How do you stick plastikard to brass etch and to resin mouldings?

[Dog Star]

My son is detailing the resin roof and underframe, plus the etch walls of the compartments, of a JLTRT coach body with styrene sheet (actually, Evergreen strip or Plastikard sheet from Slaters). Early attempts used Deluxe Rocket Rapid and there have been some failures where the styrene has come away from the resin. Similarly, some joins between styrene and brass etch are failing with the styrene peeling away when the brass "moves or flexes" while handling the body.  Just in case you thought...  all of the parts have been washed in pure soap solution - no lanolin - to remove any release agent or etch residues.

I have thought of using epoxy adhesive applied to the styrene after sanding the styrene bonding surface to give some grip. An alternative could be to attach styrene sections to the resin with superglue and then to insert brass pins through the styrene and into the resin... clearly this is not going to work when styrene has to be attached to brass etch.

What method of fixing styrene to resin and to etch brass is going to be secure in the long term and, specifically, during assembly of the model where handling tends to induce movement of the body components?

thank you and regards, Graham

 

[Dukedog]

Not sure if it will work for your application, but. I have used double sided sticky tape with great success when laminating plasticard to wood and metal in buildings etc.
Might be worth a try?
Cheers
Frank

 

[Dog Star]

Not sure if it will work for your application, but. I have used double sided sticky tape with great success when laminating plasticard to wood and metal in buildings etc.

A good idea and worth thinking about when putting the brass compartment floor onto the top surface of the resin underframe moulding.  Not so sure when considering pieces of styrene of the order of 2mm x 50mm x .5mm which form the sides of the compartment doors (going between the etch for the compartment screen and the etch of the individual compartment doors.

regards, Graham

 

[28ten]

A good idea and worth thinking about when putting the brass compartment floor onto the top surface of the resin underframe moulding.  Not so sure when considering pieces of styrene of the order of 2mm x 50mm x .5mm which form the sides of the compartment doors (going between the etch for the compartment screen and the etch of the individual compartment doors.

regards, Graham

Would it be possible to use brass strip and solder instead?
The double sided tape is a good idea as it also allows for a little expansion and contraction and it is surprising how strong the joint is especially over a large surface area

 

[Dog Star]

Would it be possible to use brass strip and solder instead?

This is a bit like cart / horse / before..... in some instances the use of brass strip might have been a better approach, eg. the compartment doors where we have used styrene strip to increase the visual impact of sliding doors against the  screen (the kit has single layer etch for the doors, we have used 20thou styrene as spacers).  [Rob - you may wish to take note for when you get going on the D114]  On the other hand, I have to add a new trimmer into the resin underframe and I do not feel comfortable with trying to make a brass angle plate for this job, hence I have used 80 x 188 thou Evergreen strip.

Given where we are, it looks like my thought of using epoxy resin is going to be tried next.

regards, Graham

 

[28ten]

Is the coach a one off of part of a rake? if the latter i would do an etch for the doors etc, it would could save a lot of work in the long run.

 

[Rob Pulham]

(the kit has single layer etch for the doors, we have used 20thou styrene as spacers).  [Rob - you may wish to take note for when you get going on the D114] 

Noted Graham, I am trying to keep a track of all your postings re these coaches. but thanks for the reference.

 

[iploffy]

For longevity 2 pack resin every time messy maybe tough, durable, reliable (sounds like the old polycell advert)

Ian

 

[iploffy]

Never heard of Fixsal before will have to keep my eyes open for that one

Ian