Help With Gluing Thin Styrene Sheet

[marklayton]

Started work on a 1:32 riveted railroad tank car.  Turned a 12" length of 2.5" PVC pipe to the diameter of the inside of a 10,000-gal ICC-spec tank.  The prototype cars were built of rolled steel sheet, overlapping, with a lot of conical rivets.  Cut pieces of 0.010" and 0.015" styrene sheet (corresponding to the scale thickness of the prototype's rolled sheet sheet, with the bottom sheet being thicker).  Tried both Microweld liquid cement and lacquer thinner to obtain a permanent bond.  The sheet went on smooth and the bond is very secure, however both caused the thin sheet to deform, creating visible wrinkles, and even some craters from the inside.  In hindsight, the area is too large, and the wrapper too thin for liquid solvent.

Does anyone have any experience with using contact cement such as aerosol Super 77 on plastic?  Of course it will stick, but will the bond hold up over the years?  I'll put the tank onto a dividing head on the knee mill, drill a gazallion holes, and insert Grandt Line conical plastic rivets, gluing those from the inside with solvent cement, all of which should keep the sheet in place.  But if anyone has any better suggestions, I'm all ears.

Mark

[darrylhuffman]

Mark,

I have had nothing but problems with contact cement in both brushed on and in aerosol forms.

In 1975, I kitbashed an HO Revell 0-6-0 into an On30 tank locomotive.

I used wood for some of the major parts of the "tender" and found the contact cement bond would very slowly pull free and sag.

Even after several years.

I have also tried aerosol contact cement for gluing background scenes onto a painted backdrop and found they would pull away and sag after a year or so.

Contact cement is fine for gluing photos into a scrapbook.  But little else.

[mad gerald]

Mark,

may be this thread will be of help to you ... ?!

http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=2303.0

Cheers

[marklayton]

Gerald -

That's exactly the post I was looking for, but managed to overlook.

Thanks,
Mark