CA kicker

[Greg Law]

Is there a CA kicker that doesn't just about kill you when you use it?

 

 Four years ago I used a spray kicker that in fact just about killed me and I think I'm still suffering the effects now.

I accidentally breathed in when I sprayed it. I had real trouble breathing for weeks afterwards. So I have avoided it like the plague.

 I need to do some rigging and saw a method that looked good using CA and CA kicker. 

[Rob G]

I use ZipKicker. Don't spray it, that's a waste of expensive product (and as you found out, not conducive to good health)- I use a small cheap brush to drop a umm... drop next to the glue I'm setting. Sometimes I'll use a skewer or bit of wire or whatever's to hand. Repeat around the glue as required to set it all. My 60ml bottle has lasted me years.

[Greg Law]

Thanks Rob. I think that was the one that almost killed me. However, I would use it as you suggest. 

[Dave Fleming]

Most of the time I don't even apply it - I use a microbrush and just hold it next to the CA - as you found, it's pretty volatile and usually just the fumes are sufficient to set the CA

[rayprit]

I am the same as Rob, I used to spray it but it was an overkill, mass of spray just for one minut spot...…….got more on my fingers than on the model...…………..I cannot afford the  bits of wire like Rob so reduced to using the tip of a cocktail stick...…………….I rarely use the kicker these days as I build a lot of resin models and relie heavily on bicarbonate soda, goes rock hard in mini secs, then you can sand it, drill it or whatever you want to do with it...….I just sprinkle a small amount on and the excess wipes of after a couple of secs with the tip of a scalpel

 

 

[johnny akes]

I've just bought a 400ml tin of Bond-It Super Glue Activator Spray off Amazon at £5.90. It's an aerosol, but I've decanted some of it and it is colourless, virtually odourless and works very well.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I personally stopped using kicker 20 years ago. I found all the connections i made with the combination were way more brittle  and almost always broke apart. 

[Getting Old]

I too use ZipKicker when needed. As mentioned by others I use an old cheap paintbrush to apply it. It does stink the room out so it's used very sparingly 😷

[Stalker6Recon]

On 8/30/2018 at 5:05 PM, rayprit said:

bicarbonate soda

Just wondering, as I often do when I stumble on something new. Have you tried to pack a gap with baking powder first, then added the CA? This seems like a very easy, clean way to fill gaps, brush away any powder not in the gap, then add CA. Repeat as needed, and with luck, you have filled the gap and zero sanding is required.

 

What do you think?

 

Anthony

[Dave Fleming]

On 4/27/2019 at 10:17 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

Just wondering, as I often do when I stumble on something new. Have you tried to pack a gap with baking powder first, then added the CA? This seems like a very easy, clean way to fill gaps, brush away any powder not in the gap, then add CA. Repeat as needed, and with luck, you have filled the gap and zero sanding is required.

 

What do you think?

 

Anthony

 

The baking soda (NOT baking powder, too many additional parts in that) reacts with the CA and will bubble in reaction and needs sanding. In fact, the bubbles are one reason I stopped using Bicarbonate and use a neutral filler like talc or pigment. 

[Stalker6Recon]

1 hour ago, Dave Fleming said:

neutral filler like talc

Oh, I guess I misspoke, meant baking powder, arm&hammer. So the neutral filler must be mixed with the CA before going into the gap? In the words of the great Dezel Washington, "explain it to me like I am a three year old", because when it comes to model building, I am actually still a baby, but do take lessons pretty good.

 

Sorry, I am very inquisitive and curious, maybe it is because of all the cats we have!

 

Anthony

[Dave Fleming]

On 4/28/2019 at 8:26 PM, Stalker6Recon said:

Oh, I guess I misspoke, meant baking powder, arm&hammer. So the neutral filler must be mixed with the CA before going into the gap? In the words of the great Dezel Washington, "explain it to me like I am a three year old", because when it comes to model building, I am actually still a baby, but do take lessons pretty good.

 

Sorry, I am very inquisitive and curious, maybe it is because of all the cats we have!

 

Anthony

I mix it into a paste then apply it with a wooden cocktail stick.  Waft over it with a microbrush with kicker in it and it sets but isn't completely cured. That means you can sand it almost straight away.

 

The filler (Talc in my case) thickens it and makes it slower to cure hard , giving more time to sand.

