StevenGuthmiller

In all honesty, a few decades ago. I was perfectly happy using rattle cans, and was reasonably proficient with them, but at some point I became aware that companies such as MCW and Scale Finishes offered premixed, ready to airbrush paint in virtually every color ever offered by auto manufacturers and I was instantly on board. It’s the “only” reason that I bought my first airbrush! Steve

I only have one bottle of Scale Finishes engine enamel that I bought several years ago, and had very good luck with it. That’s the only experience that I’ve had personally with Scale Finishes enamel, but it sprayed beautifully and dried quickly for me. Steve

Personally, I prefer MCW. Mostly because I find their metallics to be more in scale. On the other hand, Scale Finishes is an equally good product as far as workability, and more economical in the end, with twice as much paint for a few dollars more. They are both excellent products! Steve

It has nothing to do with our "favorite adhesives". It's just a matter of finding a solution that will work for the OP. If that happens to be "melted cheese" as Bill said, so be it. Steve

Scale Finishes offers all of their automotive colors in gloss enamel, or "base coat" lacquer. If you visit the website main page, click on "automotive colors", choose a make, click on the year, then click on the little arrow in the price box, a little drop down will appear with the choice of "Base Coat", or "Gloss Enamel". Base coat lacquers are generally $12.99. Enamels are $12.49. I don't know if it's the case anymore, but there used to be some issues with the enamels drying. I use the base coat lacquers myself, and have had very good luck with them. Steve

In regards to this particular epoxy, yes. It was essentially dismissed as a loser, and rejected as just another typical epoxy pretty much from the start. Steve

I'll grant you that. Well, in the end it might not be the ultimate solution, but at this juncture I have yet to see any evidence that it will not work for Gary's situation. I've certainly given it the old college try to demonstrate that it "may" be a viable solution, even though the idea has met with pretty much nothing but outright rejection......with nothing to back that idea up I might add. I certainly can't see why it wouldn't be worth further investigation. I believe that the epoxy performed more than adequately in the examples that I posted in the videos. Steve

I did read the entire thread Peter.....numerous times. And I just read through all of your responses again. I didn't see any solutions offered at all. Just a number of statements about how paint and glues won't adhere to various plastics. Sure, I suppose that you might call that "advice", but it's not particularly productive when the OP is looking for solutions to his problem, and not just proclamations of it's impossibility. I took a little time to experiment and then post some videos of how that experiment went to try to help Gary with his issue. As we still are not certain exactly what type of plastic that we're dealing with, (although Gary did mention the type of plastic used in Super Glue tubes, which as far as I know is pretty close to the plastic used in the paint cup lids in my video) all that we can do is either offer other solutions, continue the experiment with every type of plastic known to man until we happen upon the right one, or just admit that we don't know. I feel pretty good about my contribution, and believe that I've done my part. As far as the JB Weld product goes, I don't own the brand, or any stock in the company, so I have no interest in promoting it other than to say that to date, it's met my expectations with everything I've thrown at it so far. You can take that however you please. Steve

Just JB Weld, Clear Weld. You can find the syringes at many auto parts stores, or the individual bottles on line. I believe I bought the bottles on Amazon. Steve

Already done. Videos above. Steve

Steve

Sure seems to be a lot of vitriol from somebody that's so confident in their position. Steve

Because although you may not believe it to be the case, you don't necessarily know everything. I don't mean that as disrespect Bill, that's just how I feel about everyone. Steve

Mostly because I for one am not willing to dismiss an option for something that I have not tried myself personally just because someone tells me that I shouldn't. Nothing against you or anyone else Bill, but it's often been my opinion that the "experts" are not necessarily always what they're cracked up to be, and I would just as soon do my own experimentation rather than just take a guess based on someone else's experiences or directions. I'm always open to suggestions, but that isn't going to stop me from trying things myself. I have several varying items sitting in my shop right now that have been glued together with epoxy. After they have cured for some time, (possibly a day or 2), then we'll know for certain whether or not it will work in each of those situations. If not, so be it. If it works, than all of the expertise and speculation in the world will not change it. In the end, I'm willing to give it a shot and see what happens. I don't see any circumstance where there's anything wrong with that. The only thing that will never work is the thing that's not tried. Steve

And you know it's "not suitable" because? I'm Only trying to offer an option that could at least be tried by the OP. All of the speculation that it won't work, is at this point, just that......speculation. Offering "something" is a whole heck of a lot more useful than offering nothing and just shooting everything else down. Steve

