Double sided tape seems like it would work very very well...I'll have to give that a shot should I find the thin variety.

As far as glue, I picked up a bottle(pen?) of ZIG from Wal-Mart...its meant for scrap booking, but it seems to work very well so far. You just have to work VERY fast or it dries to a non-permanent tacky surface...put a touch more glue over it, though and it'll stay permanent.

To Conaill:-

As the person who raised the tape question - on this occasion at least - sorry, mate. I should know that the thread is all-important in these discussions. Other avenues for entertainment lie elsewhere, perhaps.

So, my use of ds tape is quite extensive relative to railroad buildings, aircraft, AFVs - anything that can be modelled in card. My experience is with the thin, Sellotape sort, 13mm/ 1/2inch in width.

In use its very similar to any dry-mount that doesn't need heat. It is particularly good, I've found, for small tabs, etc, as it can be applied over-large and trimmed neat with a scalpe,l after which the paper can be peeled off, and which then makes a clean joint. As I mentioned once earlier, if there is space to do so and it doesn't damage artworked-surface, I would even nip the joint under compression with flat pliers. I imagine this bonds the surfaces even more effectivley.

I haven't found such a joint to fail, but we must be aware of our cardstock's makeup: a very smooth coated card (which I would never use in the first place) might be questionable. Using ordinary cardstock, on the occasions when I've tried to break the joint, the top ply of the card has ripped clean off: sign of a sound joint I would have thought.

As an aside, this stuff is very good for mounting photos and artwork via small squares in each corner, or only across the top - in the case of a watercolour, for example when you want to allow the paper room for expansion/contraction, etc., within a window-mount and behind glass.

I do hope this is useful and welcome any comment.

MAGSMAN

I like using both Uhu and MonoAqua. I use Uhu for most things, but find the MonoAqua best for touch-up work. It think it makes a stronger bond, but it takes longer to dry.

I know UHU but not MonoAqua (single water?)

One of the annoying things about being on my side of the pond (the UK) is that you hear of certain products that aren't easily available. UHU is available but not - up to now - the glue-pens everyone relates to. As for MonoAqua, that is entirely new to me; I'll have to make inquiries.

Have you any experience of ds tape? I'm coming to the view that all adhesives are 'horses for courses' - that it is a good idea to have a full arsenal of different types for different purposes within the genre. I'm quite a fan of epoxies, both fast and slow-curing, in relation to joining dissimilar surfaces - but I wouldn't use them as a catch-all; too expensive quite apart from their innate (nasty on the fingers!) stickiness.

MAGSMAN

I bought the MonoAqua at Michaels crafts store, and tried using it as a stand-alone glue. In that respect, I had the worst case of warped walls I had had up to that point and promptly donated the rest to the church office. I might try again as touch up, as there wouldnt be so much applied that way. Didnt think of that. My initial feelings were expressed in another thread as the glue to avoid. I think we all have different experiences, and it is good to share them here. Some differences may be in mix batches as well, so the glue that is great today may not be great next month after buying another tube. In my miniatures assebly, I found Bondex 527 at craft stores, Walmart, and just about any place that sells craft supplies. Costs a lot less than many and holds metal, plastic, wood, and glass as I assemble my metal figures and attach to other mediums of bases. I am a home-cast toy soldier maker, and had some nasty experiences with super glue and epoxy, while the Bondex has never let me down yet. Others swear by super glue for their miniatures. I wouldnt try it for paper-to-paper, but I think I will try it for the transparencies.

to Thomaso827:-

Hi, and thanks for the input.

Bondex 527 is another name I don't recognise. For some reason, there are manufacturers who re-name things in different parts of the world - I think its relative to old products which are nation-specific in the hobby/do-it-yourself world. Do you have a manufacturer's name? This may help me as I search on the net. Future floorpolish - which I know you'll be familiar with as a mini-painter - has a different name in the UK: took some finding, I'll tell you!

I'm particularly interested in the toy-soldier aspect. I know that many are much simpler sculpts than regular figs but I don't see this as a necessarily negative thing regarding gaming miniatures. I don't suppose you fancy starting a thread on the subject. I, for one, would love to learn. I've never done it, but always wanted to have a go - amongst all the other things I do!

Regards. MAGSMAN

While I haven't used ds permanent tape for construction (don't trust my shaky hand/eye coordination enough to get the joints right the very first attempt), here are two other applications I have used:

1) ds repositionable tape (usually used for scrapbooking or making your own sticky notes): I have used this to place doors inside the keep of my castle to show allowed pathways through the keep without having to commit to the door being there until the end of time.

