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I'm near complete a Flyrant I painted in pieces, and I'd like to lay on a coat of finish in pieces as well to ensure surface coverage all around.

Probably a dumb question, as I think the answer is no, but would a coat of acrylic finish over plastic muck with a superglue bond?

no, you will be fine...
i always paint in parts, and then assemble at the end...
the only thing to watch for, is that you can get the little white ring around the join as the superglue dries,and may have to touch up, and then hit it with some more varnish...

i always give superglue 24 hours to set completely before i do touch-ups...
it can seem dry, but still ruin your brush, otherwise...

cheers
jah

Thanks man!

Definitely possible, but it won't be as strong as a straight plastic to plastic joint. Just like gluing over paint, you're relying on the adhesion of the acrylic layer - doesn't matter if the glue is bulletproof if the paint/varnish layer peels up. When painting in parts, I always mask off the mating surfaces, if practical, or scrape them clean before assembly.

As Oadie implies, the question is, are you painting over the points of connection? If not, then the paint you put on the rest of the model is largely irrelevant except possibly for the edges as Jah says.

If you are painting/varnishing over the connection points, then it probably won't matter to small plastic models. However, larger models and metal models put enough weight on the joints that paint in between the glue and the model parts can seriously weaken the bond. A bond between two model parts is MUCH stronger than a bond between two layers of paint.

If you need a cheap and quick way to mask off the connection points, just stick some sticky tack (poster putty) over the connection points.

I already painted over the connection points, and although they're plastic, some of them are relatively heavy (Tyranid HiveTyrant wings). I'll sand or screape those points back down to the plastic to get some plastic-on-plastic love going on.

Thanks!

If it's plastic to plastic just get some liquid poly on it... that will go through the paint anyway and give you a much stronger bond.

Is liquid poly the stuff that actually melds the plastic together? If so, I prefer using superglue, as I can usually crack off pieces easily in case I want to change a model or use some stuff for conversion in future.

Yep that's the welder

 oadie wrote:
Definitely possible, but it won't be as strong as a straight plastic to plastic joint. Just like gluing over paint, you're relying on the adhesion of the acrylic layer - doesn't matter if the glue is bulletproof if the paint/varnish layer peels up. When painting in parts, I always mask off the mating surfaces, if practical, or scrape them clean before assembly.

Ditto.

I use a mask such as blobs of Blutac to cover the mating surfaces.