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.

Just a quick word to say how much I rate Loctite precision super glue. Clear bottle so you can see how much is left, long tip for precision which excess dried super glue can be easily be removed from. Glues metal, resin, plastic and rock and lasts a super long time. All at a fraction of the price of GW who insist you need multiple different glues. Gone are the days of pierced metal tubes spewing glue everywhere and then being all dried up the next time you try to use it.
Happy days!

It is indeed pretty good. I use it on my Warmachine models and it works perfectly.

It's also available at many hardware stores. At least where I live.

Hehe, I agree that the Loctite superglue is very good for many things. But I do use quite an array of different glues for varied purposes. None of the glues I use comes from GW however

I also heartily recommend an accelerator, such as the Kicka Pen if you don't already use one.

While some have suggested it makes the joins more brittle, the increase in curing and bonding times for awkward and loaded joins make it a very handy thing to have in the toolbox, even if you don't use it every time you stick something.

I have actually never tried an accelerator, is it really that big of a difference?

Perhaps it's just what I am used to but in my head superglue is quite fast as it is. The only time when I would wish it faster is when I use it to fill model seamlines. I use it since the superglue has properties close to that of the plastic itself when sanding the joints.

A huge difference? No.

A noticeable one? Absolutely, especially when trying to join pieces that might be vulnerable to pulling themselves apart under the load on the join.

One does have to be careful though, as if you apply glue to a surface treated with an accelerator, a small amount of accelerant can get back into the container, turning the whole thing into unusable jelly over a few days or weeks, I lost a couple of tubes and bottles before I twigged what was happening, glue on one side, accelerator the other, never the twain shall meet!

If I ever feel like I need it I'm sure I'll read up but usually I find that if you don't apply to much the bond is pretty much instant. That said, I've never assembled anything large so I may yet eat my words.

I have a bottle of the GW plastics glue, because it's the only plastic bonding glue available locally. You'd think any of the stores that cater to the Boy Scouts of America crowd that's pretty sizable where I live would have it in the stores where people get pinewood derby and raingutter regatta kits, but nope.

I try my best to use plastic bonding glue whenever I can. The better bond it creates is too significant for me to pass up. The only time I use super glue on a plastic model is if the piece is really small and breaks off even with the better bond. I've had several hands break off my Dark Angels Black Knights for example so I've just swapped to using super glue instead.

Also, there are some great epoxies out there for modeling, that apply thin and strong enough to use on metal miniatures. I'm not terribly good at applying it but a friend of mine has been doing it for 20+ years and swears up and down by it. Guy is master of pinning little tiny things that don't want to stay on. I recently paid him to pin a few models of mine which he'll have done by next week. Can't wait.

This might sound crazy but I never want to 'fuse' pieces together. A lot of my stuff is magnetized to give me options but everything else I glue tentatively so that if I change my mind I can just snap it off. The way I see it a bond doesn't need to be able to withstand too much more than firm pressure.

 andywalker07 wrote:
This might sound crazy but I never want to 'fuse' pieces together. A lot of my stuff is magnetized to give me options but everything else I glue tentatively so that if I change my mind I can just snap it off. The way I see it a bond doesn't need to be able to withstand too much more than firm pressure.

Agreed! I also use superglue in the cases I want to be able to snap the pieces apart at a later date. This is one of the big advantages with superglue.

I've always used Zap-A-Gap. Well...ever since the bad days of my youth when I slathered Testors plastic cement over all my models and permanently melted half of them beyond recognition/burned my fingerprints all over them. I've never had any issues. The only times I have seen it fail are when I've done something incredibly stupid such as dropping a model on concrete or trying to fuse a fiddly ankle joint back on a heavy model (Broadsides...just broadsides. Old and new. Always snap at the ankle for me!).

To the best of my knowledge though, super glue is pretty much the exact same stuff no matter what brand you buy it from. I'll join everybody else in singing its praises.

 andywalker07 wrote:
This might sound crazy but I never want to 'fuse' pieces together. A lot of my stuff is magnetized to give me options but everything else I glue tentatively so that if I change my mind I can just snap it off. The way I see it a bond doesn't need to be able to withstand too much more than firm pressure.

For me that's only really true of weapon arms that might change. Most things I want glued properly, and personally I find plastic glue easier to use than superglue. It gives you some time to position the parts more accurately and because it's melting the plastic, if you don't have a perfect join it'll work better.

I used superglue on plastics for a while, but too often I'd attach something, look at it a few seconds after attaching it, realise it's not quite in the right position and just have to snap it off, clean the glue off and reattach it. In the end I found it faster to just use plastic glue.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 dementedwombat wrote:
To the best of my knowledge though, super glue is pretty much the exact same stuff no matter what brand you buy it from. I'll join everybody else in singing its praises.

Not true, I've had cheap superglue that didn't hold nearly as well. You can also get thinner or thicker superglue.

I've never found I want to snap things in the future, though. That's what getting even more plastic space men to rig into those new options is for.

I guess I'm just a cheap skate like that

 SRSFACE wrote:
I've never found I want to snap things in the future, though. That's what getting even more plastic space men to rig into those new options is for.

Depends on the model. A bolter marine is always going to be a bolter marine. But a Tyranid Warrior has tons of options and the best options change depending on how you want to use them and how the pendulum swings from one codex to the next. Things like Wolf Guard have too many options and the models are expensive so I don't really want to buy a new box every time I want to change them.

But for the most part, I rarely find myself wanting to change things, when I do, I use magnets.

Things like Grey hunters where there's a little wiggle room it's probably a glue job, but like you say with Wolf Guard I can't not put magnets on because the options are just so numerous. I magnetised the entire box of terminators. #toomuchfreetime

I've never tried an accelerator so I'm not sure exactly what its made out of. I generally don't find that it takes too long but if I do want to get tacky quicker I moisten the surface just a touch before applying the glue. Not soaking wet, just usually lick my finger then wipe it on the surface then apply a drop of glue. Superglue cures by absorbing moisture, hence why this helps. If your room is particularly dry it may cause the superglue to take a bit longer I imagine.

 andywalker07 wrote:
Things like Grey hunters where there's a little wiggle room it's probably a glue job, but like you say with Wolf Guard I can't not put magnets on because the options are just so numerous. I magnetised the entire box of terminators. #toomuchfreetime

Same deal with my csm, since the new codex came out I've been trying to figure out a cost effective way of having marines that can have 3 different standard load outs.

Loctite is great, his quality and cheap. Much cheaper than GW glue anyway. Nuff said.

 TechmarineNic wrote:
Loctite is great, his quality and cheap. Much cheaper than GW glue anyway. Nuff said.

It really doesn't take much to beat GW on price and quality in the modelling supplies area.