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Alright guys, I'm starting to notice this because I'm starting to get more into trading, so I'm curious about something and I figure I'd ask you guys. If you end up making a trade with someone, and you end up with models that have plastic glue instead of superglue, how do you react? I always ask people if there models have plastic glue on them, because if they do I knock the value down a good deal. I'm told no, it's regular superglue. Well I get the figures, and it turns out it's plastic glue. Not sure how to react to this, or rather what to do about it.

Note - I'm referring to plastic models.

Why does it matter if the models are already assembled?

are you taking them apart? if so the plastic glue is actually good because its easier to snap apart then super glue.


If you are worried about them breaking, just make sure your super glue is handy so you can fix the break properly.

Whut?

Can plastic glue actually hold together metal minis? I am confused and forlorn at your post...

Do you mean plastic models? As I'd always expect those to be assembled with plastic glue - that's what it's for

However if I'd explicitly been told that they were glued with super glue for some reason, and they weren't, then I guess I'd be a bit miffed...

Some people may not know the difference or they may not remember. I have a whole bunch of Space marines, some were glued with plastic cement, some with super glue. without trying to seperate the pieces, I really can't tell you which were glued with which.

Grey Templar wrote:Why does it matter if the models are already assembled?

Because more often then not it needs mold lines taken off, pose fixed, equipment swapped, repainted, etc.

Grey Templar wrote:are you taking them apart? if so the plastic glue is actually good because its easier to snap apart then super glue.

Are you...serious? That almost sounds like you've never experienced plastic glue before. I just got done working on some catachan that were plast glued together. Every bit that was put on them damaged the model when they popped off, because they took a bit of the model with them. Every figure taken off the base damaged the base or the figure, because they became attached. The only way to seperate something from plastic glue is some fierce upper arm strength and rolling the dice to see how much damage it does to the figure, or hopping the two pieces glued together are flat, allowing you to cut through them, which you can still damage the model, or slice your finger very easily.

Grey Templar wrote:If you are worried about them breaking, just make sure your super glue is handy so you can fix the break properly.

Has nothing to do with breaking. The only field repairs I ever have to do is on vehicles, and that's a pain in the arse. I'm going to just start pinning everything.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ Eiríkr and Slinky

Sorry, sorta assumed when I said plastic glue people wouldn't think I meant metal models. Yeah metal models are crazy easy to strip and fix.

Grey Templar wrote:Why does it matter if the models are already assembled?

are you taking them apart? if so the plastic glue is actually good because its easier to snap apart then super glue.

Sherlock.

Models assembled with plastic glue are really pain in the a** if the are assembled in really stupid poses etc.

There are different kinds of plastic glue, although I have never used any of them.



If the models are in stupid poses or undesired equipment, why did you buy them in the first place?

Grey Templar wrote:There are different kinds of plastic glue, although I have never used any of them.



If the models are in stupid poses or undesired equipment, why did you buy them in the first place?

...because I'm told they have super glue? Because I'm under the impression they can be remade with new equipment I already have?

Did you even read the OP? I'm not trying to be an arse about this but your questions are kind of odd.

You expected one thing, got another. In this case you expected super glue, you got plastic glue, which basically makes the figure ten times hard to properly salvage.

Also, I've never seen a plastic glue that didn't bond two pieces of plastic on a molecular model. Maybe you've experience a some sort of special plastic glue, but I've never encountered anything plastic glue related that didn't act like every bit of plastic glue I've ever had the displeasure of working with.

Yes, if someone lied to you about what they were glued with you have a right to be mad.

I am just wondering why you bought assembled models that were in stupid poses and had bad equipment options in the first place.

Grey Templar wrote:Yes, if someone lied to you about what they were glued with you have a right to be mad.

I am just wondering why you bought assembled models that were in stupid poses and had bad equipment options in the first place.

Because I'd rather pay half or less than half the cost of figures in exchange for an hour or so of extra work (not counting time it takes to sit in superclean) to get them to be practically perfect condition. A little extra work repairing figures makes the hobby extremely cheap in comparison to paying full price for figures.

Edit - Except when things are glued together with plastic glue, it becomes HOURS of work, and they will rarely ever look like they are in perfect condition.

Grey Templar wrote:Why does it matter if the models are already assembled?

are you taking them apart? if so the plastic glue is actually good because its easier to snap apart then super glue.

Super glue can be a bit tough, but when it comes apart its usually a clean break and you could use rubbing alcohol to disolve it. Plastic glue works by melting the pastic together. Breaking that apart can be very messy, cause more damage then you want and requires a lot more clean up, but it can depend on the glue itself. I have used stuff that makes it very hard to have a clean break and I currently use one that is much easier to make clean breaks with.

On topic however, I would be a little unhappy if I was expecting something bonded with superglue and it turned out to be plastic glue as I've found more often then not its much harder to disassemble.

Whatever,

You could buy figures that arn't in stupid poses and have the equipment you desire. And there are plenty of NiB miniatures floating around that are much cheaper then buying from GW.

Grey Templar wrote:Whatever,

You could buy figures that arn't in stupid poses and have the equipment you desire. And there are plenty of NiB miniatures floating around that are much cheaper then buying from GW.

