discussion CA Glue

[Waspie]

Any recommendations for a specific brand of CA? The current one I'm using is the Loctite brand. Is there another brand that is better or more applicable to me a better applicator method. I find the tube blocks easily and the CA difficult to actually come out.
Thanks in advance.
Doug

 

[Tworrs]

Any recommendations for a specific brand of CA? The current one I'm using is the Loctite brand. Is there another brand that is better or more applicable to me a better applicator method. I find the tube blocks easily and the CA difficult to actually come out.
Thanks in advance.
Doug

Doug, my preference is toward ZAP CA both thin and medium, however just recently I have also started using MIG Slow Dry, which I find very good as it allows a little time for positioning.
Hope that helps
Garry

 

[minitnkr]

Gorilla brand has a non-clog CA applicator that I've found works well.

 

[Ian M]

CA. I was buying the stuff from MiG/ AMMO and it works well, and the bottles quite useable... until they aren't!
Looking on line I found a no name brand of CA. Exactly the same range, in exactly the same bottles... for a third of the price. They are guaranteed made the same place. lol
Some times the lid does stick a bit but a squirt of de-bonder on the threads normally frees it up.

As for applicators, there are many: I squirt a bit of CA out and apply it with a needle or I put a Poly tip on the bottle and place a tiny dot where needed.
You can heat the poly and stretch it out to a very thin point. Think some shops call them rats tails,,,

 

[Jim R]

I like the VMS range of CA glues. John stocks them. I put a drop on a plastic bottle top and apply to the model with thin wire or a needle. The bottles do clog up if not wiped after every use.

 

[Jack L]

I have the Zap extra thin and the VMS Black Flexy Ca. Both very good.

 

[Tim Marlow]

I mostly use loctite gel. I don’t apply it directly though, I put a small drop on a plastic top, like the others, and apply it using a scrap of wire. I don’t find it blocks because the top is only ever open when I put the drop out. I close the tube straight afterwards. The drop stays workable for quite a while as well.

 

[Guest]

Over the past few years, I’ve come to prefer this:

View attachment 510637

This stands upright on its own accord, and if you wipe the nozzle with a rag before putting the cap back on, it stays usable far longer than any other superglue (or container of it) I’ve ever used.

Only problem is that it’s almost impossible to find in the Netherlands. It was sold under the Pattex brand until last year (same bottle, different colours and branding), but when that got changed to Loctite it seems to have disappeared from shops here entirely. I had to order a bottle on Amazon from, IIRC, Portugal when I ran out …

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s close to the one I use Jakko, same container.


Once the glue doesn’t come out when you squeeze the wings, pull the bottom off and remove the tube. It will still be about one third full…..

 

[Tworrs]

Something I do with the medium CA's, to try to overcome the glue drying in the nozzle tip, is once I've decanted what I want to use, I tap the base of the bottle on the desk to try and get the glue down from the tip, and then gently squeeze the bottle to get air to expel, and then release the bottle which sucks any remaining glue back down into the bottle, which opens the hole in the tip on the nozzle, then I put the top back on the bottle.
My apologies if I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs, but it's what works for me.
I also decant onto another surface, and use either a toothpick for medium CA or a Glue Looper for the thin CA.

 

[Guest]

DeLuxe Materials sell different grades from 5 second to 20 seconds... The 5 sec is like p so I usually order a bottle of the 5 sec and 10 sec then mix them 50/50 and that gives me a working solution I am happy with.
Application - I use a dressmaking pin with the end cut off - this is then c/a'd into a pre drilled hole in an old wooden clothes peg. For long lengths or corners I use an old #10A scalpel blade....
I have an old plastic jar top that I have heated up and put a depression into it, and then I put whatever c/a I need into it, and take what I need from that.
C/A Bottle, I usually cut off the top of the bottle at an angle, which I find so much easier to pour out....
And finally for cleaning up the excess I use a cheap tiolet roll....

 

[A_J_Rimmer]

DeLuxe Materials sell different grades from 5 second to 20 seconds... The 5 sec is like p so I usually order a bottle of the 5 sec and 10 sec then mix them 50/50 and that gives me a working solution I am happy with.
Application - I use a dressmaking pin with the end cut off - this is then c/a'd into a pre drilled hole in an old wooden clothes peg. For long lengths or corners I use an old #10A scalpel blade....
I have an old plastic jar top that I have heated up and put a depression into it, and then I put whatever c/a I need into it, and take what I need from that.
C/A Bottle, I usually cut off the top of the bottle at an angle, which I find so much easier to pour out....
And finally for cleaning up the excess I use a cheap tiolet roll....

That's the brand I use - applied with a cocktail stick. The needle is a nice idea.

 

[Guest]

Think Wibble has it, there are quite a few types, from that 5 sec on ward, gels extra thin , think , flexy. So all depends on what your gluing and to what.

 

[stona]

My only recommendation for buying any CA glue (consistency and applicator preferences aside) is to buy small tubes or bottles. As soon as it is exposed to air, or specifically the water in the air, it starts to go off. For the quantities that a typical modeller uses, buying big doesn't mean saving money because you may well end up throwing substantial quantities away.

 

[Guest]

That’s close to the one I use Jakko, same container.

I have that one too, because I bought the wrong type by mistake — I hadn’t spotted the word “gel” on the packaging … I prefer thin superglue, but the gel type did come in handy for the tracks pins of my IDF M247.

Once the glue doesn’t come out when you squeeze the wings, pull the bottom off

And at that point, you discover that inside is just a regular, 3 gramme tube of superglue

For the quantities that a typical modeller uses, buying big doesn't mean saving money because you may well end up throwing substantial quantities away.

That has been my experience too, the few times I bought a larger-size bottle. These days I only buy ones holding 3 grammes, or at most 5 if those are out of stock, because I threw away far more than I was saving with the bigger bottles.

 

[Miko]

. . . . VMS Black Flexy Ca.

That one! Well regarded by those who discern over CA, if you can find it, always seems to be out of stock

Miko (never in a sticky situation)

 

[Jim R]

I have recently bought the VMS black thin CA from John. The shop has it in stock.

 

[Waspie]

Thank you guys for all your recommendations and advice. All taken on board and currently digesting.
I can see two problems, both of my own doing. I don't wipe the nozzle post use and I reckon I keep it too long. As for use, I do follow what appears to be the most used method. I place a few drops on a metal lid, then using either a needle or a toothpick I apply the CA to the parts!!!

 

[Waspie]

That one! Well regarded by those who discern over CA, if you can find it, always seems to be out of stock

Miko (never in a sticky situation)

I notice you removed the link to a USA Amazon site which I found doesn't supply to the UK. I may see if I can find some of Mikes recommended Roket CA as he am de man when it comes to PE and CA!!!!!

 

[Watto]

I like the VMS range of CA glues. John stocks them. I put a drop on a plastic bottle top and apply to the model with thin wire or a needle. The bottles do clog up if not wiped after every use.

I've had good results with VMS, they make types that are specific to certain applications.