I am building a model with both wood glue and CA where I have to. I had to buy some CA last night and found 3 different type in the local Hobbytown. Zap, Great planes, and Hobbytown brands. Zap and Gp were simular priced at $7.5 for an ounce, but the Hobbytown brand was $4.5. Any differance in these I should be aware of. All 3 were medium CA.

Prior to this I was using the Jet brand recomended by Goldberg for their kit. Note Jet is made by CGM which I found out is Carl Goldberg Models. LOL no wonder they recomend Super Jet CA.

Thanks

Regardless of what the labels say on the bottles all CA is pretty much the same. The higher priced stuff isn't any better than the lower priced brands. It all works the same. In fact, I know modelers that buy "Superglue" at dollar stores!! I don't build kits with CA, but I do need CA for reviews or CA hinges that I do I have used the brand sold at Hobby Lobby (the craft store, not the hobby one)

Ken

I buy all my CA from the dollar store,,they have gel and liquid in tubes and bottles ,,,3 tubes for $1 and its all I have used for years,,I get my 5 minute epoxy from Lowes building supplies.....Rog

Thanks Ken and Rog!

Ken, the Goldberg kit has a few spots in the wing that I had to use CA as I did not have enough hands and clamps. Built 90% so far with titebond though. My sheathing is drying on the frame now with titebond. I did use CA to bond the sheating halves and some spars that I could not figure out how to hold in place

Thanks for the replys!

when I was learning to fly I used construction adhesive through a caulking gun at the field, this is better and stronger than any glue out their. I swear it is the best, trust me.

dave trimmer

My only advice about CA glue is use as little as possible, buy it in small quanities because it will go bad before you use a large bottle of it, and get whatever is the best deal. Wood glue, use for most of your building, epoxy where you need it and CA when nothing else will work or your in a big hurry.

Actually I purchase the largest bottles of CA I can.

It doesn't go bad, and I have no cap on it!

How?

Those "capillary" tips which places like Tower sells.

These things are WONDERFUL.

You open the bottle and place one on the top of the bottle's plastic tip.

The CA will flow through the capillary, but it will not dry out as the opening is so small that it prevents hardening and evaporation.

I've had CA bottles like this for many months w/o a single problem.

If I gum up the capilllary with balsa, etc. I just cut a tiny sliver off the tip.

Very nice.

It seems alot of people try and stay away from using CA and shoose wood glue instead......WHY? I might be embarking on a rebuild soon and would like to understand both sides.

I use both types,CA is a handy contact adhesive apply pressure and the wood sticks together,usually when I am sheeting a wing or fusalage I use CA because of the instant stick factor after I sheeted a wing using the recomended tite bond/alphatic resin gluing method, I will go back to using thick/med CA for sheeting.
the results were less than satisfactory with the tite bond side the side.
I used CA to glue the sheeting on all the other areas and it looks great trial and error its what works for your particular building style.

ro 347: I new to this but for me it's the smell and fumes of CA. Stinks and burns your eyes. I am using a mixture of mostly titebond, wood glue, and CA where I cannot figure out how to use wood glue. Ex I use CA to join the sheething and some of the rib parts of the wing build as I do not have enough clamps and could not figure out how to get all those ribs and spars held with 6 clamps. Where I can I use wood glue. Takes longer to cure and you need to scrape the excess globs off but other than that it is very easy to work with and cleans up with water.

CA produces a thick smoke like pillar of particulate as it dries.

This doesn't expand very much, but it does tend to rise from the work surface.

Keep your face well away from the top of the work area after applying CA.

If you feel anything in your eyes, you are MUCH too close, and you are effectively supergluing your eyeballs!

Many people have developed SEVERE allergic reactions to CA fumes. Use enough and your long term health is at risk. Keeping a small fan lightly blowing accross the build area helps a lot on that or better yet drawing the air and pushing it through a filter. It will also pick some of the dust out of the air. BTW - also sand outdoors if you can. If you don't have enough clamps - buy more. Or slow down just a tad. Have 2 tables going, wing on one and fuse on the other.

If you have to "scrape the excess globs off " you're using too much. Find a smaller applicator of some sort.

Tite Bond II is fine for joining sheets and applying them to framework. Like all other skills it just needs to be learned.

Thanks guys! I will work on my skills. I really do not like CA. Learned to dispise CA racing cars and glueing wheels or repairing foams. Thanks for the tips. I will try on my 2nd piece of sheeting tonight. I reads Ken's post on the sanding. I have done a little touchup in the house, but most is done sitting on my back deck outside. Sure makes a mess!!

If you're edgegluing sheeting to make wide sheets, I saw a tip that works well for me. I hope the drawing is decent.

I prefer wood glue (the aliphatic stuff, tightbond) when edge gluing sheets and sheeting large surfaces. I like that I can take my time since it does not set up at the speed of light. I also like the sandability when compared to CA. I occasionally use it as a gap filler too, since you can overfill and than sand it back fairly easy. Also, it is way less expensive!

I just use wax or parchment paper and clamps.

The wax or parchment paper can be removed leaving the glued surface behind.

Effectively, the top layer of wax "releases" when you pull off the paper.

for a fine aplicator for tite bond, I use a old CA bottle with a new top and it works well for glue control.
if you cut just the tip off you will have a fine applicator for the small pieces and tight areas also.
Q-tips work well for removing the excess tite bond glue from corners and such,before it dry's you can also dampen them slightly to help remove the glue without soaking the wood with water and causing warpage.
I personally use CA alot because when I do have some build time I like to knock out a bunch of steps, if I had more extra time to build I would use tite bond more being that the toxic nature of CA will catch up with you eventually.
I also only use tite bond for joining balsa sheets, stacking several joined sheets on top of each other with wax paper dividers then weighted with heavy books overnight CA just doesn't sand well at all for sheeting.

Carrell, thank you

Thank you all very much for the information and advice. I put a lot of it to good use today working on my wing.