How to glue and paint plastic to plywood

Rulebreaker

Rulebreaker

Active Member
Hello,

how do i glue "our" usual plastic like styrene parts to ply wood?
strong inner structure.jpg

strong inner structure 2.jpg

probably with super glue, but do i need to seal, putty or prime it first?

regards dave
 
TazMan2000
in the "astromech" forums i was told, that you cant glue styrene to plywood(dont know the reason*), thats why i gave up my R2 build.

so lets take a plywood cube, i can glue styrene on all six sides, without consequence?

* i think they mentioned something like, the glue inside the wood cant evaporate/vanish then and will never dry or something like that, or the glue "gases" will build up till it "explodes"... :unsure:
 
Explodes? I've never had any problem or any "lifting" on using CA glue on any kind of wood. Mind you, I used the medium to medium-thick CA glue. I suppose if you poured on the thin CA glue it may cause some lifting by over-absorption when not allowed to dry. CA glue cures on contact with moisture. Wood contains moisture and absorbs moisture through the the air. You can't stop wood or even plywood from drying out and deforming but you can slow it down by sealing it, but even sealing it will only delay the inevitable.

Sure, you can glue styrene to all 6 sides of a cube, but without consequence? Every material has a different expansion coefficient.

TazMan2000
 
Rulebreaker said:
TazMan2000
in the "astromech" forums i was told, that you cant glue styrene to plywood(dont know the reason*), thats why i gave up my R2 build.

so lets take a plywood cube, i can glue styrene on all six sides, without consequence?

* i think they mentioned something like, the glue inside the wood cant evaporate/vanish then and will never dry or something like that, or the glue "gases" will build up till it "explodes"... :unsure:
Click to expand...

Really? Better get all that furniture out of your house with those wood frames glued together before they explode all over the living room, then.

Seriously, do those people not realize that if wood is porous to water-based, thick-as-molasses wood glue, then it's also porous to gas? I don't think you have anything to worry about as far as exploding builds go. What you might be concerned about is the styrene popping off the glue joint because there's no chemical bond to it, but if that's the case then just pound some finishing nails or drive some screws into it, then cover those bad boys up with styrene chips or greebles and you're good. Also, you're likely not putting styrene around a solid block of wood, as opposed to a framework of wood pieces with big gaps between it to save weight, so even if it's airtight there's plenty of space inside the build for the gas to escape from the wood, and air compresses so the small amount of offgassing inside the model likely won't build up enough pressure to burst the plastic sheeting.
 
i have seen some videos where people were useing "weld-on 3" or similiar plastic welding glues, but i can't find something like that here in europe

someone from europe here and is useing something similiar?
 
Weld-On 3 or similar is not going to glue plastic to wood. It's a solvent based glue. It will glue plastic to plastic great. Especially styrene and plex/acrylic.
 
A professional modeler recommended this to me years ago- excellent for dissimilar materials.
I always have it on hand.

Quik Grip photo.jpg
 
Rubber cement dry mount method.
You will never be able to remove the pieces… EVER! It is that strong.

If you aren’t familiar with the method, you take your wood and brush on rubber cement on the side you want to attach the plastic. Do it in a thin even coat. Set that aside and allow to completely dry. Take your plastic piece and brush on a thin coat of runner cement, on the side that will attach to the wood. Set that aside to dry. Once both are dry, take the plastic piece, and press it into place. Just make sure you have the position right as once those two surfaces touch, you are not removing them.

Then any excess cement that might be showing or on places you over brushed it, just roll your finger over the spots and you can roll the excess off. You will want that excess off before you paint it. You can even put a little Bestine (rubber cement thinner) on a rag and wipe the excess off to ensure it is clean.
 
swgeek said:
I've glued styrene to wood thousands of times, sometimes by accident, but I would recommend plastic welder by Plexus.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree, the Plexus methacrylate adhesive would be ideal.
Wood glue or PVA will often work however can take a while to dry. Polyurethane wood glues can also come in handy as it is slightly flexible.
I however generally prefer to use epoxies or superglue when mixing different materials.

Keep in mind that it doesn't just depend on the materials. The forces that the joints are subjected to also come into play.
If the item is fairly static and won't flex, super glue is usually fine. If it will be moved or flexed I use a more elastic adhesives like epoxies or urethane adhesives.

I'd suggest that epoxies were used in those ILM pictures from the production of Star Wars in your first post.
See the following interview of Lorne Peterson who tells his fabled story of introducing superglue to the ILM modelshop during production of Star Wars. If your impatient you can skip to 4:32.
 
i dont want to start a new thread, but how can i glue a thin styrene sheet on to an aluminium sheet, of 2 ft times 1ft
normaly i would take "super glue" but how do i apply it evenly across the whole sheet?
 
I find, when needing to glue something that needs to be lined up perfectly, that super glue sets way to fast, so using another slow setting glue gives more time to get it right. Might be able to add a drip of super glue on the edge to make sure it stays in place. As for what glue between styrene and aluminium. I wouldn't know. Someone here will, or google.
For glue that seems to hold decently well and is slow drying, I've used clear tacky glue.
 
Rulebreaker said:
i dont want to start a new thread, but how can i glue a thin styrene sheet on to an aluminium sheet, of 2 ft times 1ft
normaly i would take "super glue" but how do i apply it evenly across the whole sheet?
Click to expand...
For joining dissimilar sheet materials, I prefer contact cement. Spray glue can work too, but I trust the bond from contact cement more.
You do have to be careful with your placement though. There's no re-positioning with contact cement.
 
Duncanator said:
For joining dissimilar sheet materials, I prefer contact cement. Spray glue can work too, but I trust the bond from contact cement more.
You do have to be careful with your placement though. There's no re-positioning with contact cement.
Click to expand...
In my experience, contact cement's medium tends to make plastic warp, so if you're going to glue styrene with it, it needs to be on the thicker side, at least 0.040".
 
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