Jump to content
 

Superglue: fumes make glazing go cloudy?


Recommended Posts

Sorry if this has been covered before: my search didn't find anything. I've fitted some passengers in a Bachmann Mk1 interior using a thick cyano adhesive. I seem to recall a warning about superglue fumes clouding glazing. Am I right & if so, how long should I delay re-assembling the coach? Or do I need to remove the figures & all trace of superglue & start again?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Sorry if this has been covered before: my search didn't find anything. I've fitted some passengers in a Bachmann Mk1 interior using a thick cyano adhesive. I seem to recall a warning about superglue fumes clouding glazing. Am I right & if so, how long should I delay re-assembling the coach? Or do I need to remove the figures & all trace of superglue & start again?

I don't know that you can wait for the cloudiness to not become an issue. I think the problem is always one of a little bit of warmth (always a problem in a closed container) and it will generate fumes & make it cloudy. I would be inclined to remove all trace of super glue in an enclosed space. I guess that will be the next question, for which I don't know the answer.

 

Good luck.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I find the key is to ensure that the parts to be glued are WELL ventalated until the glue has completely dried (i.e. a day or two) before reassembly with plenty of air circulation.

 

I beieve another issue is the 'fumes' are atracted to water, thus if you handel things with your fingers, you are likely to leave areas of moisture from your fingers on things like glazing, which the fumes readily ahdere to. By not letting the glue dry propperly before assembly the trapped vapours get attracted to the moisture.

 

the other technique is that once the glue is touch dry, apply some paint which helps seal in the vapours and also gives some mositure for the fumes to be attracted to.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Reading around the WWW, it looks like the glue does not emit fumes when fully cured and unheated. This reference http://www.permabondllc.com/TDS/CAGENERA_TDS.pdf for a specific brand of cyanoacrylate glue says "When PERMABOND cyanoacrylate adhesives are fully cured, they will not yield volatile matter under vacuum of 10 –7 mm Hg at room temperature. If cure is not complete, trace quantities of uncured monomer and moisture may be initially eliminated. After that, no more outgassing will result. When heated to 125°C (250°F) at 10 –7 mm Hg, all cyanoacrylates appear to outgas about 5% of their weight."

 

If you've used a thick pad of glue to fix your figurines, then it might take a while to cure completely. The Wikipedia article for cyanoacrylates suggests that a thick deposit will skin over and then cure rather slowly; also that the stuff sets in storage if moisture gets in. If a whole bottle can set in a month, I'd guess that your coach should be safe to seal up after a couple of days.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've used various super glues for white metal detailing parts in model aircraft cockpits. If left to completely dry for a couple of days there is never any trouble with clouding. The only time I had that problem was when I fitted the canopy in just under 24 hours. The glue appeared to have fully set beforehand but, within an hour, it looked as if the aircrew were smoking in the cabin.

 

Dave

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry if this has been covered before: my search didn't find anything. I've fitted some passengers in a Bachmann Mk1 interior using a thick cyano adhesive. I seem to recall a warning about superglue fumes clouding glazing. Am I right & if so, how long should I delay re-assembling the coach? Or do I need to remove the figures & all trace of superglue & start again?

 

Safer to use the likes of Deluxe Materials "Tacky Glue" it dries clear and the passengers can be moved around or removed easily if required. Small balls of blue/black tack is another option.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Having used superglue myself to fix passengers into carriages. I leave the model train carriage interior in open space on my workdesk for a minimum of 24 hours to allow the fumes to evaporate. That is usually enough to prevent the frosting of the glazing caused by the fumes. Its better to use something like Copydex as that glue dries quite fast and it holds the passengers in place and the good thing about this glue is that it doesn't frost the glazing either :).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...