I built from several pieces of Evergreen sheet and shape. The complexity of it made molding all those small pieces togeather to make it look like a casting  was not possible so Elmers was the perfect solution. When I started building model cars there wasn't any putty as we know it today so I used Plastic Wood. If you have some of that around try it on some scrap plastic to see how much fun that was. I pointed that out only as a historic point of reference as I discovered the Elmer' s trick about the same time. That was in the late '50's.

Tom...

Thanx for adding that tip to my thread. Always Intersting learning new (to me)techniques.

And the sharing of information here on the forum.

So if I understand correctly, it is safe to prime and paint over Elmer's glue?

Messed around with Plastic Wood long ago LOL ? Had the adhesion qualities of Vaseline

and the properties of Chutney.?

Edited March 27, 2020 by STYRENE-SURFER

[misterNNL]

39 minutes ago, peteski said:

I wasn't around back then, but I'm wondering if something similar to today's automotive spot glazing putty wasn't around back then (since after they stopped using lead as body gap filler in 1:1 cars)? Or as an alternative to lead?

In my high school days I vividly remember sitting on the floor of a local garage based body shop with two classmates watching while the body man filled hood,trunk and side trim holes on a '50 Ford Tudor sedan. He used a wooden paddle and 80/20 stick lead with a blow torch. Eventually he added '53 Buick side trim then lowered and painted it bright red. It was fast with a Merc flathead, dual carbs and floor shifted. That Ford belonged to one of the guys that sat with me then and I rode it several times. Ford Speedos then registered from zero on the left to 85 on the right. I remember sitting in the back seat looking as the Speedo indicator arm went past the 85 mark and stood straight down to what(?)maybe100? Definitely a gear head moment to remember.

[ChrisBcritter]

3 hours ago, misterNNL said:

Ford Speedos then registered from zero on the left to 85 on the right. I remember sitting in the back seat looking as the Speedo indicator arm went past the 85 mark and stood straight down to what (?) maybe 100? Definitely a gear head moment to remember.

Here's a '50 Ford speedometer - if that needle was pointing straight down, you guys were hitting 110!

(via 2040-parts.com)

Edited March 28, 2020 by ChrisBcritter

[STYRENE-SURFER]

So... that speedo kinda went to eleven.

Still the question, is it ok to paint over Elmer's glue?

?

[peteski]

Sorry to go OT again but I thought that the 85 MPH speedometers were introduced in the '70s when the 55 MPH national speed limit was enacted due to the gasoline crisis. Before that speedometers were capable of showing more than 85 MPH (just like the one on  Chris' post).

[misterNNL]

10 hours ago, STYRENE-SURFER said:

So... that speedo kinda went to eleven.

Still the question, is it ok to paint over Elmer's glue?

?

Yes it absolutely to paint over the Elmer' s glue after it has dried overnight. Sorry 'bout running on earlier. My point there was that if spot glaze type putty was available I was not aware of it.

 

11 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Here's a '50 Ford speedometer - if that needle was pointing straight down, you guys were hitting 110!

(via 2040-parts.com)

You need to remember that little snippet of a memory took place over 60 years ago. With no driver's license my skinny teen age butt was relegated to the center spot of the back seat that afternoon. Fred was winding that Merc flat motor as far as it would go in every gear and that was the fastest yours truly had ever gone. The neddle was indeed straight down for a few miles.

11 hours ago, STYRENE-SURFER said:

So... that speedo kinda went to eleven.

Still the question, is it ok to paint over Elmer's glue?

?

 

[STYRENE-SURFER]

On 3/28/2020 at 7:31 AM, misterNNL said:

Yes it absolutely to paint over the Elmer' s glue after it has dried overnight.

Thanx Tom

Elmers has some properties that are very useful for us modelers. 

One being that you can use water to neaten things up after its dry.

Ability to paint over it is good to know.

?

[misterNNL]

1 hour ago, STYRENE-SURFER said:

Thanx Tom

Elmers has some properties that are very useful for us modelers. 

One being that you can use water to neaten things up after its dry.

Ability to paint over it is good to know.

?

I'm glad my tip was useful. I'm building an Omega class Bonneville car and each of the drive wheels will have about 30 separate parts. The inside diameters will be impossible to mold so the Emlers will be used in those areas.