*** ULTIMATE PEPAKURA GLUE ***
I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a really good method for gluing up our models.
First, just for convenience, I tried those “linear” glue dot dispensers. They worked pretty well, were easy to apply, not messy and had no drying time. However they didn’t have very good holding strength. My models quickly began to fall apart.
Next I tried hot glue. Pretty convenient, very good holding strength, not too messy (except for a few “glue strings”) and had exceptional holding strength. However hot glue also had it’s drawbacks. It dried almost too quickly, making lining tabs up difficult. Also I felt that the “joints/connections” were too “bulky” when using the hot glue. Hot glue tends to “glob up” because of the way it is dispensed from the glue gun.
I was reading some other posts where people were experimenting with “super glue” and “rubber cement”. I didn’t like the super glue method. Too much of a chance of gluing my fingers together!
The rubber cement idea was a pretty good one, but ugh that smell!!! If you don’t mind getting stoned and your work deteriorating as you go along I guess rubber cement would work. I, however can’t afford to loose the brain cells!! So these options were out for me.So I started brain storming. I really liked the rubber cement idea. I wasn’t too messy, dried quickly and created a nice super strong joint. Then it came to me...
WATER BASED CONTACT ADHESIVE!!!
It has all of the great qualities of rubber cement (it is easy to get, easy to apply, dries super fast {if you need to, you can speed it up with a hair dryer} and is super strong) without the nasty smell and loss of brain cells. Plus it is easily cleaned up with water.
I am a carpenter and we use this stuff to fasten laminate counter top material to the structure that the top is made of. It used to be that this stuff was just like rubber cement, solvent based, and therefore stinky as heck. But recently they have come out with an extremely good water based version. It also has the advantage of being readily available at your local hardware store.
The product that I used is “DAP: Nonflammable Contact Cement” (neoprene rubber formula) from my local Home Depot. A quart was about $10.00 USD. The other advantage this has is that this stuff goes a VERY long way. One quart should be more than enough to complete an entire set of armor! Here is a picture of what I bought. If you can’t find the exact brand just look for “water based contact cement/adhesive” Make sure you get the WATER based formula, if you don’t it will be just as stinky as the rubber cement!
The way that this particular adhesive works is, you cote each piece that you are gluing together VERY LIGHTLY with the adhesive. You don’t need much at all. Just enough to make a very thin layer on your pieces. If you use too much, because this stuff is pretty watery, your paper will start to warp. This is NOT a problem unless you put way too much on, or you use VERY thin paper. If you are using card stock, you will be just fine!
I did find a couple problems that were mildly annoying and kept it from being perfect. I soon remedied that! The first problem was that because the adhesive is white and dries practically clear (you only see a slight sheen where the glue is when applied) it was hard to see how much glue you are actually applying. This led me to applying too much glue at times and having the above mentioned problem, paper warping. I remedied this by adding a couple of drops of food coloring to the adhesive to give it a “tint”. Now I could easily see how much I was applying.
The last problem I had was that the glue dries very quickly and tended to gunk up the fine brush I was using to apply the glue. So, instead of ruining a ton of brushes I went and got a box of “Q-tips”. They work great!! Very cheap (always handy), easy to get into difficult areas and double sided!
Below, the pick on the left is a picture of the blue tinted glue. The un-tinted glue looks like very watery milk.
The pick on the right shows the difference between un-tinted (left piece of paper) and tinted (right piece of paper) glue.
It is difficult to see, but if you look closely, you can see that the bottom of the right piece of paper is tinted light blue.
You can't see anything but white on the left piece, but there is un-tinted glue on it.
And as you can see in the pic below, the glue is VERY strong. The paper will rip before the glue fails!
Oh, and by the way, fiberglass resin does NOT loosen the glue in any way. I already tested it!!
I think we now have the perfect glue solution. Let me know what you guys think and let me know if you have any questions!
Mods, if you think this has merit, please move this topic to the Pepakura section. I don't have enough posts to start a new topic there.
I think we now have the perfect glue solution. Let me know what you guys think and let me know if you have any questions!
Mods, if you think this has merit, please move this topic to the Pepakura section. I don't have enough posts to start a new topic there.
Last edited by a moderator:
