I've reached an important point in building the P Class tank - the time to turn off my soldering iron. No more smelly, hot fumes for me. Just wafts of glue.
The sharp eyed will notice that I've not attached any of the boiler fittings, parts most people would manfully fit with hot metal. There is method in my madness. Superglue makes a decent strong joint, at least if you use good stuff like Zap and not something from the pound shop. The joint can be broken if required, or more likely, if the model is dropped or badly knocked.
Then, the part will come lose and be easily re-fixed. Normally I don't even have to repaint the affected area.
Of course, this is a bit of an excuse. Truth is, I've got fed up with soldering. This is a hobby and so if I want to glue bits on then I will. Sometimes, I'll do the whole thing with the iron, other (like this time), not.
What a rebel I am.
Superglue is under rated. I built a Craftsman Johnson 1P back in 1982 and 30 years later it's still very much in one piece.
ReplyDeleteI tend not to solder whitemetal at all - epoxy is fine for the superstructure and superglue is very usefull for detail parts.
ReplyDeleteI own locos built 20+ years ago with epoxy that are still holding up well.
There seems to be some snobbery about glueing metal to metal in our hobby - 'thou shall only solder!' - which must put a few people off kit building.