If you read the entire post you'll see that I'm talking about glues for final assembly. I mentioned MEK in the post, and it is absolutely my choice as well for assemblies prior to paint. No, it's no miracle epoxy. Just simple JB Weld "Plastic Weld". The beginnings of my prolific use of epoxy actually had it's zenith come from the realization that I needed something more viable for gluing in glass than the usual characters. Most clear parts glues are nothing more than glorified Elmer's, and CA is a disaster waiting to happen on clear parts, chrome or paint in my opinion. I needed something with a strong bond that would set relatively quickly, and wouldn't potentially destroy everything around it. Once I discovered that epoxy was the way to go for clear parts, it quickly became apparent to me that it would work as well, or better, than the majority of what I was using prior for all of my other assembly purposes, and being all about stream lining, I decided that there was no need to keep 15 different adhesives on hand cluttering up my shop when I could achieve everything I needed to with just 2. Maybe if I get really bored, I'll sit down in the shop this afternoon and put together a little demonstration for the non believers. I'm certainly not going to destroy one of my assembled models to demonstrate! Steve

I understand your reluctance to recommend solutions for something that none of us are really sure about, but, the OP is looking for recommendations, and all that we can do is suggest what we have experience with. That said, I have, and always will, endorse 5 minute epoxy as a superior adhesive alternative over most of the glue types used by modelers today. I can certainly see how epoxy would not be the best solution for chopping and sectioning, but I guess I just assumed that anybody doing those sorts of modifications on bare styrene plastic would be smart enough to know that a good plastic cement, or MEK based glue would be the very obvious choice for those kinds of operations. I use epoxy primarily as a final assembly glue, and believe me, some of those sub assemblies, throughout the course of the final assembly process, get a LOT of very harsh handling! I very rarely EVER have a part come off as the assembly process progresses, and many of those parts are often nearly microscopic, and get my big mitts all over them possibly hundreds of times as the build advances. Being able to peel it off with a fingernail as with white glue?........No! In any case, sometimes I get the impression that we often think of a model car as something that's going to be subject to all sorts of rough handling and conditions, which they almost never are. Just like it's unnecessary to apply a tough weather protecting coating of some sort over a paint job because the model will never be subject to the weather, adhesives that will hold a diesel engine together are completely unnecessary as well, as the average model is going to see very little "action" in it's life time, other than an occasional move from one shelf to another, or an odd dusting or two. I have many models in my collection that have been nearly completely assembled with 2-part, 5 minute epoxy, most of them some years ago, and nearly all of them have taken numerous 400-600 miles, or more, round trips to various shows, been moved, cleaned and generally handled frequently, and to this day, I have never lost a single part, or had an assembly come loose. Some of those parts, such as some grille and bumper assemblies, have had mounting tabs removed, and are held in place with nothing more than a few drops of epoxy strategically placed between the grille/bumper, and the body. If there were ever going to be instances where a part were to fall off due to the choice of adhesive, that would be the case. They most certainly would not have held up to the handling and transportation rigors had they been installed with CA, or a host of other glues. The only models in my collection that I've ever had to re-glue parts on to in the past 30 years were ones that were assembled using other glues before I began using epoxy. In the end, I cannot definitively suggest that epoxy will work in the case of the OP's circumstances, but I will absolutely recommend the use of 5 minute epoxy as a final assembly glue with complete confidence, and without hesitation until my final breath. Steve

That might be the case if you’re planning on gluing a few things together and then throwing it across the room a few times, but if you are gluing together a model, handling it as you normally would a model car, and placing it on a shelf, 5 minute epoxy is more than adequate. I use 5 minute epoxy for the majority of my assemblies, and in my experience, it’ seems to be a much stronger bond than a good number of the glues used in model building, with a few exceptions. How it would perform on the plastic in question I don’t know, but in general, it certainly holds better than most CA, UV setting or clear parts glues without question. Believe me, I’ve had the pleasure of trying to pry apart parts glued together with 5 minute epoxy on a number of occasions. Not an easy task by any stretch. Steve

Looks like you have it down. As the saying goes, “anything worth doing is worth doing well”. There’s easy, and then there’s good. Steve

Epoxy works on everything. It’s pretty much all that I use on models now. Saves having to keep 15 different glues on hand. Steve

Probably already been done. Steve

I just have to do this on occasion while I work on the boring stuff, just to keep the juices flowing. Steve

Hi everyone! Thank you to all that have given this thread their attention, but I think that I've found an acceptable set of tires for my '64 Lemans, unless I can scrounge up some Moebius white walls from the '65 Belvedere kit. These came from a vintage AMT 1967 Ford annual kit, and appear to be in very good shape considering their age. I will continue to look for the Moebius tires, but these will do well in a pinch. Thanks everyone! Steve

Anybody have a complete interior laying around from this kit? I could save myself a boat load of work on my '64 Lemans by using this interior for a starting point. TIA. Steve

Anybody have some of the white wall tires from the Moebius '65 Plymouth kit that they're willing to part with? Model Roundup used to sell sets of these tires, but no longer. I absolutely love these tires for early to mid 60s cars, and would love to scrounge up a few more sets if possible. Let's make a deal! Thanks!! Steve