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Author Topic: How to use clear acrylic bases?  (Read 4474 times)

Offline richarDISNEY

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How to use clear acrylic bases?
« on: May 17, 2016, 05:04:19 PM »
Can someone help me with this…
I want to glue some metal figs to those clear acrylic bases, but I am not sure if the bond that is created would be durable enough for tabletop gaming.

Is there a good tutorial on how to accomplish this?

Should I glue and pin the figs, or would just gluing work?

Do I leave the normal small metal base on and glue the whole thing onto the clear base?

Do I snip of the normal base to the feet and then glue?

Also what type of glue should I use so the acrylic won't fog up and still make a strong enough bond for gaming?

I have tried just using superglue, and SNAP. That was not a good enough bond… Plus it fogged up part of the acrylic base.

Any help would be great!

Thanks all.
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Offline Dags

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2016, 05:23:39 PM »
Remove the tab or base and drill and pin both feet.

Cut pins to depth of the base.

Drill holes in base

Pop a tiny drop of a good quality CA glue on to the pins with a cocktail stick (only needs a tiny amount)

Simples :)

Offline OSHIROmodels

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2016, 07:27:41 PM »
Get some activator when sticking the figures on with superglue to help minimise the fogging.

cheers

James

Offline theoldschool

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2016, 07:35:17 PM »
If you get any fogging just paint over it with acrylic gloss medium and the foggung completely disappears.

Offline Citizen Sade

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2016, 07:41:09 PM »
Or buy non-fogging superglue.

Offline Malebolgia

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2016, 08:21:42 PM »
Which one?
I use Zap-a-Gap Foam Safe Superglue...and it works better than regular superglue, but it's still not perfect.

Anybody tried 2-epoxy glue?
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Offline dampfpanzerwagon

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2016, 10:04:23 PM »
I use this and can confirm that it does not fog.

http://www.everbuild.co.uk/Mitre-Fast-Adhesive

Tony

Offline richarDISNEY

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2016, 10:41:56 PM »
Thanks all, but will these glues handle transport and gaming?
I have tried several different CA glues, and all of them seem to be fairly brittle and the figs snap off easily.

Offline snitcythedog

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2016, 10:49:48 PM »
Thanks all, but will these glues handle transport and gaming?
I have tried several different CA glues, and all of them seem to be fairly brittle and the figs snap off easily.
That sounds like the holes that you drilled in the acrylic are too big for the pin.  You might try a smaller diameter bit.  Another option might be two part epoxy resin.  It will be a bit more fiddly due to the setup time but it should work.  Your biggest problem will be that it is pretty viscous and difficult to apply to small areas.  My two cents.
Sorry just read the very first post like I am suppose to.  Always pin when using acrylic.  It increases the surface area for the superglue and since acrylic does not stick to most things very well you need as much bite as you can get.  To get rid of any fogging use Future floor polish.  Linky:http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html It will make the base clear again.  
Snitchy sends.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2016, 10:58:01 PM by snitcythedog »
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Offline grant

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2016, 05:56:07 PM »
Also clean your acrylic with rubbing alcohol before working to help eliminate fogging.
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Offline snitcythedog

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2016, 06:47:12 PM »
Also clean your acrylic with rubbing alcohol before working to help eliminate fogging.
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Offline AndrewBeasley

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2016, 08:37:50 PM »
I have had small naval ships and 3mm SciFi craft glued to clear acrylic for years but for figures I would drill and pin.

The best glue I have found is Litko Type 33. Its so good I've glued clear acrylic bases together to create thicker ones with zero fogging!


Offline Major_Gilbear

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Re: How to use clear acrylic bases?
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2016, 12:10:56 PM »
I find that using a small hairdryer helps, as it dries the CA glue before the solvents in it have too much chance of fogging. I find this preferable to using CA activator as it doesn't weaken the glue and helps to keep it reasonably clear as well (activator often tends to turn CA glue white).

Beyond that, very neat pins through the bases and models' feet are pretty essential IMO.

If you are overly-worried about CA glue fogging up, you can use a little dab of 2-part epoxy glue instead, but I would still pin the models anyway.

 

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