Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This may be a silly question, but I recently helped a friend fix their plastic eyeglasses by softening the broken area with acetone, fusing them by pressing them together for a moment, then sanding down the resultant bulge that comes from the fusing. They turned out welded together, just like new.

And while I was sitting there, holding the two ends together and letting them set, I thought to myself "huh, this is exactly the same as gluing a 40k model together."

my question is mostly regarding low-contact area joins, like staffs, banner poles, spikes, or whips, which frequently break and at that point, they're basically a death sentence. Even if you re-glue them, they snap again the next time theyre lightly bumped as the join area is so low with the superglue. Has anyone tried re-fusing them by using a chemical agent to soften the plastic or heating them and pushing the join together? Does it work? Obviously for a part with fine detail there'd be damage to that, so its not a general solution for everything, but for these kinds of small-contact operations would something like that work?

Plastic cement like you buy from Revell or Testors or Humbrol is a chemical agent that melts plastic and causes it to be fused together. Superglue just bonds the surfaces, but plastic cement actually melts the surface.

I've seen some people use plastic cement to make a puddle of molten sprue to use as a filler (I personally don't because it takes forever to cure and stinks to high heaven, plastic cement fumes are one of those things I try and avoid inhaling too much).

Best stuff for it is plastic-weld. It's very MEK heavy though, so don't breathe it. Also, don't leave the bottle open, forget to put the sealing film back in the lid, or leave it anywhere too warm - it'll evaporate faster than you use it.

^^ and MEK vapour is explosive* in a confined space.
Keep it away from ignition sources.

Ain't nowt better for turning FW miscasts into so much nurgle sludge, though.

*That's in addition to it being a known carcinogen (and just generally a nasty chemical solvent. It's not called "Methyl Ethyl DEATH for nothing.).