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Originally Posted by Catfish
How do you glue those chrome-plated parts, or does one generally use superglue instead of polystyrene glue nowadays?
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Well, no glue is eternal.
Old school model glue tends to break down after several years and that stuff is supposed to dissolve the plastic slightly to form a bond. My 1/350th scale submarine kits tend to go back in for over haul every 4-5 years or so.
How do I glue chromed parts? Carefully.
"Super" glue is bad for chromed and clear parts, it has a bad habit of leaving a nasty fog in its wake. "Super" glues (cryo's) also have what is known as "ping factor". The bond is strong but its also very brittle, so parts may look solid until they get hit with enough force and they "ping" off and fly across the room.
What I do with chromed parts is the old school method. Scrape the chrome off the parts where they need to be bonded or painted and apply just enough glue. Tamiya has released some glues recently that have upped the game, well kinda. Their Extra Thin liquid cement is incredible until you figure out its just old-old school Plastruct Bondene, which is nothing more than straight acetone.
BTW, don't get the wrong idea about the truck model. I knew what I was getting into when I bought it and I knew it was going to be a bear and half. That was the challenge, was it still build-able despite its flaws? I also wasn't planning to knock it out in a weekend, rather take my time and figure out how to do some things as I went along.