Loc Tite Glue on Resin

[Guest]

Hi

Bought the Alpine minatures 1/35 Michael Wittmann figure and being my first experience with resin wanted to check a couple of things.

Can I use loc tite super glue or do I need to buy those messy looking mix it from two tubes epoxy glues that you can get off Ebay?

Is resin that dangerous? I know people rattle on about the casting agents when you sand it or cut into it but surely a 1/35 figure is a low risk? I've read that Alpine use softish resin so I presume I can use a standard craft knife on it? Anyone any experience with Alpine Minatures at all?

Can I use squadron green putty to gap fill joints etc?

As always I bow to my fellow modellers superior knowledge on such things!!

Thanks in advance.

[stona]

I can't comment on Alpine miniatures or that figure specifically but I have used quite a bit of resin over the years.

I've always used CA (superglue) to glue it with no problem.

It's not intrinsically dangerous,it's polyurethane. When cutting or sanding you should avoid the dust but that's true of just about anything.It does tend to clog files and sand paper. Treat it with respect but not paranoia!

You can usually cut resin with a sharp knife but you may find a razor saw useful for liberating larger parts from their casting blocks. You'll also be less likely to liberate blood from your fingers.

I've used modelling putty on small gaps similar to Squadron Green and epoxy filler on larger problems.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I would agree with all above. Also when sanding, use wet & dry paper wet, it resists clogging better and keeps the dust down!

[stona]

I thought I'd just add to the "dangers" of using resin. I have a background in chemistry.

I have seen threads on modelling sites where people confuse the chemicals that make up a polymer with the polymer itself.A polymer is just a load of monomers (individual molecules) that have been persuaded to join together to make one much larger molecule. There was a scare recently started by someone who confused styrene (monomer),an extremely obnoxious liquid at room temperature and polystyrene (polymer),the stuff injection molded kits are commonly made from.

Some of the building blocks that make up polyurethane resins are not nice at all. It doesn't help that one half of the polymerisation reaction involves chemicals called diisocyanates. Show a layman anything involving "cyanide" and he will assume it is exremely toxic whereas infact "isocyanate" refers to a chemical group with carbon,nitrogen and oxygen in it. It's like a reactive tail hanging of the rest of the molecule. The fully reacted polymer,when all of these molecules have reacted with others to make the resin,are chemically inert,just like polystyrene.

Polyurethanes are everywhere from the plastic fascias in your car to mattress foam.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Nice one Steve... about the only thing I knew about that prior to reading that was the thing about monomers and polymers, and that cyanide/ate always has the nasty label on it, but (if you can please correct me if I'm wrong) the poison in movie-style suicide pills etc is Hydrogen Cyanide?

[stona]

Yes it is. It is also the toxin in the infamous Zyklon B. The "B" stands for "Blausaure" or blue acid,its original german name. About 350ppm will kill you in ten minutes if you don't get away. Chomping on a vial like Hitler or Himmler did will kill you in seconds.

It is actually a very useful and important chemical and is manufactured,not as a poison,in large amounts world wide.

Cheers

Steve