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So I've got a new bottle of Revell plastic glue on a plastic to plastic bond and yet for some reason the glue is only getting to "tacky/melted" level but not actually setting solid. I'm wondering what might cause this and wonder if temperature or moisture or such might be the case since my room is cooler than normal (and this glue did work fine previously). That said its not like I'm in freezing temperatures either so its not in any way "extreme".

I'm just wondering if something else might be potentially going on.

What plastic is it? If it has a very low styrene content, it would show some signs of melt, but not enough to bond. If it's gw pure styrene plastic, no idea unfortunately.

Its GW plastic - a necron warrior - so it shouldn't have any issues which is why I'm confused.

How long since you applied the glue and it still not being solid?

How much glue did you apply? Big puddles can take ages (weeks if not months) to fully cure, but you shouldn't be applying anywhere near that much.

I applied what I'd consider a normal amount, enough to cover the surface from one of those metal nozzles (so not a huge drop). It just baffles me because there's nothing been on the model to cover the plastic surface, whilst the area should be a really simple join (its the wrist into the arm socket on the gun).

It's still a tacky join and whilst its mostly hidden I'd rather not have to strip that area of glue (being tacky my experience is cleaning off tacky glue is a nightmare). I'll leave it overnight and see if it finally cures.

It does happen: sometimes if you put even just a little too much glue on, you end up with a gloopy sludge that doesn't really set. If it's not set tomorrow, I'd consider cutting the gloop off with an Xacto knife to give you fresh surfaces to join

How old is the glue bottle?

Serious question. Revell changed the active ingredient from Toluene (1% solution) to an n-butyl-acetate solvent which isn't as effective but has the advantage of not being on the ROHS list for the EU. It still works, but isn't as good as the toluene stuff was.

(Toluene is on the EU naughty list).

It's only a week or so old so, trusting that it didn't sit for years on the retail shelf, chances are its the newer formula. And doesn't surprise me, there's a lot of chemicals and such that work very well but which are steadily being banned or removed due to health risks or environmental risks


And after 8 hours or so its finally set!

I'm guessing you just put too much on and created too much of a puddle. I remember seeing a video where someone dumped a big pile of glue on some sprue and weeks or months later it was still soft. They were demonstrating why you should use as little glue as possible.

Aye I must have just used a bit too much more than I thought I had - it just caught me as odd glue behaviour as I hadn't put down lashings so was wondering if anything else might have set it off.

I think it's possible that every now and then you get a bad tube of glue for unexplained reasons. I had it with super glue once - new tube kept setting gooey instead of solid. It could be that rather than anything you're doing wrong.