taking apart old models?

[Vampira]

Ok everyone. What is the best way you all take models apart. What about the glue joints saw or what?

[Foxer]

Sometimes regular styrene glue will pry apart if not too heavily applied. Put it in the freezer for an hour or so and it will come apart easier as the glue joint becomes brittle.

CA (super glue) may soften with a CA Debonder. There are various types of this. Here's a few links to that .. 1 2

If epoxy was used, it may be time for the saw!

[Miatatom]

I've got a few glue bombs that I've got to do the same thing with. Some folks say to give them a dip in water and then put it in the freezer. It's supposed to help. Here's a thread on that subject. Good luck!

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30114

[Ace-Garageguy]

If the freezing, gentle persuasion and de-bonder methods fail, sometimes you have to get a little radical. I've found that an X-acto chisel tip blade inserted in the joint, and tapping the end of the handle with a small jeweler's hammer will sometimes split it right down the middle. Sometimes not. Think cleaving a diamond.

This one had so much tube-glue squeezed everywhere the only solution was to go at it with a Dremel from the backside.

[Tom Geiger]

I've got a few glue bombs that I've got to do the same thing with. Some folks say to give them a dip in water and then put it in the freezer. It's supposed to help.

Yes! The water gets into the joints and expands as it freezes, gently pushing the parts apart.

Ancient trivia- When lived in Germany in the early 1970s, they were still trying to get rid of all the WWII era bunkers that still were around the country side. You couldn't blow them up or bull doze them since they were built to withstand all that. What they found was that they could fill them up with water over the winter and the ice would push the walls apart.

[Vampira]

If the freezing, gentle persuasion and de-bonder methods fail, sometimes you have to get a little radical. I've found that an X-acto chisel tip blade inserted in the joint, and tapping the end of the handle with a small jeweler's hammer will sometimes split it right down the middle. Sometimes not. Think cleaving a diamond.

This one had so much tube-glue squeezed everywhere the only solution was to go at it with a Dremel from the backside.

Man that thing had an overdose on glue