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I noticed that the plastic glue label recommends wearing something akin to a hazmat suit when handling the glue. I have been using it for years and never used gloves or anything nor do I know anyone who does. ShouldI be worried for my health?

If dont put a straw up your nose and sniff it, you will be fine.

I have been modelling since I was 7 or 8 and as long as you arent acting foolishly you will be fine.

Same goes for most products.

... seriously? It's no more dangerous than any super glue. GW is simply practicing the business tactic of C.Y.A. Thusly avoiding things like the recall I saw for citronella torch gel because someone poured it into an already lit torch & WHOOSH. Since we Americans are some of (if not the) worst about being sue happy by putting such a terrifying label they cash ensure that if you fail to follow their PPE guidelines on the item your lawsuit is practically guaranteed to get thrown out.

The warnings are primarily to stop stupid parents buying it for young kids who don't know any better and might huff it and give themselves brain damage.

I don't know what the long term risks are of using plastic glue... though personally if I spend too long using plastic glue I get a strange sickly chemical smell in my nose which can take several days to get over. So I tend to avoid exposure as I can. Superglue doesn't do the same thing. Unfortunately I prefer the behaviour of plastic glue to superglue so I still tend to use it.

For all things like this, the smart thing to do is just have good ventilation. I may be over cautious, but I don't trust that anything has actually had decent study to know long term effects until I've read it myself, so I just try and minimise exposure by keeping caps closed when I'm not using them and keeping the area well ventilated.

Call me paranoid, but I tend not to trust people who tell me things are safe unless I've read the actual tests that proved it and agree that their testing methods were sound.

So yeah, safe thing is just not to let fumes build up.

Also, GW plastic glue from everything I've read is terrible. You can read lots of stories of peoples' armies falling apart after using GW plastic glue. I'd strongly consider getting something else like Revell plastic cement or Testors Model Master plastic cement or just using superglue.

If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

Why not? From what I've read it's pretty terrible glue. Something stuck together with terrible glue has a higher chance of falling apart.

By "plastic glue" you presumably mean polystyrene cement rather tha cyanoacrylate cement (Super glue).

The dangerous component in it is the organic chemical solvent that evaporates to allow the cement to dry. Like any organic solvent you should not breathe a lot of it but general hobby use will do no harm at all. You would be more at danger if you painted your room with standard household paint with the windows closed. Even then you are likely just to get a headache and maybe a bit light-headed.

Many household substances contain potentially dangerous chemicals and should be handled in accordance with the safety instructions.

common sense. use in a well ventilated area, wash your hands of any substances once youve finished. my job often requires working with engineering substances, and theyre always banging on about wearing gloves. i dont subscribe to the theory myself. long as you're not rubbing it into your skin. my dad has worked as an engineer in the mechanic industyr for 40 years, and has never worn latex gloves. my point is that the boffins will come out with all this stuff about dermatits and all this other stuff, but as long as you take care, you'll be fine

 Swastakowey wrote:
If dont put a straw up your nose and sniff it, you will be fine.

I have been modelling since I was 7 or 8 and as long as you arent acting foolishly you will be fine.

Same goes for most products.

NOW you tell me?! Well I guess you are fine either way then

Seriously though, don't sniff the gak and you'll be ok...

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

Why not? From what I've read it's pretty terrible glue. Something stuck together with terrible glue has a higher chance of falling apart.

games workshop plastic glue isn't an adhesive, it melts the two parts together.

 the shrouded lord wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

Why not? From what I've read it's pretty terrible glue. Something stuck together with terrible glue has a higher chance of falling apart.

games workshop plastic glue isn't an adhesive, it melts the two parts together.

True, but its bullgak that it can't fall apart. I have built several models recently with plastic glue. They can fall apart if you drop then and a knife blade can force them apart.

 the shrouded lord wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

Why not? From what I've read it's pretty terrible glue. Something stuck together with terrible glue has a higher chance of falling apart.

games workshop plastic glue isn't an adhesive, it melts the two parts together.

It's supposed to, but from everything I've read, GW brand is massively inconsistent. Many people have issues with it.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?286463-Problems-with-Games-Workshop-Plastic-Glue

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?378164-GW-Plastic-Glue-Problems-anyone-else

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?353562-Plastic-glue-not-glueing

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?340753-GW-thick-plastic-glue-terrible

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?335930-messed-up-gw-glue

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/444709.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/546583.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/529179.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/516258.page

I'd say Testors Model Master glue and Revell glue, yeah, they do really fuse the plastic (though it's still a weak point and hardly unbreakable). GW glue I've mostly only heard bad things.

huh. the only problem I've ever had with plastic glue was the (first and only) time I brought some second hand models and one's face was literally melted with the stuff.

 Bronzefists42 wrote:
I noticed that the plastic glue label recommends wearing something akin to a hazmat suit when handling the glue. I have been using it for years and never used gloves or anything nor do I know anyone who does. ShouldI be worried for my health?

Well, there's a slight risk of gluing something together with it. Only slight, mind.

 the shrouded lord wrote:
huh. the only problem I've ever had with plastic glue was the (first and only) time I brought some second hand models and one's face was literally melted with the stuff.

