Gluey Globs

[Jason M.]

When rigging, and PE Railing a ship, no matter how miniscule the amount of CA i use on the area, it seems to still glob up a wee bit. Am I using the wrong glue for this? Should I be using a thinner version of CA? And dare I use white glue? My fear of white glue is that I would have to hold the part in place for a period of time longer than I am willing to do so.....

[Devin]

Use the thinnest CA you can find, and be sure to apply it properly. Do not apply with the bottle, but put a puddle in a bottle cap or some other container, then use a fine needle or paper clip to pick up then apply the glue.

-Devin

[JIM BAUMANN]

For rigging

use either matt varnish-thinned or polystrene cement -liquid

I use Revell proffessional

see here:

below extracted from my contribution in the HOW to section
http://www.modelwarships.com/features/h ... hering.htm

.....I use ONLY scratchbuilt masts made of Steel/brass wire. For tall masts in 1/350 I use syringe needles, as a tube structure will not bend under tension in the sameway as a rod structure. When you make cage arials (Panay and Dreadnought etc) out of Ladies stocking lycra thread the cumulative tension is large and will pull masts out of line; even the shrinking of sprue with smoke will pull wire masts out of shape, always attach shrouds well, in model form they actually have a function even in sprue!!!

For all of my rigging (see some other ships of mine posted in the Modelwarships.com gallery) I use stretched sprue; the trick is to use the RIGHT kind of sprue. I have always found great success with AIRFIX CLASSIC SHIPS (sailboats,old,large..) in particular an HMS VICTORY that I have been melting down the sprue runners on for years; when I run out I will start on the yard arms, by my retirement I may start melting the masts... The main feature of this plastic is that it is BLACK, it requires no painting, hence keeping it thin and light.

Here is my method:

Light end of sprue runner until it just catches flame, blow out and dab one end onto piece of paper/card on workbench and slowly but firmly pull until the desired line thickness is achieved.The trick is to pull initially real fast to get it thin, then as the plastic cools, slow down the speed of pulling

If you are going to need LOTS, set up two paint tinlets on bench, and follow the procedure above but when you run out of space simply bend it around the paint tinlet and continue on till plastic cools and your thread breaks. You will need to practice a little to get consistently thin sprue. Black sprue is THE cheapest modelling material we will ever use pro rata, so if you are not satisfied with result simply discard it and start again.

To rig, use a small pool of liquid cement on bench, dab the end of chosen rigging piece in cement and with tweezers attach to ship/yard let set for 5-10 seconds and draw the other end to your chosen attachment point. Dab on a minute amount of liquid cement and draw the sprue piece thru the cement and let set. With liquid cement on the end of a toothpick, melt the plastic of the spruee and voila you have a neat attachment with no furry ends or scissors etc

Having rigged some shrouds for example you may wish to tighten them. Hold model over a consistent smoke source such as inscence or cigarette (I gave up, hence joss sticks) and the hot smoke will tighteen the rigging like magic.My advice is take a very old/scrap model and practice as it is very easy to completely rig a model and then at the tightening stage get too close to heat source and completely UNRIG the model.... with resultant fury, frustration and vulgar language...!!

[Jason M.]

Wow! Thanks for the info guys.

[David Griffith]

Dear Jason,

I use stationer's gum for sticking rigging. That is the amber coloured glue for sticking paper that comes in the bottles with the rubber caps for speading. A drop or two of this stuff, diluted with another drop of water can be applied easily and precisely with a brush. It sets in about a minute or so and is quite strong enough to do the job. It dries without forming any kind of hard blob and, being water soluble, it is easy to rectify any mistakes.

For railings, I would suggest white glue diluted with a bit of water. Nestle the railings in position first by putting tiny vertical strips of masking tape gently on the hull sides, sticking up above the deck edge like big stanchions, and resting the railing lengths in position. Then run a bead of diluted white glue into the joint between the railing and the hull or superstructure. After about 2-3 mins the masking tape can be removed.

Kind regards,

David Griffith

[Jason M.]

David,

That is a really, really good idea about the railing. I'm gonna use that next time I gotta deal with them. Very cool!

Do you have a link or a brand name to that glue you are talking about in reference to rigging?

[David Griffith]

Dear Jason,

Brand names for glue are going to be different on opposite sides of the pond.

Brands in the UK are, for example, "Gloy", "Golden Gum" and Stephens.

Basically the stuff you need to look out for is an amber coloured liquid glue, intended for sticking paper, in a bottle with a sqidgy rubber cap. The idea of it is that you cut a slit into the cap so that you can squeeze the gum out and spread it over paper. But you will just want to squeeze a drop out and dilute with a smidgin of water. It is perhaps a rather old fashioned stuff, that has been superceded by the gluestick, but if you can get some, it's great.

I hope that helps.

Regards,

David Griffith

[les]

I've been told to use Tamiya Liquid Cement to hold the PE down and then run thin CA around the edges of the PE. Use a #10 blade put down the PE.

[Ron Smith]

Dear Jason,

Brand names for glue are going to be different on opposite sides of the pond.

Brands in the UK are, for example, "Gloy", "Golden Gum" and Stephens.

In the US it's called mucillage and the usual brand is LePage's. I last saw it on store shelves a couple of years ago.

[Jason M.]

David, I know excactly what you are talking about now. I used to use it on projects when I was in school. Thanks for the info David, and to everyone else. Very helpful to me as I try to improve my modeling skills....