 

I hadn't ever thought of adding the talc then soaking the CA into it - might do some experimentation

[Stalker6Recon]

4 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

I hadn't ever thought of adding the talc then soaking the CA into it - might do some experimentation

Reading my reply, I did it again. I am now sure that the autocorrect on my phone is changing baking soda to baking powder, grrrrrr.

 

Anyway, from your remarks, I think I may skip that and go straight to talc, hoping I can find talcum powder (hope that is right, not sure I want to be scolded again) here in the Philippines. I would think that the adding of powder first, then the CA would need to be done in layers, if the gap is big, otherwise it would not reach the lower powder before curing. Of course this is just speculation, but if it does work, the need to sand could be greatly reduced, which on kits with raised rivets, is always the goal. I think I will experiment as well, taping the edges of the gap with masking tape to avoid as much surface contact as possible.

 

Right now, I live in a world of theory only, as I have been unable to start my first kit due to a mistake I made. So I was planning to wait until my replacement kits were ordered and arrived, but now I think that I might as well build the damaged kit as experiment and experience, if I muck it up, I won't be bothered. This will be my test subject for the next few months anyway, and all my trials will be done to the two "little bird" kits, each of which cost less than $10, so I won't lose sleep over their outcomes.

 

Thanks for the tips, I now have a good foundation to start from, so it should be fun!

 

Anthony

[Caerbannog]

You could try baby powder if you do not find pure talcum powder. AFAIK it is very much the same. Some have perfumes added but I am not sure if anything else. However - I use baby powder as above sometimes and it works for me.

[thorfinn]

2 minutes ago, Caerbannog said:

You could try baby powder if you do not find pure talcum powder. AFAIK it is very much the same. Some have perfumes added but I am not sure if anything else. However - I use baby powder as above sometimes and it works for me.

Just an advisory, based on personal experience: try to avoid powders with perfumes or other additives, as it can produce long-term unpleasant results. I had occasion some years ago to discover several long-completed models 'sweating' an oily brown goo in areas where gaps had been filled and sanded. I was completely flummoxed until I realized all had been done using some kind of body- or baby-powder with the CA, instead of pure talc.

I have no idea what active ingredient caused the problem...nor how common it is likely to be in commercial products...but I've never again had the same problem, since switching back to the 'unadulterated' version.

Cheers

[Stalker6Recon]

3 minutes ago, Caerbannog said:

You could try baby powder

Cool, thank you. That is one thing that there is an abundance of, my wife will probably wonder where her bottle went, and I can't blame it on the cats anymore, but she will understand. I actually bought her a kit to build as well. We ride motorcycles and are big fans of MotoGP, so I bought her a Ducati 1:12 Tamiya and a Yamaha R1M for me, we will build them together. Be really nice if she enjoys it enough to continue building on her own, so wish me luck on that. I did make the mistake of showing her some of the skills people have on this site, which made her not want to build, thinking the standards are too high. I tried to reassure her that she doesn't need to make a perfect replica, only perfect for her. Hope she will still have fun. Time will tell.

 

Thanks again, this is great advice that will save me a lot of money over the branded fillers, which due to shipping costs, get expensive pretty quick.

 

Anthony

[Stalker6Recon]

1 minute ago, thorfinn said:

try to avoid powders with perfumes

Great timing, that is definitely noted and my wife's supply of baby powder is now safe. Funny you mention that. Since moving to the Philippines, I have seen some very strange reactions with products that are supposed to be high quality. One odd thing, which I have seen several times here, is some plastic begins to get sticky in a similar way. The plastic seems to be breaking down to base parts, it becomes very sweaty and under minimal pressure (squeezed between fingers), it just crumbles.

 

This has happened to several small items, but the most prominent one, I bought camera bags from Vanguard, which is pretty reputable company. All the zippers pull handles did the sweat thing. When I tried to clean it off with water and a paper towel, that is when it crumbled. The paper towel was the same, oily, kind of greasy actually. Since then, it has happened with little things that are a lot cheaper quality than Vanguard. I tried to find out what was happening, but don't have the language to get anywhere on google regarding the breakdown of plastic.

 

Now I get nervous when ever I buy something with pladtic built in, worried that in a year or two, it will turn into a greasy mess, destined for the trash bin.

 

Anthony