2) Xyron permanent adheasive: use this extensively for tiles and basing.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Xyron, its a hand cranked machine not entirely unlike a cold laminator which can be loaded with a myriad of different cartridges depending on your needs. There are cartridges available with permanent adhesive (print on standard paper and then mount on my foamcore), repositionable adhesive, single and double sided laminate (my MK terrain templates are thus protected), laminate on one side and adhesive on the other (thought about using for homemade bumper stickers), and even a magnet cartridge.

Hi Barbarosa -

I could have sworn I posted a reply to you? Must be losing my grip - again!

Anyway, this Xyron gear sounds awesome! I've googled it and it is available in the UK, from a reasonable £35.00 to loadsamoney!...

Could you give more specific details on your model and useage? Do you have one at work, perhaps? It sounds right up my street, but the dosh!££££

MAGSMAN

Sure mags - I have a Xyron 900 (I think, whatever the big one is). My wife was working for Michael's and someone brought it back because it was missing the cutter (a $5 piece) so she snagged it for half price and I've been abusing it ever since. It can handle paper up to 10" wide and the cartridges are usually 50' long for the large machine. There are smaller ones available such as the 500 (may be 510 now) which can handle about 6" and the 300(?) and 150(?) which are basically overpriced sticker makers.

Admittidly the machine and cartridge price can be somewhat steep but it pays off by not having to deal with warping your basing material from too much glue, seperating from too little, or the inevitable crash after the spray mount high.

I emailed the wife about the maker of the bondex glue and hope to have the manufacturer info later. I can certainly start a new thread on toy soldier making. I've been doing that, initially as a hobby then a small craft business, for about 15 years, since my last tour to Germany, where many hobby shops carried Prince August or Neurmburg molds and materials. I now have about 500 molds for toy soldiers, fantasy figures and chess figures. Most are 54mm, but there are some Prince August 25mm fantasy and Napoleonic molds as well as a 60mm Napoleonic French canon and horse team. I will get back on later to start the thread - I am at work right now and have to get back to my files.

Oh, yes! - Been there - such pretty pictures, though!

Thanks, mate. That is a help. I'll investigate. Sometimes its possible to pick up good kit at factory-closure auctions and such like. (I bought my hydraulic drafting table for zilch! )

There's so much I want to try with this UCW kit. Your work's been a great help.

MAGSMAN

Whoops! Pressed the submit button by accident

I'll really look forward to that, thomaso. Its a subject I've pondered for a long time. In the UK there is a Hobbies(tm) magazine that carrys some molds and such. I like the idea of producing mini-greens for this process. Bit of a pipe dream - I've got so much to do and not enough life - but I'll definately have a go.

MAGSMAN

Okay, on this Bondex - the name is actually Bond 527, not Bondex. Oh, well. So much for my memory. Made by Bond Adhesives Company, Newark, NJ. No mention of overseas sales. The list of things it can glue includes paper! Hmmm. I did paste a flag or two with it, so maybe it will work for WWG stuff, but it has a heck of a warning for vapor exposure, so I wouldnt do big walls or anything else big with it. Anyway, I have used it to glue heads, arms and weapons on metal figures, glue the figures to plastic or metal bases, glue metal figures to mirrored glass bases, and glue pewter figures into sea shells, and have never had it fail.

So there I was, resigned to purchasing UHU office pens through special order at Business Depot. On my way there I made a brief stop over at another store to get some foamcore (it's white core but for $3 less than Depot I'll live with it). On a whim I stroll through the glue isle and ...is.. that... MY GOD!! UHU OFFICE PENS!!

Granted they were a buck more than Depot but I could have 'em TODAY instead of two weeks from now (and in a more reasonable quantity).

Oh, the store? Just a little joint you might have heard of, it's called WAL-MART!!

Has anyone tried Post-it style glue instead of pennyweighting?

I just got a stick of Scotch "Restickable Adhesive," and I'm giving it a go for a floor tile from CD. If I can stick it onto another printed tile without any residue or damage to the ink, I may end up using this to stick a few of the props onto our Chessex Battlemat, into my MiniChunk dungeons, or into the Inn I'm building.

Modularity comes at the price of stability, and with the group of spastics that I game with (myself included! ), simple pennyweighting can't always avoid table bumping issues. This glue might.

*futzes around for a bit*

OK. I removed the tile just fine with no issues after a brief time stuck together, so I'll leave it overnight to see how it turns out.

It sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if storage might become an issue. How long will this adhesive last before it isn't sticky anymore?

