RE: MatoMart.com sent me this!!!
Sturm:
Ambro Pro-weld, Tenax-R, or any other of the 'solvent' styrene glues are your best bets for repair. It has CA beat by a mile where decent styrene is concerned. Done right, a solvent repair of this can be near-invisible (literally invisible if painted, or done right) AND be water-tight.
If you are going to use it more often (it has tube-glue beat, and is VERY useful) you may want to buy it under the name MEK : Methyl - Ethyl - Ketone , from a plastics fabrication shop. For the same ounce or two from a hobby shop you can often get a full PINT at least, if not a QUART (500ml to 1 litre for Canucks)
Ever since being introduced to it with an old Tamiya Sherman hull (original '74 issue) that wouldn't bond with tube glue, I tried it, and haven't gone back. It can be flowed into a fine crack like you have there, and seal it watertight. Just get the styrene even, and then use a non-plastic paint brush (hair & wood - another dollar store item) or if you're cheap, pinch a few of the SO's Q-tips. Apply a bit, and if you want, you can even back it with a thin sheet of styrene (coat one side ~sparingly~) then slap it on like a pool or inflatable pool/mattress patch) Put a bit more around the edge if you want to be extra-extra sure. But watch out, it literally liquifies the styrene. Even put a bit on the outside, then sand after its dry.
If you want to really over-do it, do like the glass-repair guys do, deepen the crack on both sides, and to fill it, put a bit of the MEK in an old glass bottle with a bit of styrene sprue. You get instant putty... apply and over-fill the gouge, and when it dries, trim back to level. Presto - invisible repair. I've used this method for both styrene and ABS-type plastics (even that funky stuff Robbe & Graupner use!)
MEK is one of those all-purpose chemicals. Styrene glue (and MANY other plastics - hence avoid plastic brushes) and it will even de-bond epoxies. It dismembered my home-made applicator that I'd assembled with JB-Weld. Now I use a 'Touch-n-Flow' (can be bought alone, or with Tenax-R packs) which is basically a glass pipette with a 27 guage needle-tube on the end (blunt) and I always keep a spare (have a BAD habit of breaking 'em (*sigh*)
As for after-sales service, Mato has never been really big on that. I can see some stooge looking at the crack, and saying " He's a modeller, why dun he just patch it himself? " but thats still not right. Murphy Ma, one of the Mato Reps, used to be around... If you like, I'll see if I've still got his e-mail address stored. Have you tried to contact Mato Head office, and perhaps Hen Long themselves, to point out that QC is getting sloppy?
Anyone able to help him with head office links?
WhiteWolf