Social Toy Collectors Thread

[JBSchroeds]

I used one bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin probably from Amazon and super strong probably toxic smell, and after that ran out bought probably again from Amazon Tamiya Extra Thin Limonene which is supposed to be nontoxic since made of orange peel(?) and not as strong or fast as regular Extra Thin, but ok to weld the polystyrene. You're supposed to take advantage of the capilary flow action by holding the pieces together and applying a droplet on the seam and watch the extra thin dart across the seam and melt the pieces together.

I did not like the Tamiya at all. It's way too volatile; it stinks to high heaven, you have to leave the bottle totally open to use the applicator built into the cap which adds to the stink, and it evaporates so quickly that it doesn't work very well on tiny parts where you want to put glue on the part before assembly (the whole hold-together-and-then-let-glue-wick-between-the-bits thing doesn't really work for infantry). Dunno why its so revered, it was easily the worst of the four I tried (the Revell Contacta is going to be my new go-to after the last of my old Testors bottle is totally empty).

 

[GSP_37]

I did not like the Tamiya at all. It's way too volatile; it stinks to high heaven, you have to leave the bottle totally open to use the applicator built into the cap which adds to the stink, and it evaporates so quickly that it doesn't work very well on tiny parts where you want to put glue on the part before assembly (the whole hold-together-and-then-let-glue-wick-between-the-bits thing doesn't really work for infantry). Dunno why its so revered, it was easily the worst of the four I tried (the Revell Contacta is going to be my new go-to after the last of my old Testors bottle is totally empty).

Tamiya Extra Thin isn't going to instantly melt the polystyrene. I think I saw videos where the guy rubberbands the pieces together then does the capilary quick dash flow. I think I'd sometimes brush a bit on both surfaces to connect, give it a bit of time to melt, then press together.

I'd buy Tamiya Extra Thin Limonene again, but not the regular due to strong fumes. I like the melting/welding instead of gluing. The Limonene wasn't always super strong weld, which was good for when I made mistakes I could sometimes separate the pieces and redo.

 

[JBSchroeds]

Tamiya Extra Thin isn't going to instantly melt the polystyrene. I think I saw videos where the guy rubberbands the pieces together then does the capilary quick dash flow. I think I'd sometimes brush a bit on both surfaces to connect, give it a bit of time to melt, then press together.

I'd buy Tamiya Extra Thin Limonene again, but not the regular due to strong fumes. I like the melting/welding instead of gluing. The Limonene wasn't always super strong weld, which was good for when I made mistakes I could sometimes separate the pieces and redo.

For really fiddly bits I will often put a small amount of glue on both parts and then let them sit for a count of 10-20 before putting them together to give the glue time to melt a layer so you get a really good stick on first contact. With the Tamiya it's so damn volatile after a count of ten it would all be evaporated already.

Weld type glues are definitely the way to go for plastic models; I wish there was an equivalent for metal models, but you either get fast-and-brittle or slow-and-soft.