Glue guns as an adhesive for plastic miniatures

[petrovich]

All

Before I experiment does anyone have experience of glue gun adhesion on plastic miniatures such as Perry's Victrix etc.
I have searched on here to no avail but it might be that glue guns are called something else in another land.

Any help appreciated.

Regards

[Ogrob]

That seems like a terrible idea, why would you want that?

[Westfalia Chris]

That seems like a terrible idea, why would you want that?

Maybe for affixing them to metal or MDF bases (or any other material different from hard polystyrene). But apart from that, hot glue would essentially offer no benefit unless one is allergic to the weld-type glues' fumes but not hot glue fumes.

I use Revell modeling glue exclusively for any plastic miniature or model kit assembly except for very small parts which might be damaged excessively and thus were better affixed using cyanoacrylate superglue, which I also prefer for base mounting.

[Freddy]

The main feature of a glue gun is that the glue has volume. It is a bad idea to use it for figures except for gluing flat lower surfaced figures to bases (puddle base or something with a big footprint like a Nurgle spawn) when plastic cement is not usable. In that role I prefer it above PVA or drilled-in metal wire.

[petrovich]

Thank you for all the replies, glue gun to be put away 

Regards

[fred]

I’ve never found anything that hot glue is actually good for. Even when it initially sticks it seems to loose its adhesion over time.

For plastic figures, plastic cement is absolutely the right glue to use. It is cheap, and sticks the parts really quickly. I prefer the liquid brush on variety, rather than the squeezey tube style.

[Cypher226]

I’ve never found anything that hot glue is actually good for.

terrain, for me, though I'm switching to impact adhesives and similar these days due to the burning risk etc of hot glue.

[fred]

I tried hot glue for sticking aquarium plants to coins (as bases). Initially worked well, nice big blob of hot glue stuck the plant stems nicely. But within a few days the glue stopped sticking to the coins. I think I superglued the hot glue to the coins in the end!

[ced1106]

Didn't find anything other than terrain building:
https://www.instructables.com/Foam-Core-Wargaming-Terrain/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TerrainBuilding/comments/wb8hix/getting_my_first_glue_gun_what_should_i_know/

Post a pic of whatever you make with it!

[carlos marighela]

I’ve never found anything that hot glue is actually good for. Even when it initially sticks it seems to loose its adhesion over time.

For plastic figures, plastic cement is absolutely the right glue to use. It is cheap, and sticks the parts really quickly. I prefer the liquid brush on variety, rather than the squeezey tube style.

Bingo. Useless stuff except maybe as a quick spot fix while some real adheseives go to work.

Plastic cement/glue comes in various guises and it's always worth checking what type of plastic you are attempting to glue is. Rubicon models use an ABS plastic that really requires an ABS glue to get proper welds. 

For the more typical plastic figures/models my go to these days apart from particular applications of Tamiya Extra thin (bottle with brush) is Plastic Magic. If that won't glue something then the only way up is ZAP and cyanoacrylate glues tend to form strong but sometimes brittle bonds.

[2010sunburst]

For assembling plastic figures Revell Contacta cement takes some beating.  It has a decent wriggle room to enable you to line up parts correctly, and has gap filling properties that eliminate the hollow joins you can sometimes get on arms etc.  Tamiya’s extra thin (Known as TET in the plastic modelling community) is useful for small parts and kit construction.  If you can find it, Tamiya tool cleaner is the same stuff but is much cheaper, so buy that to top up your original bottle.  For ABS, TET will work, but a hotter Butanone based adhesive is better.  Try plastruct or C and L ABS cements for those.  You will see EMA sold in bottles in most model shops, and using an old paintbrush this is as good as TET, if slightly less convenient.

Hot glue seems to be akin to heat melted PVA to me, so needs a porous or rough surface to give its best.  Using it to stick smooth non porous surfaces will simply make it pop off under any stress.  For sticking miniatures to bases Gel superglue is best if you are in a hurry, or five minute epoxy is best if you are not. 

I base my plastics on coins to get a bit of weight to them low down.  I use gel superglue for this, then use a basing compound concocted from sculptamold mixed with PVA glue and coloured with powder paints.  Never had one come off yet…..

[vodkafan]

It would stick all right but hardly controllable and you literally have seconds to put two pieces in the right juxtaposition. Plus the stringing and the volume as already mentioned.