GW plastic glue?

From what I've read it's inconsistent, so one person will glue their army together fine, the next person their army will fall apart, so I can only recommend staying away from it if you care about your models, stick to tried and tested glues like Testors, Humbrol, Revell.

It's pretty much the same as any Poly Cement.So long as you have some form of ventilation near your hobby setup, you should be fine. If you wear contact lenses, it's particularly important, as they can react to the fumes and cause them to fuse to your eyeballs. (though this particular incident was because the person had been in a room with no ventilation at all for like 8+ hours)

GW glue can and usually falls apart just by looking at it funny... or any day of the week with a "Y" in it. Seriously it's rubbish get some Revell Contacta Professional and use in a ventilated room and you'll be set. I wear lenses myself never ever had issues even after marathon build sessions.

Thanks for the help. Once at a GW shop I was speaking with a particularly obnoxious 12 year old. Halfway through the conversation he reached over, grabbed an uncapped bottle of plastic glue and sniffed it loudly about 2 cm away from his nose. He said he loved the smell of plastic glue. I haven't seen him there since then...

The worst thing about the GW plastic glue (unless I'm using it completely wrong) is that it creates a really really crappy bond (just like any other non-toxic plastic cement). I've gone to the Good Stuff from Testors (toxic methyl stuff, mind the fumes) for plastic and Zap-A-Cap CA+ superglue for everything else (and tiny plastic parts like fscking Daemonette arms).

 Bronzefists42 wrote:
Thanks for the help. Once at a GW shop I was speaking with a particularly obnoxious 12 year old. Halfway through the conversation he reached over, grabbed an uncapped bottle of plastic glue and sniffed it loudly about 2 cm away from his nose. He said he loved the smell of plastic glue. I haven't seen him there since then...

The GW plastic glue, to me, has always had this sickly-sweet smell. Not unpleasant, but definitely cloying.

How dangerous is it? I'd say its pretty god damn dangerous. You're in danger of completely wasting your money on glue that is absolutely useless. For better results, rub each bit on the sticky part of a post it note and press them together. Let the model sit for 24 hours. Then do it again tomorrow.

Well I can't actually smell myself, but even then I am still confused as to why anyone would practically snort any chemical, especially one used to bond plastic together.

No danger unless you smell it all day. Then you get some lowered IQ points.


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AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

Why not? From what I've read it's pretty terrible glue. Something stuck together with terrible glue has a higher chance of falling apart.

It's pretty terrible but what works, works, and it works all right. Still, my hormagaunt heads fall off some times.

The GW glue I've bought is useless. I'd recommend Testors liquid cement any day of the week.

It will only, I repeat, ONLY work if you sniff it for a solid hour, then swallow a portion of the contents. After that it will bind perfectly!

 Hive Fleet Cerberus wrote:
It will only, I repeat, ONLY work if you sniff it for a solid hour, then swallow a portion of the contents. After that it will bind perfectly!

Assuming you can get it out of the bottle, as it tends to congeal in the nozzle (or it's eating the nozzle).

lliu wrote:
It's pretty terrible but what works, works, and it works all right. Still, my hormagaunt heads fall off some times.

The 2nd part contradicts the first part "it works except sometimes when it doesn't work"

If it were only 1 or 2 people complaining GW plastic glue is terrible, I probably wouldn't bother mentioning it, but the fact I can google "gw plastic glue models fall apart" and find about 10 threads immediately across 4 different forums with people complaining about it AND people posting in reply that they've had similar experiences... for the sake of peoples' models that they are going to put long hard hours in to assembling and painting I feel it incumbent to share that knowledge. If you still want to take the gamble of using GW glue, go for it, personally I'd just buy something else than risk my models falling apart.

 the shrouded lord wrote:
If something is glues with GW plastic glue, it litTerally CAN'T fall apart.

If theres one thing I hate... its disinformation.

Just shhh.. clearly havent tried it for yourself. GW plastic glue doesnt 'weld' the parts together as you would expect. unless you cake the pieces in it so thick that its a horrid mess and needs throwing away anyway. It actually dries in a crystalline structure and is very very brittle, way more so than any superglues Ive used.... short of it.. its not poly cement, which is why they changed the name from poly cement to plastic glue some time ago. Id wager that pva glue holds stronger.

I agree with the majority on this thread. The real question is not "Is GW glue dangerous?' The real question is this: Why would you use GW hobby products? They are more expensive and of inferior quality.

Stop licking your fingers when you get plastic glue on them...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Testors steel tipped glue for this lad.

Bronzefists42 wrote:I noticed that the plastic glue label recommends wearing something akin to a hazmat suit when handling the glue. I have been using it for years and never used gloves or anything nor do I know anyone who does. ShouldI be worried for my health?

GW plastic glue is literally just acetone with a little bit of thickener. As such, plastic glue is almost exactly as bad for your health as acetone.

Which is to say, it's not good for you... but it's definitely not the worst thing for you either. It's why safety people only rate acetone as:



Which means you're much, much more likely to hurt yourself by it catching fire and exploding than as a result of the vapors themselves. That kid who liked the smell really just liked the smell - acetone isn't a neurotoxin.