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-GLUING
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Don't
be tricked by the ads that say "no glue necessary".
Every model needs glue and more than one kind of
it.
Glue for
polystyrene - Polystyrene is the material that
most plastic model are made of and this glue can
melt it, so that two surfaces can be joined
together. It's very fluid and it's sold both in
tubes and in bottles with a brush to distribute it.
For example, this is the main glue to be used for
the regular Bandai kits.
Cyanoachrilate - This is a liquid, strong
and very fast drying adhesive. It's used to join
parts that need fast gluing and where you cannot
use the glue for polystyrene. It's the only glue
that can be used for vinyl and resin garage
kits.
Universal glue - This is very common glue,
often used in many offices. It's semi-fluid and
when dried it's completely transparent. It's very
useful when you need to fix transparent parts.
Adhesive tape - Good for holding together
two parts while the glue is drying. It's used also
to mask certain parts during airbrush painting.
Rubber bands - They have the same function
of the tape for holding together freshly glued
parts.
-MODIFYING
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The stuff used to
modify a model is extremely heterogeneous.
Everything can be used to enhance a model, so start
checking out your trashcan for useful stuff! I've
already talked about plasticard and putty, so now
let's see something else.
Iron wire, copper wire, etc. - If you can
find electric wires somewhere, keep them because
they can be very useful both with their external
rubber cover (for motor tubes, external tubes and
details) and with their metal core (for hinges,
connections, moving parts). Some wire of different
diameter should always be in your list of material,
even if you don't mean to modify anything. In fact,
metal wire is often the best material to be used
for repairing or substitute broken joints in moving
parts.
Sprue - The plastic frame where the parts
are separated from is a great source of new
material. It can provide rigid cylindrical parts
very useful to build new structures or, when heated
up, it can stretch to form plastic wires of any
diameter.
Box of marvels - It's the box, or collection
of boxes, where I put everything that I think will
be useful for model making. Parts of broken models
and toys, plastic and metal bits and pieces,
electric wires, car reflectors, transparent plastic
from old shirt boxes, nuts and bolts, etc., etc. .
You can never know what you may need!
Joints - The series of joints produced by
Wave and Kotobukiya, like the famous B-joints for
example, are additional parts designed specifically
for mobil suit models. They can substitute most of
the joints in the mobil suit models, giving them
much more mobility. Sometimes they can be found in
model shops selling mobil suit models, otherwise
they can be ordered on line.
Springs - They are often used to substitute
plastic or rubber tubes in the mobil suit models.
There are springs of many diameters that are
usually sold wherever you can find joints and other
additional parts.
Additional parts packs - Wave and Kotobukya
are the main companies that produce packs with
additional parts for mobil suit models. There are
packs with rivets, verniers, nozzles, decals, etc.
You can check them all out at the Hobby
Link Japan
site under the category Gundam: accessories.
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