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I bought some models off ebay and was planning on stripping the paint off of them, but some of the models were posed/assembled in a way that I'd also like to change. That being said, I'm not really sure if they've been glued together with plastic glue or with regular super glue. Is there any real way to be able to tell the difference (appearance wise)? I'm hoping that the stuff I use to strip the models will also make my superglue go brittle and break the bonds so I can reassemble some of the mins. Should also mention that they're partially painted basic base coat of a color that looks like ultramarine blue. Thanks for any help.

Probably no way to tell what glue was used on a painted model unless the model is metal (that would require superglue).

Go ahead and strip your models and then see if you can pull the pieces apart without breaking anything. If the pieces have clear stuff stuck to them, it's superglue. If the piece looks sorta melted at the join spot, it's plastic cement.

Not sure about this, but I think super glue makes plastic go white.
Sorry if that doesn't help

Aquaterry

You live in the US, so go to your local walmart and pick up some stuff called super clean. Big purple container, fairly cheap. Drop the models in there and give em a week or so, then take em out and try to pop the pieces off. 9 out of 10 models will come apart with little to no trouble. A guy sold me $400 worth of nids because he thought his models were ruined. Terrible paint jobs, super glue everywhere, it was in pretty bad shape. Dumped it all into a vat of superclean and was able to salvage almost everything easily. Some stuff, like the three fexes, went in as three different models and came out as a handful of pieces.

If the models are in plastic which I assume it's sometimes possible to tell if there are gaps in the joints. In that case they are more likely in models assembled with superglue since plastic glue melts the two plastic components together.

Sometimes it's also fairly easy to break off an arm assembled with superglue which is not the case with plastic glue. You can try carefully and if it breaks off and looks white it's super glue.

I'm working on an army now and it was glued together using superglue. Appearance wise it's hard to tell unless it's being glued poorly, then you'll see dried glue or drips.

You can just try snapping a random part off (like a backpack, won't damage the model) and if it come off with a loud snap and you see dried, clear stuff then it's superglue.

If it's hard for you to snap then it's probably plastic glue.

Mizeran wrote:If the models are in plastic which I assume it's sometimes possible to tell if there are gaps in the joints. In that case they are more likely in models assembled with superglue since plastic glue melts the two plastic components together.

The problem is that most superglues also act as fillers (think greenstuff putty) as well as glue. Given that plastic models fit together pretty tight anyway, there shouldn't be any gaps regardless of glue type.

It's true, but just an observation I've made on some plastic models I've seen assembled with super glue. If there is a gap I would however guess it is assembled with super glue. If there isn't it's hard to tell.. you just have to try to break it off and see.

If it's superglue on plastic you should be able to snap them apart fairly easily, as already posted plastic glue will have melted the two pieces together.

Superglue should also weaken when/if you strip the models, I know Dettol certainly did when I stripped some old metal Terminators.

Agree with most of the previous post. Easiest way is to apply a shearing force and see if it comes off clean.

If you soak it in Simple Green for a day or so, it'll significantly weaken the bonds. The right pressure in the right direction will usually snap them clean anyway though. It's possible to use a hobby knife or similar thin blade to weasel into a crack, twist, and pop the joint that way too, although you need to be darn careful you don't snap the blade.

I've heard that freezing it works as well, but it's been an epic fail the two times I tried it (Plasic broke before the bond did).

If it IS bonded with plastic cement, you can sometimes use a razer saw to seperate the part. You'll lose a good 1/16" of material though, so you need to be pretty judicious on how you employ it. I ended up with a pair of Defilers that I had to take the saw too, but I magnetized them anyway so the bit of material I lost didn't really matter (Plus vehicles are large enough to be pretty forgiving).