I will soon be putting together a large metal figure and will more than likely need two-part epoxy adhesive. I've never worked with this stuff before and have a few questions I was hoping to get assistance with.

Hobby Town has a few options, mostly to do with curing times: 5 - 10 min, 20 - 30 min etc. One of the employees said the wrong type could melt/ruin the metal, but did not know which one was best to use. What is the standard for white metal? Also, can this stuff be sanded? Should you only use the adhesive in key areas, versus applying to, say, the whole seam?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you...

-Ron

All you really need to know is that it smells like a wet dog and is pretty well indispensible for large metal figures. The twin-barrelled plunger dispenser type is probably the easiest to use but costs more. I never heard of it damaging a metal kit.

Squeeze it out on a non absorbent surface like plastic or cling film(US translation= 'sanwrap); mix the two stripes together with a toothpick and it goes cloudy; scrape it up and spread it. The 'super' quickset variety is really only useful for extra tricky glueing jobs - generally it sets very quickly so only use enough for one job at a time.

It's pretty gloopy, dries like tough bathroom sealant and fills gaps. You can't sand it, it's too rubbery.

Other tips:

Clean up any overspill with a blade - not a cloth or tissue, they'll leave bits.

It's a good idea to score surfaces and an even better one to pin joints. It's pretty reliable if it's well spread - but it needs contact surface. I just had a kit come apart in the middle because there wasn't enough 'hold'.

Personally I trust it more than cyano glue but it's too thick for many resin kits.

Hope that helps

I read somewhere that Cyano weakens with time and Epoxy strengthens. Both have their limitations and strengths. I use bluetack to hold pieces in place that have been Epoxied and use epoxy only for larger figures pining them in the process. From what I can tell Cyano works fine on resin figures. If by chance you leave a smear of epoxy where you don't want it, don't try to wipe it off, let it dry and gently lift if off with a knife.
Keith

One other tip; slightly warm the glue before mixing and also if possible the join as it's setting. just leaving the item on top of a warm radiator or something equivalent is enough (not sure how this might affect resin parts though). Also I've found that over time the 5 minute stuff doesn't have the resilience of a longer setting type. I would use longer setting epoxy for the really important joins; horse halves, figure to base etc and I would certainly recommend pinning joints as much as possible.

Geoff

!! Nah, don't think so. Sounds like a good case of "beware of what some random staffer tells you".

BTW, as a general thing I would recommend getting anything like this in the hardware store or similar rather than a hobby outlet, likely to cost more in the latter (other examples would be paint thinner/mineral spirits, spraycan primers, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and most abrasive papers or films).

There's no standard for epoxies for metal kits - the members probably use a good selection of what's available on the market!

Sanding? Sorta. Epoxies tend to dry a bit flexible which means it doesn't sand easily, but just like Kneadatite you can actually sand it if you had to and you're using the right abrasives. Better to try to avoid doing this by cleaning up any squeeze-out when it's still wet, with a wet finger (never the same one twice!) or a bit of cloth dampened in mineral spirits. Some do set harder than others though, like J-B Weld.

Because of the slow setting time it can be a pain to try to hold things in proper alignment using epoxy (even a few minutes makes this impractical) so one good tip is to use a dot or two of superglue as well, to act as a kind of spot weld. The idea is to get the superglue to hold the joint while the epoxy sets.

And as mentioned, as strong as this stuff is it's better to pin the joint as well.

Einion

David, Keith, Geoff & Einion, thank you very much for the information! This gives something to work with and a couple of options to try. I appreciate it!

Ron

There is also the black superglue that has rubber in it .i,ve used that on horse halves in the past and they ain't coming apart no matter how hard you try.

Never heard of that stuff before so thanks for the heads-up.

Einion

Nor me and Tescos sell it!

I'm a old hand. Used super glue when it first came out, still opt for low melt solder and flux.