Attaching Nacelles on the Fed HDW

[ericphillips]

Hi all:

I just bought a mini of the Fed HDW. I have a question for all you gurus:

It is a four nacelle ship. The two lower nacelles need to be attached to the "stem" coming down from just behind the primary hull. That stem has a kind of pointed top, but the part it goes into is flat and wider than the stem. It looks like it may be more difficult than I ma used to (not having done much of this).

What is the best way to attach the lower nacelles? Putty it? Sand down the top the the stem? Drill and put wire in to secure it?

Any help would be good help. Thanks.

[djdood]

I both added epoxy putty in the receptacle "slot" and also drilled and pinned the joint as well. In doing that, I did indeed file the little "ridge" off the bottom of the DW's "neck" (it serves no purpose when used with the HDW engines and got in the way of drilling holes for pins).

Much later, that mini took a trip to my friend's game room floor and was damaged. Rather than just restore it, I chose to completely rebuild the lower engine assembly.

[OGOPTIMUS]

I was looking at one that I have and was going to add putty to the engine assembly and put some pins into the lower decks of the rear "hull" to attach it. Using epoxy instead of superglue will also help.

[ericphillips]

I was looking at one that I have and was going to add putty to the engine assembly and put some pins into the lower decks of the rear "hull" to attach it. Using epoxy instead of superglue will also help.

Ok then, here is the noob question: what is the difference between super glue and expoxy?

[OGOPTIMUS]

Epoxy is a two part glue that you have to mix up each time you use it.

It comes in two tubes: one is the adhesive resin and the other is the hardener. You generally mix two equal parts of each and then it becomes a superglue-like substance that dries into a plasticky material. It holds together A LOT better than superglue.

It's the superglue equivalent of two-part putty.

You can generally find it at any hardware store and it's perhaps $5.

[djdood]

[cross-posted with OG]
"Super glues" (cyanoacrylates) polymerize using moisture in the air and form a very strong, but fairly brittle, bond.

They tend to be very strong in tension (pulling), but due to their brittleness they are pretty much crap in anything other than that. How this plays out with minis is that superglues work fine until the mini tips over and any glued joints are knocked from the side. Then, they tend to go "pop".

Superglues are great for connections that are self-reinforcing, like the stand-pegs, etc. The peg will fail before the glue joint will, because the material doesn't allow the bond to accept a hit it isn't good at.

Epoxy glues (almost all of them are "two-part" polyepoxides) polymerize by mixing a resin and a hardener. Even at their hardest, epoxies are ever so slightly "rubbery" and have a little bit of "give" in them. This give makes them much less brittle than super glues.

Epoxies are not as good in pulling. "Suspended" things will not fair as well using them (you can pop cured epoxy right off of most things with a little prying at a corner).

Overall though, epoxies form a joint that is more than strong enough for most minis type stuff and they are vastly more durable. Their biggest downside is the extra hassle of having to mix a batch before you use it and racing the clock before it sets up.

I've found (and I know scoutdad also subscribes to this) that using both glues is to your advantage.

I have a variety of glues on my work bench. 5-minute and 15-minute setting 2-part epoxie glues, gap-filling super glues, and fast-setting standard superglue (and a spray-bottle of superglue accelerator for instant-setting). I tend to use one type of glue for an application which plays to its strengths, some folks (scoutdad for instance) will sometimes use a little of both.

Either way, the glues are cheap. For minis work, a bottle-set of epoxy from a hobby store is a near lifetime supply and essentially ageless when unmixed. Superglues will harden in the bottle, given time, but are super cheap and replaceable.

I hope this helps.

[Scoutdad]

...
I've found (and I know scoutdad also subscribes to this) that using both glues is to your advantage.

I have a variety of glues on my work bench. 5-minute and 15-minute setting 2-part epoxie glues, gap-filling super glues, and fast-setting standard superglue (and a spray-bottle of superglue accelerator for instant-setting). I tend to use one type of glue for an application which plays to its strengths, some folks (scoutdad for instance) will sometimes use a little of both.

Either way, the glues are cheap. For minis work, a bottle-set of epoxy from a hobby store is a near lifetime supply and essentially ageless when unmixed. Superglues will harden in the bottle, given time, but are super cheap and replaceable.

I hope this helps.

Why, oh why are my ears burning???
Will is correct though. I am a fan of the superglue / epoxy, 1-2 punch and the Fed DW / HDW are prime examples of why.
When I glued my HDWs together, I cleaned, prepped, adn dry fit the connections. As usual, they required a bit of work to obtain an optimum match.
Once ready to assemble (4 at once), I mixed the epoxy (equal parts of resin and catalyst)...
Then I spread epoxy across the ends of the "slot" in the HDW nacelle piece...
Next, a toothpick was used to add superglue o the area between the epoxied sections...
This was followed by sticking the two pieces together, insuring proper alignment and a quick shot of Insta-Kick.
The rapid set CA holds the pieces together until the epoxy cures completely.

In countless years of play, they have yet to become "dislodged".

[ericphillips]

Thaks all for the help. I,m going to get epoxy tomorrow, and I will get the guy at Brookhurst Hobbies to show me how to mix. You all have been awesome help.