The Little World

And a bolt and a rivet and MIG welding and a big bracket. I like my models to stay together.

The increasingly scale appearance of some models demands increasingly fine attachment points for some parts. The shafts, brackets, and pivots that might once have been fitting into thick plastic sockets and pins are now just nubbins and depressions.

It may seem surprising that the same Czech kit maker who wants you to attach an entire bomber to a 1 mm landing gear joint will mould everything with 4 mm sprue gates…but that is life. It helps to have a store of bad language ready to hand.

I have long adopted the principle that if I cannot see it readily, I can re-enforce it. Thus many of the landing gear wells on my aircraft have additional webs of PVA glue holding onto the landing gear struts and supports. If I am not confident in the PVA I choose epoxy resin cement. One recent job used brass tubing rather than flimsy plastic and I am tempted to do it again.

I appreciate the effect that extremely thin bonding cement may have – I use the Mr Cement version of this – and use it for visible seams. It’s perfect for fuselage centre-lines. I also like their medium cement – this allows a little more fiddle time to secure the part. I generally put a thin coat on the fitting surface of each part and then let it dig in a bit. A fast refresh on one surface and then together. It’s the best way I know of getting a permanent seal on wings and horizontal stabilisers.

One cement largely overlooked in our hobby is the rubber contact cement. I use a regular Sellys product in a squeeze tube. it holds enough to do dozens of tasks before it dries out. The gel form is also useful but a little harder to ladle into smaller areas.

What it can do is stick to anything. Rubber, plastic, wood, brass, etc. The only thing that doesn’t like it is polyfoam and foam board – it melts out the filling. The joy of it is that it doesn’t fog clear parts and it stays stuck even if there is a little give in the joint. You have to be patient if you are going to just daub it on – it takes a few minutes to evaporate and gel down. If you use the two-coat method and let it dry tacky before you press the surfaces together it can be a grip far faster than superglue.

Take it off your fingers, clothing, or cat with turpentine or lighter fluid.