Glue, and by far the dumbest question I've ever posted

[Thomas Bell]

The title is an understatement, and I feel obligated to begin with why this question is so ridiculous. You see, besides 35 years as a professional aviation writer, and though I am a Texan, I worked as a modeling writer and editor for three major British aircraft modeling magazines for almost 15 years. And my modest book publishing history -- extremely modest -- is with a British publisher located, not in a posh London building with the type of architecture the critics call "whimsical" and with a humorous nickname (think the one that resembles a pickle, et al), but is headquartered in an obscure address in some place called Botley, Oxford. However, I would wager that most, if not all, of the aviation modellers on this site own one or more of their titles though probably none of my obscure US Air Force subjects. But enough digression.

So, anyway, having established my bona fides,, I should know pretty much everything about the glues and solvents we use for assembling plastic components, but when it comes to cyanoacrylates, I only know the bare basics, and often ruin models by my poor skill in using the thin stuff in particular. And this ruination being committed by a modeler of 60 years experience (I started at 8), and who still does occasional museum modeling.

Now to the silly question. Right now, I'm working on Hasegawa's wonderful 1/32 P-47D-25 bubbletop. I've got tons of aftermarket parts for it in every medium. I'm just now at the step of gluing the cockpit to the fuselage half prior to closing the two halves (If I may digress a yet again, I test fitted the fuselage with the aftermarket cockpit dry fitted, expecting a decent but hardly perfect fit of the enormous P-47 airframe castings. I was gobsmacked to find that the fit was not near perfect, it is perfect. So perfect that it makes a satisfying snap when the halves are joined. I couldn't believe Hasegawa, who have finely detailed kits,  traditionally tend to have fit problems with wing and fuselage joins in both the fuselage halves and wing- and stab-to-fuselage fits, especially in 1/32 kits, like the dreadful fit of their deceptively excellent 1/32 P-40. I couldn't believe a perfect Haasegawa fit so I ran my finger over the entire seam at least a half dozen times and examined it closely with a powerful magnifying lens. The perfect fit is confirmed and no filler or sanding will be required. I have encountered this maybe once in my life in a 1/32 kit.

If you like the classic Jug or American WWII subjects in general (the RAF also flew a few Jugs, and aftermarket decals for RAF Thunderbolts, though hard to find, are out there. Should you choose to build an RAF P-47, and can't find one of the rare sheets for it, all you need are RAF roundels and fuselage codes from your spares box.)

Okay, I've put off the embarrassing question long enough by describing my experience that should mean I know everything about the tools and chemicals we use in our hobby.

Here it is: I can't close up my fuselage until I've installed my (quite excellent) resin cockpit casting. When I went to fetch my superglue for this operation I. found out I had run out of every thickness, and had not a drop in the flat. And the Walgreens near me that, oddly, sells a brand of the stuff popular with modelers, had just closed for the night. Being jmpatient and not wanting to wait until morning (it's half past midnight here now, though it was not yet 11 pm when I began this absurdly long and digressive post, which I pray is not paralyzingly boring,)

 

So to the dumb question at last: Does toluene-based solvent glue have any effect on resin, which I understand is in fact similar to some type of plastic, though I doubt it's similar to polystyrene. (I just read the label on a bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and was surprised to see it's composed of acetone and a couple more nasty sounding chemicals, but not toluene, which is in old fashioned tube cement.) As much as I use aftermarket resin components, I know almost nothing about its composition, and have never made a resin casting despite knowing how to do it.

 

So there it is, the shame of my ignorance revealed for all my respected UK peers to see and mock. I know you all think we Americans are stupid, and my only defense there is that a small -- very small -- percentage of us have IQs that almost approach room temperature.

And, and as long as I've gone off-topic, let me just say that what really galls us Americans about you horsey Brits is that you finally discovered dentistry and even dental hygiene, so we can't even make fun of you for your hideous teeth any more. Hell, the average Brit today has teeth that rival the choppers of a Hollywood film actor.

Anyway, could some of you help me, or possibly suggest a trick for mounting my resin cockpit using some arcane method that doesn't require super glue? And if you can, could you please refrain from heckling me. I can take it from my own countrymen, but mockery from Brits would devastate me. I come from that Southern class who are all Anglophiles and so I was reared to believe that everything British (okay, to be honest, only English) was superior to anything American. Evelyn Waugh, one of my more admired authors, found American Anglophiles insufferable. I hope you all don't feel the same.

And please forgive this terribly prolix screed. I know it was all over the map, but that was to distract you from the silly question that was buried among the verbiage.

[Retired Bob]

As a non-horsey Brit/Englishman I can say that using any solvent type glues are not going to work on resin, so as a quick fix, if you really cannot wait until you can obtain some ca glue, you could secure your well fitting cockpit into the fuselage by using some plastic stock (Evergreen or other brands are available)  With your cockpit section securely in place, glued using plastic solvent glue, job done.

[Mr T]

Another option would be to see if you have any epoxy glue around. I use the five minute stuff to stick seriously large lumps of resin together, or to plastic. Has good gap filling properties as well, but probably not an issue in this case

[Thomas Bell]

Just for the belated record, I did wind up using epoxy, of which I had shed loads. It's a bit of a PITA, but it did the trick. Now I'm facing an AMS problem with my Jug build, one that dogs me perpetually. I have far too many aftermarket parts, many if which are duplicates by different manufacturers. I suppose as problems go, it could be be worse.

[Retired Bob]

2 hours ago, Thomas Bell said:

Just for the belated record, I did wind up using epoxy, of which I had shed loads. It's a bit of a PITA, but it did the trick. Now I'm facing an AMS problem with my Jug build, one that dogs me perpetually. I have far too many aftermarket parts, many if which are duplicates by different manufacturers. I suppose as problems go, it could be be worse.

Ah yes, the conundrum of having too many aftermarket goodies from which to choose.  The best solution would be to compare the parts that you have duplicates for and select the best, by which I mean the best fit, the best detail and the part that feel is the best to complete your P-47.  Your unused aftermarket parts can be sold/exchanged to admirers of your completed model.

[Graham Boak]

Not the best of selling points; "Here are the bits that I didn't consider good enough for my model, but you can use them."

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 10/3/2023 at 6:10 AM, Thomas Bell said:

that was to distract you from the silly question that was buried among the verbiage.

Well it certainly worked on me. I was so distracted I never found the question. 🤣