Adhesive

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

I`m looking at having a go at scratch building a model of the Portsmouth Pilot boat. I`m going to work from plans of the Keith Nelson hull.

At the moment the bulkheads are cut out in 6mm marine ply. I would cover the majority of the hull with some 1/16 marine ply sheet and plank the bottom where the curve is tighter.

A question I have is whether Cascamite glue is still a good glue?, or are there better adhesives around?

Another thing I was considering is making the superstructure from Plasticard. Has anyone else tried that method?

Many thanks,

Jim.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

[David Marks 2Participant @davidmarks2]

I normally scratch build – wooden hull and Plasticard superstructure. I use an Aliphatic type glue for the wood and solvent weld the Plasticard. I find the glues available from Shop4Glue to be very good. They sell Aliphatic and their brand name for the solvent is Polyweld. The latter is the best solvent glue that I have ever used.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Jim. Everybody has their favourite glues. Myself, I use ordinary PVA.

This is a topic you will get several answers to, all will be adequate.

My last experience of Cascamite was probably at school so I would not like to give an opinion one way or the other.

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Shop4glue are not selling to the UK at the moment. I think they are based in Bulgaria.

I agree that Aliphatic is now the best for wood construction and the Deluxe Materials version is very good. They also sell Superphatic which is a sort of super glue alternative for wood with water cleanup, it is excellent stuff.

Plasticard is favoured by many people these days and works well but I still prefer to use birch ply myself.

Colin

[David Marks 2Participant @davidmarks2]

Colin – Yes you are correct about Shop4glue now being based in Bulgaria however their website which was dormant for a long time is now up and running and you can now purchase products for shipment to the UK. Never purchased from them by this method, only from their stand at the Warwick show.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

David yes the website is accepting orders but when I tried to buy some glue last week a notice came up saying they are unable to post to the UK at the moment.

Colin

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Gentlemen , thank you for your answers.

I`ve had experience of working with plasticard when building my model railway but hadn`t really thought about using it on a boat till now. I`ts a great material to work with I find,and could probably speed up construction.

When using plasticard, I`ve always used Mek Pak as the adhesive. I didn`t realise Deluxe did a wood glue as I`ve always looked at a the railway side of things. I`ll definitely check their website.

This might sound like a dumb question.

When I built the two boats I have at the moment, using marine ply sheet, I would cut the required shape out of paper, transfer on to the ply and cut it out. I then soaked it in water and clamped it to the hull frame to dry. When released ,it held it`s shape. Does Birch ply work the same way? I ask in case I run out of my current pieces of marine ply and have to mix and match and I haven`t used Birch ply before.

Thanks once again,

Jim.

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

If you go to this website and click on the Modelling Tips tab at the side then you'll be able to view and download a PDF which covers many aspects of making boats from GRP and styrene, Model Slipway

Many modellers use the term Marine Ply when they are actually using Birch Ply – and vice versa. The differences seem to be the absence of any voids in marine ply and its use of more laminations and/or harder wood veneers. The only way to answer you question would be to try it. I usually resort to bending the sheet gently in the steam from a kettle and holding it until cool. When replacing your plywood stocks don't buy from the DIY supermarkets – their stuff is more often than not useless for model boats. I buy mine from SLEC (link in RH column) and can recommend their products and service unreservedly.

Dave M

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 04/08/2020 11:49:31

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Thanks again Dave,

I`ll have a look at that link. and the other one you mentioned. Any timber bought will only come from places dealing with modellers needs.

Regards,

Jim.

[Author]

Posts