Repairing Plastic
 

Everyone reading this has had a broken part on a vehicle and tried to super glue it, only to have the broken parts stick to your fingers and not together. I have tried hot glue, epoxy, melting the parts together, nothing has worked! I purchased a Defiant Space Shuttle off ebay in a huge lot. UPS Dropped the box that the Defiant and Booster was in. The seller wrapped the entire thing in bubble wrap, but did not separate the Defiant from the Booster first. The weight of the Defiant made it smash through the top of the Booster at the latch and broke one of the supports in the rear. Here is the front latch damage:



That part holds the weight of the entire front end of the Defiant. The damage extends further:



The box was insured for $300, I have made a claim with UPS, we will see how that goes!

At this point this is where I would try Super Glue, etc... and then start looking for a replacement Booster on ebay! I found this stuff at WalMart, it said it worked on plastics, I though - "Whatever!"



It works! It has been 24 hours and the repair is strong. The break was at a critical point because it hold the weight of the Defiant:



I plan on getting a piece of sheet styrene at the hobby store and reinforce the bottom of it for added stability. The Quick Grip will work nicely to bond it.

I highly recommend this stuff!! It was easy to work with, it dries clear, can be sanded & painted.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've been having an issue with superglue lately as there are some plastics Hasbro has used lately that superglue will not adhere to. Whatever form of plastic the RHINO is made out of is an example. Even if you "rough up" the glue point, the glue will not adhere for very long and the glued part snap apart very quickly.

I'm glad you were able to make the repair. I'd have been heartsick if that box had come in and I found the ship busted up.

I wish I had known about this a year ago, my night raven might not have been scrapped and stripped for parts. :(

Oh well, it looks like I'm going to Wally-world for glue.

Nice finding Vader and thx for sharing. :)

I need t try this to fix a few parts on my Flagg. I should get some on the way home tonight. Thanks...

thx
 

thank u for sharing god only knows im a clumsy clutz its nice to know there is a good product to fix up my toys

Some information with regard to gluing plastics that I've learned through modeling over the years.

Styrene plastic: This is like the plastics that model airplanes, ships, trains are primarily made of. This is the type of plastic that EVERGREEN produces in sheets, angles, tubing, etc. This is a really nice plastic to work with because you can use "glues" that actually weld the pieces together.

My favourite is called TENAX 7R, but I've also used a product called AMBROID ProWeld. The unique features about these products is that that it is in a liquid form and you can use capillary action to get the glue in the right places. This is best applied with a fine paint brush.

Other types of plastics that can be glued with this type glue are Butyrate, ABS & Acrylic. Also you can glue plexiglass. (this will work on cockpit canopies).

Good ol' Testors model glue falls in this same category although it is much thicker and takes longer to set up. When glued properly these form a strong bond.

A word of caution when using these glues. Because the glue actually melts the plastic some distortion can occur if you glob it on!

CA glue (aka superglue) is great for gluing delicate pieces together but it isn't all that strong because the cyanoacrylate bonds to itself. Also when the chemical reaction is setting up it produces an off-gas which can discolour the surrounding plastic. Especially on painted surfaces!

A third type of glue for plastics is an epoxy, these typically come in two parts, a hardner and an epoxy. When mixed equally they set up quickly and are great for gluing resins.

So how does this all apply to gluing Joes back together?

It's been my experience that most of the ARAH vehicle shells are some form of Styrene or ABS plastic. (It looks like your shuttle body falls into this category.) However, many of the accessories are of some different type of plastic. My guess is that it is some form of polyethelene, which is used for a lot of food containers you buy at the supermarket. It appears to be of the same plastic family as milk jug caps. Has anyone every tried gluing a milk jug cap? Forgettaboutit! This stuff won't bond. And it's the same plastic Hasbro used on some of the following toys: FANG, skids and rotors, red engine cage; Dragonfly skids and wings; Tomahawk, turret gun, wings and stabilizers; Thundermachine,front axle, gun cage.

The only thing that I've found that will bond these types of plastic is CA. But it is not strong, so it is very delicate. For example I got a cherry FANG, but one side of the rotor blade was snapped off. CA is holding it back it place, but I know I have to give it the white glove treatment.

If anyone has found something that will actually bond this type plastic, cleanly, I would love to hear about it! :D

Happy Gluing and Yo Joe!