01-09-2010, 08:45 PM
Good for you, Tony, for attempting your first kitbash. 
If I may, though, a couple of suggestions:
When kitbashing, try to avoid the creation of scrap - in this particular case, most "scrap" is actually spare structure parts.
While your use of scrap (as opposed to "scrap"
) to splice wall sections together is a good idea, ca is not the best choice for cementing styrene, especially for butt joints. Much more preferable would be any of the regular liquid styrene cements, such as that sold by Testors. A joint thus made should last as long as the plastic itself and will be stronger than the plastic. Of course, you'll still need to use those scrap pieces as reinforcement. I use lacquer thinner, applied with a brush, as a cement for styrene: it works just as well and is much cheaper.
The shear strength of ca is very poor and certainly not well-suited to assembling styrene structures, especially with butt joints. About the only places I find it to be the best choice is for joints between metal and plastic or two dissimilar metals, and only if one of the parts is mechanically connect to the other with a pin or interlocking faces. If your structure happens to fall apart as you're working on it, you'll need to remove the dried ca before re-gluing using solvent cement, as the solvent has little, if any, effect on cured ca. Files, sandpaper, or scraping with the back of an X-Acto #17 blade may be useful for removing the ca.
Your mock-up looks good, with lots of different facets and roof angles, a sure-fire way to make any building look interesting.
Keep those pictures comin'.
Wayne
If I may, though, a couple of suggestions:2-8-2 Wrote:.... My pile of scrap is almost as large as what I'll end up using to build the structure!
When kitbashing, try to avoid the creation of scrap - in this particular case, most "scrap" is actually spare structure parts.
2-8-2 Wrote:This is how I have joined wall sections. After careful measuring, trimming, and sanding with my NWSL True-Sander, I marked lines near the windows in pencil (highlighted here in [COLOR="Red"]red[/COLOR]) so that everything will line up nicely. With a simple butt joint, I used CA to join the sections together. Next, I cut a piece of scrap to size and glued it down with CA to strengthen the joint.
While your use of scrap (as opposed to "scrap"
) to splice wall sections together is a good idea, ca is not the best choice for cementing styrene, especially for butt joints. Much more preferable would be any of the regular liquid styrene cements, such as that sold by Testors. A joint thus made should last as long as the plastic itself and will be stronger than the plastic. Of course, you'll still need to use those scrap pieces as reinforcement. I use lacquer thinner, applied with a brush, as a cement for styrene: it works just as well and is much cheaper. The shear strength of ca is very poor and certainly not well-suited to assembling styrene structures, especially with butt joints. About the only places I find it to be the best choice is for joints between metal and plastic or two dissimilar metals, and only if one of the parts is mechanically connect to the other with a pin or interlocking faces. If your structure happens to fall apart as you're working on it, you'll need to remove the dried ca before re-gluing using solvent cement, as the solvent has little, if any, effect on cured ca. Files, sandpaper, or scraping with the back of an X-Acto #17 blade may be useful for removing the ca.
Your mock-up looks good, with lots of different facets and roof angles, a sure-fire way to make any building look interesting.
Keep those pictures comin'.
Wayne