MChronicleSword

i bought the multiplex minimag and it keeps stressing how medium CA and hot glue is the only recommended glue to use on it.
here's what it says about epoxy:
"Epoxy produces what initially appears to be a sound joint, but the bond is only superficial, and the hard resin breaks away from the parts under load."

can anyone confirm this? ive seen other threads about elapor foam and ppl say many different glues produce excellent results, including epoxy

da Rock

There are different brands of epoxy and different cure times. The slower cure times will usually penetrate (if there is anywhere to penetrate) and can give a longer lasting joint in foam. They WILL give a stronger joint in wood for sure, but to be stronger in foam the joint can't be too much stronger than the foam or the foam breaks away. I've got a MiniMag and saw that same warning. So I tested it. There is a West Products epoxy that's supposed to work on plastic (and does a pretty good job when it's the right kind of plastic) and even it didn't do real good on the Elapor. It did lots better than regular epoxy however.

You will often see conflicting advice on the internet. Quite often that advice comes from people who didn't notice the exact wording of the topic, or even any wording in the topic, or don't really know what elapor is and that they never had any. And a lot of advice on things like that come from people who haven't actually used the thing they've repaired more than once. Lots of reviews of models are written within hours of the model's first (and often only) outing. Same thing with other "experiences". From my little tests, it appears that the epoxy will hold for awhile. Looks like it would depend on the amount and severity of the use.

Multiplex is a company with an excellent reputation and lots of experience in the hobby. They really don't warn their customers unless they feel it is warranted. I would bet they'd warn even if they knew that only a small majority needed the warning. As the case would be if only say 10% of the epoxies wouldn't work on elapor.

There was a joke on me with this situation. I was surprised by the warning and more surprised by the recommendation to use CA. CA can do BAD things to foam. But I had some foam CA I'd gotten at the closest LHS. So after checking the epoxy deal and deciding that yes Multiplex was right, I went back to assembling the MiniMag. And the blasted CA wouldn't work worth spit. Ticked off?? you bet. And then I decided to check out the CA and kicker. Turns out the CA wasn't exactly good at it's job and the kicker WAS going bad. It hardly works with regular CA. And the foam CA barely kicks by itself. ...... So I pull out some regular CA I got from that same LHS and it's turned into thick CA. They must turn off the A/C at night or something. Not the first CA I've gotten from them that's gone bad. But for awhile there, I was sure that MultiPlex didn't know of any glue that would/should/could work.

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

I have the fun jet and per the directions... used regular medium CA.....

Works great and holds up fine

BadSplice

My Feedback: (1)

I dont know if the foam is the same, but the Elapor foam seems pretty similar to the foam Parkzone used in the Trojan and Corsair. I found Elmers Poly glue (gorilla glue) sticks great to that foam. One of my Dads trojan crashes split the body down the center, and we glued it back together with the elmers. Another crash ripped off the whole front end, but the seam down the center held just fine.

RU4JESUS2 FALCONGTS

I have a striker the RX went bad 2nd flight
and the T28 dumb thumbs first flight and A limbo contest I put her into the pole

I used 5 minute epoxy the striker was in 1/2 glue it together never had a problem since
the T28 first flight ripped the wing off glued her back on and later when I hit the limbo pole , cartwheel and ripped the wing off again where I had glued had held another part ripped witch I was glad to see that
may want to use 15 min epoxy or 30 min epoxy to get things in place If you go this route

da Rock

Parkzone says their foam is Depron and characterizes it to a higher density styrene foam. They also say that it takes the glues that "normal styrene" foam takes.

Multiplex says their foam is Elapor and that it isn't like the more common styrene foam. And they say that epoxy won't give a lasting glue joint.