Everbuild brown Gator Glue -unknown yet excellent

[Roy vd M.]

Introduction

Of all the glue types used in scale modeling, brown Gator glue may be least known. The reason is probably that it isn't advertised as modeling glue in the first place and that there is an alternative modeling glue that has a name resembling this one: Gator's Grip glue. That's an acrylic white glue that I happen not to like too much. Whenever you see the term "Gator Glue" on this forum, odds are the author is talking about Gator's Grip glue. 

 

To make absolutely clear that I'm talking about the Everbuild product I always say "Everbuild Gator Glue" or "Brown Gator Glue" or a combination of both. 

 

What are the advantages?

- Many, many kinds of materials can be glued together; for example, metal to plastic or wood to metal. I would be hesitant to use it on paper. On the bottle it says it cannot be used on polyethylene, polypropylene, teflon or nylon but personally I would try it on the first two anyway, as described below (=very thin). Gator Glue works great for glueing photo etched metals together or to plastic. 

- The bond is very strong. 

- The glue is tacky right from the bottle. That makes it ideal to glue the tiniest of part(icle)s. On my 1/350th Dreadnought build I needed a glue that could pick up the little 'eyebrow' parts, small bent pieces of 0,1mm. copper wire, to guide them to the ship's hull. Gator Glue acts as a magnet for these tiny parts. 

- The tiniest of glue is sufficient for a reasonably strong bond. 

- You have half an hour of handling time before the glue cures. That makes it a slow-setting alternative to CA glue, for example in glueing photo etched metal parts.

 

What are the disadvantages?

- If you use too much glue, it will expand slightly. The purpose of this is that the glue can fills minor gaps in wood etc. But in modeling you usually don't want that. So use only the tiniest of glue. 

- Drying time of half an hour is usually not ideal. Me being a patient modeler it's no problem but if you're impatient... Well, Everbuild says that you can speed up the drying process by dampening the parts to be glued. I never tried that as I never felt the need. But the fact is this glue reacts to moist. That being an advantage in drying time, it's also the reason for the next disadvantage. 

- As the glue reacts to moist, its shelf life is not ideal. Probably approximately half a year after opening, it starts cocooning itself inside its bottle. This is the biggest disadvantage of this glue: I have to buy a bottle every once a year (After 7 months or so I use pliers to cut through the 'cocoon' and get to the liquid...). 

- The glue isn't sold everywhere. If you live in the United Kingdom you're lucky because the stuff is manufactured there. But I always have to buy a bottle on Ebay. 

 

Conclusion

I use this glue for the tiniest of parts, in the tiniest of amounts. After plastic cement (for plastic) it is my favorite hobby glue -I even prefer it to CA. 

 

The scratchbuilt part of a carburetor of a Volkswagen Beetle (1/24th scale) seen on the next image consists of 24 parts, all glued together with Everbuild Gator Glue. You cannot see any glue residue because so little of the stuff is needed to get a strong bond. I only used aluminium and brass for this part. 

 

 

 

This is what the bottle looks like. 

 

[triumphfan]

Thanks for the info Roy. I have seen this on the shelves at Tesco but after reading the label, could not really see the product having a modelling application, just goes to show how wrong you can be.

I already like the sound of the tackiness out of the bottle. As you say, having patience is helpful, that's why I keep several projects on the bench at one time 

 

Atb, Steve.

[Roy vd M.]

@triumphfan The tackiness is what makes this glue unique for me. The only other glue that has this (as far as I know) is a certain type of wood glue. But I keep getting back to Gator Glue.

 

These 'eyebrow' parts on the Dreadnought always moved a bit with other glues (no breathing allowed) so I really felt the need for a glue that could hold them in place. 

 

Then I found out I had 'the wrong' glue as other modelers told me that I really should have bought 'Gator's Grip Glue'. So I changed the winning team and got myself a bottle of that, using it to make a cannon; comparable to the carburetor seen above. The problem with Gator's Grip was that I felt it was too thick, it isn't tacky from the start, it doesn't stick that well and... the horror... it is elastic / flexible. The cannon's barrel was posable, for example. Great for those who look for that... but I didn't want that at all. 

 

That brings me to another advantage of Everbuild's Gator Glue: after setting the parts are stiff in place. Not as stiff as CA glue, but sufficient for most purposes. 

 

A description of my decision to go back from Gator's Grip Glue to Everbuild Gator Glue can be seen here (#191).

[Codger]

Roy this info is much appreciated. I have but one question; have you tried thinning it for application and what with? I found the MSDS sheet and it says it cleans up with acetone before curing. Might it thin with that as well?

[Schwarz-Brot]

might be worth a try, @Codger. Though I don't know why I would want a thinner one. I may give it a try next time, just to check it out.

 

To get a better shelf life I squeeze all air out of the bottle before putting the cap back on. It still is fresh after about a year or so (They even tell you to do so on the back of the bottle...)

 

Never apply too much. It expands not only a little, but quite much in my experience. The backing says 3 to 4 times the initial volume and I can say this is true. I use it for many other things then modelling as well. It is a very versatile glue all around.