The Little World

We have cements that bind together two similar substances by chemically melting one into another – and we have glues that bind by surface tension or bonding or magick incantations to dissimilar surfaces and set as a sticky interface – but we really need something that will do both.

The cements are fine, but the stronger ones that can fill gaps are slow-setting. The thin ones that set rapidly need a capillary space between the substrata. You are balancing the time to hold things together vs the ultimate strength.mYou also risk the watery ones running where you don’t want them to.

The glues are slow, too, in some cases. They will cope with gaps and such, but you wait. The cyanoacrylates can be fast if you can add an accelerator, but you pay the price of brittleness. One hit and they can be gone. Plus some fog around themselves as they gas off and they can spoil clear parts.

We need a fast glue that catch quickly but will ultimately weld the parts – and we need it to do so with resin parts as well as polystyrene one. It must flex a little to cope with normal wear and tear.

It must also be fileable and sandable.

Not asking much, are we?