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Hey all, I was poking around amazon this morning and I noticed that the army painter has a product called "super glue accelerator." After a little work on the google machine, it appears that not only is this a well recognized product in other circles (home repair), but that you can do it yourself with some really cheap household materials. I found two methods:

1. Put a little rubbing alcohol on one glue surface, and a small amount of superglue (cryaloacetate) on the opposite surface you want to glue to. I tried this out myself, and it works pretty well; the superglue sets firmly in about 10-15 seconds. It's important not to use too much of either; a little dab will do ya.
2. For larger pieces, glue them together normally and then sprinkle some baking soda on the joined seam. I have not tried this, but there are plenty of tutorials on youtube.

In the interest of safety, I should point out that both of these are chemical reactions (although pretty safe ones), and as such you don't want them anywhere near your skin or eyes. You also probably don't want to try it on a $50 model on your first time out. However, all in all I found the rubbing alcohol trick to be about as safe, and much quicker and easier, than regular superglue-ing. Hope it's helpful.

Zap-a-gap (a common brand in the US) produces 'Zip Kicker' which is a spray on accelerant for their glue.

It is pretty cool if you are impatient. I just moved to faster drying glues though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and DO NOT spray accelerant on your hands if you have glue on them. Exothermic reaction = ouchy fingers.

I just buy it at the hobby store - its affordable and absolutely essential for those times you need something to set RIGHT NOW (holding a precarious piece) or when those metal models just wont set correctly....

Yeah I have the GF9 rapid cure. It works well, especially handy for small FoW peices. Smells a bit though (like engine oil?) and because it comes in a nice sized spray bottle it isn't exactly precision application.

I was reading about the baking soda method in wargames illustrated and it warns about having to sand about after so that suggests it may not be too neat?

zap also makes a non spray accelerator that you can apply with a toothpick or something similar. I transfer mine into a dropper bottle