Im trying to glue together wood strips as the frame of a structure, I bought little strips at the hobby shop of balsa. Im not sure what to use for glue. I got the Jes medium viscosity CA which says to hold parts together for 60 seconds, but no matter how long I hold them, the fall right off. So I went o another hobby shop and bought a tube of testors glue that says for wood models, This seems to at least hold the pieces together but its such a pain to work with its not even worthwhile to use and im just getting more mad from using it than anything else. Any suggestions?

go to a hardware store like lowe's or the likes, and get a bottle of Titebond wood glue not fast setting but has a strong bond, used it for years.
jim

Wood glue wont grab right away will it? The pieces I have are thinner than a pencil. Im trying to make a wall frame, if I do it standing up will the glue hold the upright pieces upright? otherwise I can lay it down but now wont it stick to whatever I do it on?

Wood glue won't glue strong unless the joint is clamped with a little bit of pressure. For modeling purposes, small clothespins, spring clamps, or binder clips work well, as well as rubber bands or small c-clamps.

I know that the clamping somethimes is where you need to be more creative than the actuall building itself, but working with something this small seems like clamping piece by peice will take forever. Is there not another way to glue it? Why wont the ca/superglue hold? That stuff will stick to absolutly anything else.

Might be some information here you can use.
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Charlie

Superglue will work fine. Hold the joint together, then add a drop of glue and let it wick in. Putting a drop of glue on one piece and joining it together won't work as well. I prefer the wood glue because I feel that super glue turns brittle and often fails after a few years.

Put the pieces to be glued on a piece of wax paper. Most glues won't stick to the wax paper. If you have a scale plan, you can cover it with wax paper and do the work right there.
Check the directions on your super glue. Some of them don't work well on porous media, like wood. Some may need a filling coat and then a gluing coat, others won't glue to themselves.
I use yellow carpenter's glue.

the titebond sets up farily fast here because of low humidite then do the same as David except i make a copy of the plans , i use pins to hold the wood in place on corner's i use a old picture frame clamp to hold it till it's set up.
jim

Go to a store that sells model aircraft and buy some Balsa Wood glue.

Regular wood glue like Titebond (or regular household white glue) works fine, but takes a long time to set up. Model airplane balsa glue is also slower to set, and really doesn't bond the wood very well, it forms a layer between the pieces you're trying to join.

Gap-filling (thick) CA is a good choice, but I suspect you're using too much. If you puddle it on, and it oozes out of the joint, it will take forever to set. With CA, less is more.

Make a simple applicator by filing the end off a large-eyed sewing needle. You'll wind up with a 2-pronged fork. Now stick the needle in a piece of dowel to use as a handle. Put a drop of CA in a bottle cap or on a piece of scrap plastic. Load the needle by putting the tip in the drop of CA. Put your two pieces of wood together, and put the loaded needle on the joint. The CA will wick into the joint. Take the needle away and hold for 30-60 seconds. You can speed up the cure of the glue by breathing heavily on the joint - the glue cures with moisture.

Try that, and let us know how it works.

This is one of the reasons that I no longer use wood to build anything for model railroading. You can actually get better-looking "wood" using styrene than by using real wood, as the grain structure doesn't scale as well as most people seem to think it does. The key is in the finishing, and an excellent source of info on that is Harold Minkwitz. There was an article on this in the July 2006 issue of RMC, but you may be able to find something on-line, too. If I recall correctly, he has a tutorial over at Zealot (I just checked, and the link to his own site no longer works). :cry:

However, if you insist on using wood, regular wood glue, white or yellow, will probably give you the best, and longest-lasting bond. The convenience of ca is, in my opinion, overridden by its weakness when used on joints other than those which include a mechanical connection, such as a wire in a drilled (and well-fitted) hole, or a mortise and tenon type of joint in wood. As suggested, work atop waxed paper (I used it for my styrene stockyard pens, too).

A simple way to do this is to purchase a sheet of 1/4" thick sheet balsa - the sheet which I use is 4" wide and about 30" long (it was probably 3' originally - I've been using it for 40 years), and a box of dressmaker's pins.
Tape your stud layout drawing to the balsa sheet, keeping it square to the edge, then overlay it with a sheet of waxed paper. Place pins along the lower edge of the future bottom plate of the wall, as many as needed to keep it in place (use a straightedge for this), then stand the bottom plate, on-edge, against the pins and add several pins along the plate's opposite face to keep it in place. Repeat this process for the top plate, then it's a simple procedure to apply glue to both ends of the pre-cut studs, placing them atop the lines showing through the waxed paper. Let the glue set completely, 24 hours or at least overnight. With a long enough piece of balsa, you should have room to build all of your structure's walls as sub-assemblies. I would also suggest using basswood rather than balsa for the actual construction - its grain is finer and probably more "fuzz-free" than most balsa, and it's readily available in all common dimensional lumber sizes, such as 2"x4", 2"x10", etc.

Minus the waxed paper, this method is also useful for constructing brass handrails, sill steps, and other items that need to be soldered together.

Building the wall framing (and floor and roof, too) as flat sub-assemblies is the best way to get tight and strong glue joints, with the pins holding everything tightly in place until the glue has dried. For attaching sheathing, etc., clamps, spring-type clothes pegs, or elastic bands can be useful, too.

Wayne

KevinKrey Wrote:I know that the clamping somethimes is where you need to be more creative than the actuall building itself, but working with something this small seems like clamping piece by peice will take forever. Is there not another way to glue it? Why wont the ca/superglue hold? That stuff will stick to absolutly anything else.

Balsa is the worst for this. The problem is that the cell structure is so open that the glue soaks into the wood and dries before you can (literally) stick the other piece on. One remedy is to switch glues, the other is to apply a little CA to each piece, let it dry, and then glue the joint together with more CA. The initial application prevents the second from soaking into the wood.

If you do switch to yellow or white glue, look at doctorwayne's suggestions above, or look at a few of Kurt's wood structure/rolling stock builds for excellent tips.

Andrew

Im having better luck by not puddleing the glue on and trying to stick a piece in there. Id take pictures of my work to show, but my camera broke. :|

Sorry to hear about your camera. I was just about to ask for pictures!

I like Elmer's wood glue, or even white glue for wood. I too have had mixed results using CA. The bond is tricky and may or may not last as long as wood glue. Why take the chance? Spend the extra time up front and go for the stronger bond. Good thoughts come while glue dries. Other projects even get done!

Galen