Why are you being so defensive about this? It's silly. I like to save money, and I don't mind the extra work to do it. I've gotten 400+ usd worth of nids for 50 bucks, all because the guy didn't want to spend a couple hours to repair things.

I'd be unhappy if they were platic glued when I was told they were super glued... but I've gotten a few minis that had been plastic glued... they were orks so I just dremel'd of fthe arms, anded the nubs smooth and glued on new arms... looked fine

I think it's a perfectly legitimate query. If you get something different than what the seller said it was, you have the right to be angry or even get a refund.

As well, there are very different plastic glue brands - some of which are stronger - to the point of having to use a saw to remove parts - and some of which are weaker or equal to super glue, so I think it'd be perfectly normal to inform the customer that he might need to take out a saw to actually do anything to a model.

I generally buy boxed sets or squads of metal models, so I don't have to worry about it that much, but I can sympathize with those who bought things expecting them to be easy to take apart and put back together, only to find that taking them apart means essentially ruining the models.

Arclite wrote:I think it's a perfectly legitimate query. If you get something different than what the seller said it was, you have the right to be angry or even get a refund.

Agreed. You are entitled to establish any conditions you wish if the seller agrees to them. If he said superglued and send you plastic-glued then you are entiltled to some recompense. Likely this will be a few bucks refund, but you probably won't get much.

As someone who built an entire IG army mostly from used figures that largely required stripping, reassembling and repainting, I can vouch for the increased effort required in disassembling models assembled with plastic glue. I never thought to ask a seller ahead of time, but the difference is often that superglued models can be twisted apart or will fall apart with a simple green soak whereas plastic glued models must be cut or sawed apart (a razor saw is your friend).

All that said, when reassembling them I almost always use plastic glue as the bond is stronger and more permanent.

While I understand your consternation, I think you are out of luck when it comes to getting anything done about it. Personally, if the model is going to require conversion, I'd only trade (or buy) from people I trusted to be telling me the truth. If it turned out they were lying I would report them and never trade with them again.

And this is why I only ever use superglue. I convert and re-convert my models too many damn times to screw around with that plastic glue.

Jimsolo wrote:While I understand your consternation, I think you are out of luck when it comes to getting anything done about it. Personally, if the model is going to require conversion, I'd only trade (or buy) from people I trusted to be telling me the truth. If it turned out they were lying I would report them and never trade with them again.

And this is why I only ever use superglue. I convert and re-convert my models too many damn times to screw around with that plastic glue.

Yeah, I'm going to start telling people that if it's plastic glue and not super glue I'm reporting. That and how I keep getting empire knights when I'm told they're bretonnian. I know bret knights are hard to tell apart but not bret v. empire. At least not the ones I've been getting.

Grey Templar wrote:There are different kinds of plastic glue, although I have never used any of them.

Then why are you talking about it like you have?

OP, if it's a deal breaker for you, I would demand my money/trade back unless the trader can make it right by other means. They outright lied to you when they said they used superglue. That's a dealbreaker for me, and grounds for a BTR if they don't make it right.

Something else which has not popped up yet. Do you always know that the seller is trying to rip you off. There are lots of people selling models out there who got AOBR and some GW plastic glue, put everything together, let it sit in a box for while then decided to sell it. Most of them, not being the avid types we are, would probably tell you they were put together with super glue, not knowing any better.

So while your argument makes sense...that you are well within your rights to offer less for plastic glued models that you want to repoze. But there has been a fair bit of maliciousness implied on the part of the seller, when many of them may not even know the answer to your question.

Plastic glue is nearly impossible to remove without damaging the model. Super glue can just be gone at with a bit of solvent and it comes apart.

My only plastic glue surprise was putting together my 3rd edition Hive Tyrant with plastic glue, then wondering why it wasn't solid the next morning... (for the uninitiated, it's a metal model...)

WRT the OP - I'd agree. If someone is mistaken or lied and refuses to make it right, I'd get upset. Just remember, however, that mistakes do happen. Especially with horde armies it can be hard to remember which models were assembled with what (if you use both).

Grey Templar wrote:Some people may not know the difference or they may not remember. I have a whole bunch of Space marines, some were glued with plastic cement, some with super glue. without trying to seperate the pieces, I really can't tell you which were glued with which.

Are you using GW plastic glue, any chance? Because that would explain it. GW plastic glue is terrible. Absolutely terrible. It, as you say with the pastic glue you use, creates a weaker bond than even their terrible superglue.

Go to any hobby store that sells model kits. Buy any non-GW plastic glue. Note that you'll probably get it cheaper, in a bigger bottle, or both. Now use that on a plastic model. Watch how it actually bonds the peices together, not just stick. It partially fuses the plastic so rather than being simply a glued joint, the plastic is actually joined. This is a Good Thing™. It means the models are far less likely to have an arm snap off when dropped or transported in a tight space. It's more likely to snap somewhere else than the joint.

It's a bad thing because if you plan on reselling your models, and people don't like your posing, then they will have a gak of a time cutting the models apart, whereas with superglue the joints will just snap apart.

But seriously, if you think plastic glue creates a weaker bond than superglue on plastic models, you've been using terrible plastic glue.