Same as any Post-It note, probably: until it's been used too much, or touched a bunch. I think the oils from fingers interfere with the glue.

The tile came up just fine, with no damage to the underlying tile's ink. The only issue is that to peel it up, you've got to bend it a bit (something I don't want to do alot to my flat tiles).

So, it'll probably work great for things with a flat bottomed base, like the obelisks, foliage, altar, and rocks from SC. Most other sets have open bottoms for props, but there's still some things that'll work, like the VW well.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased so far. I'll try it with an obelisk on the Battlemat next, to see how well it stays put.

Here is a source for some repositionable tape like sticky notes have.
I have not used this stuff but is sounds interesting. The claims are that it is acid free and objects can be repositioned hundreds of times. I'm keeping half an eye open for it to see if it might also be available locally.

WackyTac Tape



(edited 'cause my keyboard cain't spell right today)

Huhm... i bought the UHU pen from office depot, and it seemes to work fine, going on the threads here about using a sparing amount i used sparing amounts, while i had no warping they also didn't stay together, they all poped off in the heat and Humidity we have had here lately (96 in June with over 90% humidty is not normal for New England at this time of year. I don't know if the weather ha a role, but ny first tries with it were disapointing. Last night after the heat/humidity borke i tried again so wondering if these will stay.

We've had some nasty heat and humidity here too, but none of my WorldWorks stuff has suffered for it. On the other hand, I generally don't assemble anything when the weather is at its hottest/most humid.

Does the heat and humidity tend to affect the UHU after it's set and dry? Or only during the build?

Last year my Arena Works builds fell apart as long as a month after being put together.

The Auld Grump

Yeah, I remember you saying that, now.

Ghengis Ska, were your recent issues during a build, or with already completed and long-since dried models?

And has anyone ever tried storing their builds with desilica gel packets?

For what it is worth - I used to have a habit of using a popsicle stick to spread the glue evenly, in the process making it very thin. I think the tiny amount of glue I used back then may have had something to do with it...

The Auld Grump

Was holding off till i had a chance try after the humidity broke.

The UHU was used in new construction. a round of Retro Fit props, just built over the past weekend, when the humididty was at it's worst. I went with what seemed the suggested best use of the UHU and did a thin layer, went from a line, and spread it out to cover the surface area, an used spareing amounts.

By Tuesday (a saturday build) sections had all poped, not all of them, but bits here and there, i did notice that the one that statyed the best was the holo table, where i had used more, so i think it was an issue of not using enough or spreading it too much.
I used more last night and Wed, and they seem to be working better.
I think the UHU is much more finicky with amounts than say white or sticks...

When I use UHU for sandwich folds, I think I might use a bit much. It warps a little until it's completely dry, so I have to either babysit it and keep smoothing it flat, or I have to press it under some books.

However, I haven't had any problems with warping after the build's dry, nor have any joins popped.

Uhu is good, but not perfect. Definitely helps on minimizing the warping. However, if you get even a tiny bit on your fingertip you get the maddening frustration of pinching two sections of paper together only to have them ripped apart because of the UHU on your fingertip. Sure, this can happen with any glue, but it seems to be a real problem with the UHU. It dries pretty quick.

So, while I also recommend it, it is not the end-all (unfortunately). And it does leave behind shiny bits on your model. Somebody brought up a matte finish - will that warp the paper if it is sprayed on?

A good way to solve that problem is to have a small bowl of warm water and some tissue nearby, so you can wipe the glue off your fingers immeadiately. Also helps minimize gummy fingerprints all over your model.

Good idea, CapnG!

Another preventative measure I use when I'm gluing a sandwich fold is to smooth everything with a paper towel or a spare fast food napkin. As any glue gets squeezed out the edges, it'll just get wiped up by the paper towel. (Just use a different spot after that, or you'll spread a huge glob across the model)

This also tends to lessen ink-rub that can happen if you smooth with just your fingers.

Oh I feel your pain!

The main problems I've had with UHU is that sometimes the glues areas get crispy and crackly... from what I've seen here it is probably due to- too much glues. And the dispenser nib really isn't all that great. I wish it was double ended. Big end, small end.

It won't stick to glossy laser prints either. And since those are actually mildy water resistant, that would probably be why that's the case.

But otherwise it's the best glue I've found for this sort of hobby. Though my Aleens Tacky Glue(varying types) and SuperGlue gels still have their place with some projects.

I also use a burnisher(?) roller type dealie)) to flatten my sandwich folds. And if its a good sized piece I leave it between 2 sheets of wax paper sandwiched between a stack of books for about 10mins.

-Floyd