11-09-2019, 12:24 PM
Here in Canada, government regulations resulted in some sort of alterations to the make-up of lacquer thinner, which had been a very useful substitute for Testors' liquid cement. It had pretty-much the same odour, and similar properties as far as bonding styrene to styrene, and bought by the quart or gallon, was considerably cheaper.
The bastardised version of lacquer thinner is still useful for thinning paints such as Floquil, ScaleCoat, and SMP's Accupaint, but useless for bonding styrene.
Based on some posts touting MEK as a good substitute, I bought some. For gluing styrene, it works well, although it does evapourate much more quickly than the original lacquer thinner, and one of the components in it seems to be the culprit, as leaving the container (I use what was originally the Testors square bottle with brush-in-cap) open too long during use renders the product less effective.
While the quick bonding is very useful for most applications, cementing large items together poses some difficulties, as by the time you've applied a coat of MEK to the second surface, that on the first surface has already dried.....I'm speaking of areas greater than, f'rinstance, a square foot.
I bought my MEK at a Sherwin-Williams distributor....not one of their paint stores for the general public, although they may carry it - but an outlet which is mostly for contractors and businesses, I think. At the time, it seemed to me to be the logical place to find it. A gallon (a measly U.S. gallon, too) was, if I recall correctly, about $32.00 (in our measly Canadian currency).
When I returned there to buy another gallon, I enquired about lacquer thinner regarding its now uselessness as a cement for styrene, but the salesperson couldn't offer much on whether or not what they were selling was the now useless version or the more potent original. I needed some to use as paint thinner, so took a chance and bought a gallon.
When I got home, the first thing I did was try it on some styrene scraps, and it seemed to make a decent bond, although I've not really had much time to explore that more fully. The lacquer thinner was somewhat cheaper than the MEK. When I have an opportunity, I'll explore its usefulness a little more and report my findings.
As for the 5303, I need to alter the stuff between the back of the cab and the first tender, as there is some interference on some curves. I may remove the wipers from the auxilliary tender, or change the ones on both tenders to wipers made from Kadee centering springs, as they offer less rolling resistance. Currently, there are too many other projects ongoing to worry about that one.
Wayne
The bastardised version of lacquer thinner is still useful for thinning paints such as Floquil, ScaleCoat, and SMP's Accupaint, but useless for bonding styrene.
Based on some posts touting MEK as a good substitute, I bought some. For gluing styrene, it works well, although it does evapourate much more quickly than the original lacquer thinner, and one of the components in it seems to be the culprit, as leaving the container (I use what was originally the Testors square bottle with brush-in-cap) open too long during use renders the product less effective.
While the quick bonding is very useful for most applications, cementing large items together poses some difficulties, as by the time you've applied a coat of MEK to the second surface, that on the first surface has already dried.....I'm speaking of areas greater than, f'rinstance, a square foot.
I bought my MEK at a Sherwin-Williams distributor....not one of their paint stores for the general public, although they may carry it - but an outlet which is mostly for contractors and businesses, I think. At the time, it seemed to me to be the logical place to find it. A gallon (a measly U.S. gallon, too) was, if I recall correctly, about $32.00 (in our measly Canadian currency).
When I returned there to buy another gallon, I enquired about lacquer thinner regarding its now uselessness as a cement for styrene, but the salesperson couldn't offer much on whether or not what they were selling was the now useless version or the more potent original. I needed some to use as paint thinner, so took a chance and bought a gallon.
When I got home, the first thing I did was try it on some styrene scraps, and it seemed to make a decent bond, although I've not really had much time to explore that more fully. The lacquer thinner was somewhat cheaper than the MEK. When I have an opportunity, I'll explore its usefulness a little more and report my findings.
As for the 5303, I need to alter the stuff between the back of the cab and the first tender, as there is some interference on some curves. I may remove the wipers from the auxilliary tender, or change the ones on both tenders to wipers made from Kadee centering springs, as they offer less rolling resistance. Currently, there are too many other projects ongoing to worry about that one.
Wayne