Model Railroading > Gluing large resin parts together

I’ve been casting medium sized wall sections to a building I’m constructing, effectively making my own modular building parts. The key issues I have is how to glue the parts together. The parts have no tabs or anything, so they must be heals together by adhesive alone. Any ideas? Something specific would be nice if you know of something that will work. I haven’t had any luck with CA because the surfaces are a bit more irregular that kit surfaces. I almost need something like calk that will full the gaps, but I’m not sure exactly what kind of calk would be best. I’ve had mixed results in the past.

Posted from iPhone

A couple of possibilities come to mind.  The first is that there are CA adhesives that purport to be gap-filling.  The second is that you use backing pieces of a similar material to join the cast pieces together.  If you are joining walls at right angles, glue a appropriate size column to one side, let it cure and then attach the other wall.  If you are joining flats, fasten a piece or pieces of material on one section horizontally so it (they) overhangs the edge by an amount near to the already glued length.  Let cure and then repeat.  There are likely other possibilities but I have only has one cup of coffee so far!  Good luck!

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/19 06:03 by BCutter.

I'd be tempted to use two-part epoxy though you need to have a way to hold the two pieces in the correct orientation while the epoxy sets.

Nathan Beauheim
Loveland, CO

I would try JB weld as it works on almost anything that is clean and has a slightly roughed surface. Found out the hard way about it and glass, got some on my windshied doing another project, would not come off, replaced the windshield finally. Try it on two scrap pieces first.

If you use CA, use the slowest setting CA you can find and clamp or weight it together until set. The faster ones don't work as well with big parts in my experience. Of course, there is a spray that you can spray onto CA to make it set faster. But don't get CA on you skin and then get the spray there too. It feels like frostbite. You can't tell if it's hot or cold, but hurts like hell.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/19 16:57 by wabash2800.

Try Loctite Power Grab Ultimate Clear Constructin Adhesive. 

It grabs almost instantly, dries strong, and is clear and it takes paint well.  I secure track to my roadbed with it and have 5 years of no issues with the product.  It sets up fairly fast so apply it and position the parts quickly. You have about 4 minutes to work with it but it does grab nearly instantly, so the parts are being held for you and you have those minutes to position them.  After that, it is , what it is :)

Bob. 

A lap joint is always preferrable to a butt joint no matter what adhesive is used.  (Also true in soldering or welding.)
A mentioned above, put a strip of styrene on the inside over wall joints and an angle or square strip at corners.
A fun part of the hobby is trying new things. and sharing our discoveries....have fun.

I am NOT a scratch builder or very good modeler at all BUT I recently glanced through an on line magazine and the person building a model structure used small Legos bricks inside the walls to attach the walls to and keep everything square. Just a suggestion. 

Man! You guys have given me a wealth of ideas! I’d love to post photos of my project but I can’t figure out how to do it from my phone! I will look into some of these ideas! I may end up using them all at some point. I’m really into casting building walls and facades for cities. It’s how the film industry does sets for monster movies and stuff but on a slightly larger scale with a huge budget.

Posted from iPhone

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you use CA, use the slowest setting CA you can
> find and clamp or weight it together until set.
> The faster ones don't work as well with big parts
> in my experience. Of course, there is a spray that
> you can spray onto CA to make it set faster. But
> don't get CA on you skin and then get the spray
> there too. It feels like frostbite. You can't tell
> if it's hot or cold, but hurts like hell.
>

I've been using fast-setting CA glue for small parts lately and I'll tell ya, 90% of the time, the stuff sets before even making contact with the part.