CA glue question. didn't know where to ask.

[Badder]

Hi you wingy prop, rotor blade, jet, glider type people.

 

Firstly, I apologise for intruding.

I post this question here because I couldn't find anywhere specifically suited to asking general modelling questions, so I chose this place as it has the highest volume of 'readers'.  Hopefully someone will be able to answer my query.

 

So, does anyone know if it is at all possible to 'thicken-up' thin CA to make it medium CA? 

 

Cheers

Badder.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi - you have two options.

Leave the thin CA open to the air for a week or four and it will thicken up ( as it absorbs water vapour from the air, it tends to thicken- eventually going hard). Or buy some medium CA!!  Sorry, that was a cheap shot. 

I would suggest using talc to thicken it up - and that "may" work, but I've found that thin CA is just too fast setting for the talc trick to work - it works fine for making an excellent filler out of medium CA, but when I've tried it on thin- it just sets almost instantly. It also probably depends on how thin, the thin is though.

 

cheers

Jonners

[Badder]

4 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

Hi - you have two options.

Leave the thin CA open to the air for a week or four and it will thicken up ( as it absorbs water vapour from the air, it tends to thicken- eventually going hard). Or buy some medium CA!!  Sorry, that was a cheap shot. 

I would suggest using talc to thicken it up - and that "may" work, but I've found that thin CA is just too fast setting for the talc trick to work - it works fine for making an excellent filler out of medium CA, but when I've tried it on thin- it just sets almost instantly. It also probably depends on how thin, the thin is though.

 

cheers

Jonners

Thanks Jonners.

 

After posting the question I did realise that 'leaving it exposed to the air' would do it! Stupid, stupid me!

 

And you are forgiven for the 'cheap shot'!

 

Here's my problem....

 

I first started making models in my early teens, back in 1979, and 'drifted away' from the hobby when I discovered girls. I didn't return to the hobby until 2 years ago... and so revisited my LHS, which has been owned by the same couple for all those years. I became a weekly visitor. It was a great little shop, so imagine my horror, when visiting one day, to find that it had closed down. The couple had retired. No warning, no 'closing sale', no selling the business on to someone else. Nothing. Just a note in the window thanking the customers over the years.

 

This was the ONLY 'proper' model shop in my (very large) town, other than Hobbycraft, and a 'model railway shop'. Hobbycraft don't sell 'CA'. And the model railway shop only stocks small amounts, such small amounts that I've cleared them of stock in the past week or so.

 

I am scratch-building a 1/35th scale tree approx 1ft tall and the method I use requires large amounts of medium CA. The model railway shop only has thin CA left and won't be getting any medium CA until the weekend.

I REALLY want to get this tree finished before the weekend, and I am NOT ordering glue over the interupternet. I have thin CA which doesn't work half as well as the medium, hence the question.

 

I hope that clears that up!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

[Mitch K]

I NEVER, EVER buy my CA from a model shop. My local farm stores/DIY outlet sells thick, thin and medium CA in inexpensive (key word, that!) pots. If I'm trying to be careful with applications I use an old pill pack, once the tablets have been popped out: dispense a drop or two into the well, then apply with cocktail stick, pin or wire loop as best works!

[dogsbody]

3 minutes ago, Mitch K said:

I NEVER, EVER buy my CA from a model shop. My local farm stores/DIY outlet sells thick, thin and medium CA in inexpensive (key word, that!) pots. If I'm trying to be careful with applications I use an old pill pack, once the tablets have been popped out: dispense a drop or two into the well, then apply with cocktail stick, pin or wire loop as best works!

Agreed! I've never bought CA from a hobbystore. They usually charge more for it. For many years, I used to " borrow " various CA's from the instrumentation shop at the plant where I worked. Now that I'm retired, I just go to one of the local hardware stores. Once, I even used the stuff my daughter uses to stick false fingernails on with. It wasn't great but better than a kick in the cobblers.

 

 

Chris

[Black Knight]

I get my superglue gel from this seller.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220946847384

It has a very long useful life

[colin]

1 hour ago, dogsbody said:

Agreed! I've never bought CA from a hobbystore. They usually charge more for it. For many years, I used to " borrow " various CA's from the instrumentation shop at the plant where I worked. Now that I'm retired, I just go to one of the local hardware stores. Once, I even used the stuff my daughter uses to stick false fingernails on with. It wasn't great but better than a kick in the cobblers.

 

 

Chris

I find most things in life are better than a kick in the cobblers to be honest

[mackem01]

Hi Badder, don't know if you've seen it, but Loctite (other CA glues are available!) do a one called "powerflex gel".

It's capable of filling gaps and is really fast acting.