Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) Will be, in the near future, doing much laminating layers of plastic card...Tamiya liquid cement and the like will tend to warp and distort everything, and be problematic I'm told. ..interested in hearing any suggestions for a suitable adhesives ( and advice ! ) for multi layering plastic card / styrene sheet... 👍 Edited March 29, 2021 by Pig of the Week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 What are you building? When I altered the profile on my Vanguard nose, I employed a mix of card, scrap and Milliput That avoided problems with too much glue and plastic and having to slather big glops (technical term🤣) of Milliput. HTH Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) It'd be larger areas than that, plates on a 1/16 tank for instance, plus diorama / building parts, wanting rather to build up flat layers ( with on occasion contours) , without it all going wobbly ! Edited March 29, 2021 by Pig of the Week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Tube glue? I'm thinking not as hot as the thin glues, better contact between sheets, but takes longer to dry I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 I have seen that mentioned somewhere before, tho it'd perhaps be difficult to get even coverage with.... I'll have to try a few experiments with scrap bits I guess, I've probably got a tube of old humbrol somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckw Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 I think I would try a contact spray adhesive - there's a whole range with various strengths. But it would get round the even coverage problem The problem with poly glues is that they are designed to melt the plastic so unless you are using quite thick laminations, some visible distortion is likely. Cheers Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Another photo on my Vanguard conversion shows the melted plastic area where I was rather vigorous with the poly glue! Contact adhesive I think is the way to go as suggested above. Good luck. Trevor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 Cheers gents..The spray stuff sounds a good plan, provided it stays stuck to styrene, I'll have a look round at what's out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColonelKrypton Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 I often use plain old cyanoacrylate ( i.e. CA ) glue for laminating; thin or medium type. No distortion due to "melting" the plastic, quick, and sands easily. cheers, Graham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 The CA superglues would stick reliably I'd think and the layers would be permanently bonded.t It'd need a thin runny type of CA , I'll grab some of that ( I've only got thick at the mo) and add to the experiments list ! 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Swindell Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, ckw said: I think I would try a contact spray adhesive - there's a whole range with various strengths. But it would get round the even coverage problem The problem with poly glues is that they are designed to melt the plastic so unless you are using quite thick laminations, some visible distortion is likely. Cheers Colin Most contact adhesives are solvent based, they're liable to distort the plastic before you've even got it together, test on some scrap before committing to a model. A few years ago I built a transport box for a small model ship out of corrugated cardboard stuck together with contact adhesive, when I got home and opened the box the model had gone all Salvador Dali just from the fumes from the glue 😞 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 Thanks for the heads up on solvents ! Looks like probably thin ca superglue type stuff would be best on balance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul821 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Have not tried laminating plastic card but have used Deluxe glues for many tasks and their web site https://deluxematerials.co.uk/ contains an useful chart of materials and glues. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckw Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 4 hours ago, Dave Swindell said: Most contact adhesives are solvent based, they're liable to distort the plastic before you've even got it together, test on some scrap before committing to a model. That's a fair point - I was thinking more of the type of thing we use for mounting artwork and the like which need to be safe Cheers Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) The contact stuff may well be handy for some of the buildings / diorama bits so all good ! Edited March 29, 2021 by Pig of the Week Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Why must you use plastic? Thin MDF plus PVA glue might suit some of those applications very well. So too might aluminium lithoplate stuck down with two-part epoxy arildite glue. Heavy cardboard can also be useful. Just saying! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 On 29/03/2021 at 11:08, Pig of the Week said: any suggestions for a suitable adhesives ( and advice ! ) for multi layering plastic card / styrene sheet... You can laminate plastic card using poly cement if you are careful with the number of layers that you choose to laminate with, from my fairly limited experience - 2 layers will pretty much always warp (sooner or later) regardless of how thick the card is, but 3 layers will be much more stable simply because the two outer layers tend to counteract each other, so 3 layers of thick card laminated with poly cement can be very stable, and if you need even more layers then it would be best to skip 4 layers and work with 5 layers, sounds crazy I know, but it does kinda work. Having said all of that, It's best to just use epoxy resins and ca glues, though you might have to get creative sometimes with regards to how you get ca into a joint, it really all depends on how big the pieces of plastic card that you are working with are, plus with epoxy resins and ca glues it's probably best to key the surfaces as well, with fine sandpaper. For laminating full size sheets together I really haven't got a clue, never done it, but I'm guessing that your not talking about laminating full size brand new sheets of card? are you? Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 No not big bits just small sections say 1 in x 2 ½ins type thing, I have stuck a few bits with tamiya liquid cement just 2ply, that worked ok without curling up, but i do see the logic of 3 ply or another odd number , makes perfect sense ! I'll bear the above in mind certainly 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 When you do figure out the glue you're going to use, make sure you clamp the lamination setup between some cauls to ensure they remain flat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Ranger Posted May 9, 2021 Share Posted May 9, 2021 For small pieces as you propose, liquid styrene cement or MEK should work, provided you don’t apply too much. I’ve used Testors liquid to laminate small pieces without problems both on models and off. But when laminating off the model I usually weight the lamination with a heavy book or clamp it to prevent warping. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Smith Posted August 2, 2022 Share Posted August 2, 2022 (edited) Throughout this post I cannot remember seeing any mention of what actual thickness plastic card the laminations were being made up to. Thinking out of the model making box a bit, how about looking up local commercial plastics suppliers who may well carry thicker sheet material plastics. Alternatively there are specialist suppliers of materials including plastics to the educational sector who carry and supply a variety of things for schools and colleges design and technology departments. Far better to get material of the right thickness of you can rather than using up sheets and adhesives in laminating. Edited August 2, 2022 by Noel Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 (edited) A bit late to the party, on this one. But for thin styrene sheet 0.25 and 0.5mm I use D-Limonene. It has a much slower working time and doesn't warp the thin plastic. I usually laminate 0.5mm in three layers leaving them overnight between two sheets of glass. I have several part built railway models that have been around for 5 years or more without any signs of delaminating. I do demonstrations of my Silhouette Cutter at several Model Railway shows each year and take them along as demo pieces. Edited November 22, 2022 by Rob Pulham Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now