Small Part Attaching

[bobss396]

13 hours ago, rattle can man said:

I've been using old cd cases for mixing palettes. 

I use beer bottle caps... I find that Miller works best .. ymmv...

[Zen]

3 hours ago, WillyBilly said:

I take the point of an X-acto knife and scrape a small line in the paint trying to make a shallow pocket and expose bare plastic for the part to rest where I want to attach a part. I allow the glue to touch the part to essentially get a film of glue on the part. Then with a headset, and tweezers, I attach the part on the area I scratched off holding it until it sets. Usually about 5 to 10 seconds. I have had good luck with this method. The trick is to use very little glue. You can use superglue too, but there is not time to position. I prefer model glue just to give you a little time. I scratched the paint on every single one of these models to get the part to stick. I had gotten sick of gluing it to the paint, only to have it fall off, or pop off when the wind blows.

And what type of glue are you using?

[NOBLNG]

8 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

To your original inquiry, on parts like photetch, I use Future floor polish. It wicks well and is completely transparent. It has no solvent capability and will never harm any finish. And if you screw it up, a cotton swap in household ammonia makes it disappear allowing do overs.

Won’t ammonia harm some types of clear finishes? I’ve never used it, but assumed it was fairly powerful stuff?

[peteski]

51 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Won’t ammonia harm some types of clear finishes? I’ve never used it, but assumed it was fairly powerful stuff?

Well Future itself (or whatever its current name is) is a glossy Acrylic Finish (not polish as Bill mentioned), so yes, ammonia will likely affect any of the other water-based acrylic paints modelers seem to be using more and more. It should  not harm any old-school organic solvent based "stinky" lacquers or enamels.

[Rick L]

15 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Well, whatever the reason, it seems to set faster on the card than on the parts.

 

 

Two part epoxy is an exotherm substance causing the larger mass to produce more heat than the smaller mass. Which in turn causes more heat and faster cure. 

 

Edited March 13 by Rick L
Spell check

[DJMar]

On 3/11/2025 at 7:18 PM, Brutalform said:

For me, I never pin parts that are large enough to be pinned, like door mirrors, or door handles. But what I have been using for a long time, is watch crystal cement. I never have had a part fall off using it. You don’t need much, so it wont seep out, and as soon as the part touches the car with the cement, it stays put. 

I've used watch crystal cement in the past and it works really well. It's not always easy to find, but I think the G&S brand is available on Amazon.

Now I mostly use Zap 560 canopy glue (from my model aircraft days) as well as Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. Aleene's is available in just about every craft store. It's a PVA glue with great initial hold, hence the tacky in the name. It's great for photoetch and other small parts that don't get handled a lot. The 560 is widely used in the RC world, and I've used it mainly for attaching clear & chromed parts. It has a strong bond when dry.

Both glues are also water cleanup (before they cure), which is a bonus for those of us with less than steady hands or less than perfect eyesight.

[StevenGuthmiller]

39 minutes ago, Rick L said:

 

Okay.

I'll buy that.

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

I sure do appreciate all the replies.  I did order a tube of watch crystal glue due in Friday. 

Thought I'd show this handy gadget I use for doing some attaching of small light parts.  Now if I can just get the right glue.

The sticky wax tips last a long time and hold light parts pretty well.

[StevenGuthmiller]

26 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

I sure do appreciate all the replies.  I did order a tube of watch crystal glue due in Friday. 

Thought I'd show this handy gadget I use for doing some attaching of small light parts.  Now if I can just get the right glue.

The sticky wax tips last a long time and hold light parts pretty well.

Yeah, I should probably get one of those at some point.

Seems like it would come in handy to help eliminate “flying part” syndrome. 😁

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

49 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Yeah, I should probably get one of those at some point.

Seems like it would come in handy to help eliminate “flying part” syndrome. 😁

 

 

Steve

Yeah Buddy, it does come in handy. 

[WillyBilly]

9 hours ago, Zen said:

And what type of glue are you using?

Just Testors.

[rattle can man]

Aleene's also makes a Turbo -Tac version of their glue that sets up quicker.

[BDSchindler]

5 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

I sure do appreciate all the replies.  I did order a tube of watch crystal glue due in Friday. 

Thought I'd show this handy gadget I use for doing some attaching of small light parts.  Now if I can just get the right glue.

The sticky wax tips last a long time and hold light parts pretty well.

So what is that handy little gadget?

[TransAmMike]

1 minute ago, BDSchindler said:

So what is that handy little gadget?

The cone shaped object is a pretty hard wax and it screws into to "pen".  The wax is tacky and sticks to light small parts.  Especially useful for clear headlight and taillight lenses.

[BDSchindler]

29 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

The cone shaped object is a pretty hard wax and it screws into to "pen".  The wax is tacky and sticks to light small parts.  Especially useful for clear headlight and taillight lenses.

got it...it's a wax bead pick

[Zippi]

There are a lot of helpful idea's floating around here.    

[Bills72sj]

On 3/13/2025 at 7:13 AM, peteski said:

Well Future itself (or whatever its current name is) is a glossy Acrylic Finish (not polish as Bill mentioned), so yes, ammonia will likely affect any of the other water-based acrylic paints modelers seem to be using more and more. It should  not harm any old-school organic solvent based "stinky" lacquers or enamels.

That is correct. I have not yet painted with acrylics. I have a lifetime supply of lacquers and enamels.