At Adepticon I happened to be in the right place at the right time to buy up a bunch of bargains - it was a fire sale, baby!
I got so much stuff that weekend it required a new bag to hold it all... but more on that later! Anyway, those sprues are boxes I had to break down to fit; 2 Vendettas, 5 Chimeras, and 4 Death Co. boxed sets... for a price I'm loath to share, being so freakin' cheap!
So what's this all about?
I've long been a user of the 'super glue plus accelerator' combo, avoiding plastic glue like it was the plague. The Master Manipulator (every store needs one) is a big believer in the right tool for the right job...
...and swore by plastic glue. I did what I usually do with his advice - ignored him for years before accidentally seeing an example. In this case, watching him put together a Guard army in record time.
It's a pretty unbelievable difference! After a few moments of pressure, the glue is tacky enough to hold the models together until the seal is complete. He was flying through guard models!
So, darn it all, yet again the dude has a point. And yet again I'm years behind the curve. I picked up some of the new Citadel glue - pictured above - and tried it out on the models from Adepticon I was putting together.
Damn.
All those years of wasted effort! I have simply never put vehicles together so fast or so well. The glue doesn't set immediately but will keep a hold, meaning you don't have to worry about it drying too fast and out of place. You have some time to manipulate the parts where you need them.
If you're still using super glue, save it for metal and resin. Buy this stuff for your plastics and don't look back!
16 comments:
cant work out if serious or just trolling...
seriously, are you for real? people use superglue for plastics? :S
He could not be more serious. A good chunk of the locals were resistant because they thought super glue dried faster and held better.
I use super glue for all the fiddly stuff, it better for when the worst happens and you drop the model.
Its more likely to break, but when it does it will break at that point.
when a model is glued with only plastic glue it can break in ways that are so much harder to fix.
Super glue Gel (lock tight, blue cap) is better. you have all the advantages of super glue (easy to find, easy to re-break, fast dry) and all the advantages of plastic glue (can be manipulated if not pressed together immediately, no need for accelerator).
Then it has its own advantage - it is a gel and is really hard to make a mess with. When you do, it wipes up better without sticking your finger or papertowel to the model - though I have been known to glue myself cause I have fat fingers.
But I like it best cause it doesn't fuse and so you can re-break later if needed. I;ve tried plastic glue and I hate runny glue and I have to hold it together longer than the super glue gel.
It really depends on if you want to break your models later to reuse parts etc.
Both work well - I just don't like the tear effect Plastic Glue will have - but really for any tank you are not going to break that apart. plus most likely you will magnetize the F out of it.
Answer your emails Brent!
MBG showed me the plastic glue from Model Master. It comes in a black container. It's amazing and I have no problems when later ripping the models apart.
Has anyone outside of our circle up north heard of Ambroid?
I swear by Loctite brand super glue gel. I've never once had a problem with it holding what I need it to, and it works equally well with metal, plastic, and the dreaded metal/plastic combination model. It's also cheap and readily available in most areas, so I find it pretty much perfect for any job I'd need it for.
I love Testors Cement for Plastic Models. Definitely recommended for models that you won't want to re-brake though. For everything else I use Gorilla Glue brand super glue, works well for me and has one of the best bottle designs of super glue that I think I've ever used, rarely have any clogging problems.
I agree with Goatboy. I'm happy to use poly cement for the hull of tanks, large components or anything that needs real structural integrity, but I ALWAYS use superglue for infantry and any peripheral bits.
You just cannot beat being able to snap the join cleanly at a later date; be it two months or twelve years down the line...
I admit I agree with Goatboy here. I have always used super glue because I want to be able to go back and break off and replace weapons as needed.
A good example would be when I decided NFS were a better choice on terminators than NFH, at least on some of them :)
I hate superglue. Works on fingers, and it's brittle as hell when it dries. That's fine for something you want to take apart but the flipside is that something like my kitbashed Skeletons fall apart when you sneeze on them if they've been done with superglue. I can't be doing with endlessly repairing fiddly conversions at my time of life. Plastic glue pour le victoire, frankly.
I use ambroid pro weld, as the join is much stronger than standard plastic glue. its pretty decent. i even fixed the mechanism on my bin at home with it. the broken joint that was fixed with ambroid is stronger than the unbroken one. i know this because the other one broke too after i dropped the lid, but the glued one soldiered on...so now both are fixed with ambroid and i saved £40 over having to buy a new bin.
Hey Brent!
I've been using this stuff for years:
Testors model master plastic cement. I'm fairly certain that's where GW got the idea to use the thin metal tube for application.
Anyhow, You made the right decision, but don't dismiss superglue + accelerator, even for plastics, sometimes pieces need to be held tightly together to create a perfect fit, and if you're not using clamps (everyone should own some rubber tipped aligator clamps), then the superglue is still going to be very useful.
Cheers.
I'm with the others on Loctite Super Glue Gel. Metal. Plastic. Resin. Nothing I've tried is better. I've never used an accelerator, there is plenty of time to set the piece if you want, or, if you apply the right pressure .. bam, it's locked.
Plus, being a gel, it fills gaps so you don't have to GS -everything-.
The general negativity towards plastic glue comes from people that do not use it properly. It should NOT be the glue for beginning modelers- as if you poorly assemble something its stuck that way forever.
In trade circles like bartertown(and ebay), I won't even trade for stuff assembled with plastic glue unless their are clear hi-res pics to see the actual assembly. Its too easy to get stuff thats basically useless and cannot even be disassembled for bitz. So, the bargain 'rescue' models that used to be cheap and an easy fix because of superglue- are now a serious gamble.
Another downside of plastic glue on GW minis- any time theres a new edition or codex rolled out- updating your stuff to fit the new rules (as something inevitably becomes obsolete) becomes a challenge.
And finally- one reason people have so many problems using superglue- they have no clue there are different types and expect all the types to do the same thing. Gels stay put but dry slower, the thinner stuff dries super fast- but inept application usually has it running all over the place. Accelerator sprays might help with gels drying faster- but they also make the bond weaker. But the biggest problem is that 'super glue' is strongest in very thin sections where the pieces are closely fit together- with miniatures this means clean joins and proper model preparation. Alot of gamers these days don't take the time to fit the pieces together very well- they expect the glue to do all the work for them.
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