Review: Clear PVA glue - The Works

It was an exciting moment when I dropped into remaindered book shop The Works, and found they had bottles of a clear PVA glue on sale. 

We all know that PVA is supposed to start white and dry clear, but this stuff is properly clear in the bottle. I mean, seriously clear. What witchcraft is this? 

In my modelmaking, I use gallons of PVA. Sometimes it's used neat and sometimes thinned with water. I use so much I actually have a favourite brand from the building trade. 

So, is this new stuff any good? I had to buy a bottle to try it out. 

First impressions

It's clear. And slightly runnier than the 502 PVA I normally use. Slightly shiny too - a bit like one of the cheaper PVAs which always seem plasticy to me compared to the matt stuff of 502 or resin W. Maybe, this is because it's sold as a "craft" product rather than a wood glue. 

Sticking things down

Good - the clear glue stays clear and dries nice and matt. I wasn't too careful about the pieces shown above and yet you can't see any splurges around the edges. 

I'd say the drying time, or at least the time to grab, is slightly slower then other glues, but not enough to worry me. 

Ballasting

Thinned with ordinary tap water plus a couple of drops of washing up liquid, the odd thing was that the mix appeared slightly blue - then I realised this was the detergent put in to break surface tension. 

For test materials, I used some Woodland Scenics beige ballast and random granite stuff found in the bottom of the ballast tub. Both have stuck, but are still slightly spongy unlike the rock hard result from traditional glue. This might confer a benefit for sound deadening, but I haven't tested that.

Drying time seemed pretty normal and the granite hasn't turned a green shade as it does with normal glue. 

Modelling water

The test piece is some DIY wall filler splodged on car, painted with brown emulsion and then treated to several thin coats of glue. 

Obviously this stuff should have an advantage over traditional PVA, what with it being water-colour to start with and this carries on when dry. The results are nice and shiny. I poured about 1mm each time for four pours. I reckon it looks OK. 

Conclusion

I like this stuff and will keep a bottle in stock in the future. Some tests to compare joint strength would be interesting, but really I see the "sticking things down" test being the key and there joint strength isn't much of an issue. Well worth a look - has anyone else tried it?

Litho sheet

 

At the weekend, I had the chance to purchase some Litho sheet. 

Quite a lot of readers will be wondering what I'm talking about. It's only wierdos like me who still enjoy old model making magazines who will have read articles extolling the virtues of the stuff. 

The sheets I have are 0.2mm thick aluminium. Each has been used as part of the printing process, hence the drawings, text or music on them. I assume they would be fitted in some sort of drum in a machine and used to transfer ink to paper. This will (I'm told) wash off with meths.

Anyway, the idea is that this metal can be used for covering models. It can be emossed with the rivet press, or a nail and should make excllent ironcladding for a boat. Not that I have one in mind, but you don't find this stuff every day so I snapped it up when I could. 

Suggestions for other uses welcomed in the comments. 

Ask and ye shall recieve

 

For the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that a builder living up my road has had a pile of old lead flashing half under a pile of wood in his front garden. 

A few days ago, on the way tot he pub, I spotted him sorting out his van and cheekily asked if it was scrap. 

Yes it was, and I could take it away. Which I did on the way back. 

Result: I reckon about 15kg of lead suitable for weighting model railways and boats. OK, I had to flatten it and clean the muck off with a hose, but it's a small price to pay for a few years supply. 

Flexible weight

You are looking at the holy grail. Well, sort of anyway. I've have known for years that fishermen have access to lead free weights intended to replace the traditional shot. This sounds like just the thing for the inside of locomotive boilers, wagons and other places where I need the vehicle to be heavier. Even model boats can benefit from this occasionally.

Needless to say I have asked in fishing shops and they just look at me like I'm stupid. This has been going on for a long while. To be honest I'd given up on the stuff. Then at a car boot sale of all places I find a box of the stuff at 20p a packet. Result !

The weight is a sort of heavy putty and weighs around 20 grammes. It's very flexible and sticky. I've not tried eating it but according to the packet I won't die horribly, or at least not if I'm a swan or other form of bird life. Mind you they can eat some pretty horrible stuff and not peg out so perhaps that isn't a guide.

Needless to say a quick Google is useless. Evode Ltd is now part of the Bostick group and there is still no sign of the stuff anywhere. Looks like I need a trip back to the boot sale. If I get enough, maybe I can make my fortune flogging it to railway modellers !

Chads

Here's one for da kidz - a pile of computer chads. Oh yes, how high tech are we today !

A little history lesson for those too young to know better. Programming computers wasn't always the fun keyboard based task it is today. If you think rattling out some HTML (yes, I know that's not proper programming but if you know that too then you don't need to be told about chads do you or didn't you pay attention during your "History of computers" module ?)  for your web page is tough, imaging having to write each line by punching holes in a card. Then putting these card into a pile that go into a reader. Then dropping then and having to work out what the correct order is or the program won't run.

The end result of all this work would have been some top software able to do calculations that your mobile phone would laugh at nowadays and a box of little card rectangles.

Railway modellers found a use for this waste product - the chads as they were known happened to be very close to the size of a 4mm brick. People would build their card buildings and then painstakingly stick individual chads on the surface making great efforts to keep the courses level and regular. Many, many happy hours would be whiled away in this manner and the results can be most impressive. Often better looking that those from plasticard.

Of course the biggest problem you find if you fancy having a go at this is acquiring the chads. My Nokia doesn't produce anything nearly as useful and I haven't seen a chad-maker since school and even then it was a relic rather than a useful bit of kit. My supply was purchased years ago from someone who offered them for the price of postage in the Railway Modeller letters page. I've no idea how many are in my tin and I'm not going to count them, but they are staying locked away. How knows I might fancy having a go at an individually bricked warehouse one day...

Wikipedia on chads.

Old magnets

Digging through my stash for some magnets to operate the couplings on the layout in a box, I found these.

I’ve no idea how old they are but looking at the photocopied header card with text that owes nothing to a computer and everything to letter stencil sets, I’ll take a guess at early 1980’s. They are even described as “Sprat & Winkle Line” coupling magnets after the railway to Redbridge modelled many years ago by Derek Munday, the inventor of the couplings. Best of all, the price for a pack is only 75p instead of todays £4.

How things change. Nowadays you wouldn’t think of producing a header card without a computer. The results will look professional but lose that homely touch that characterised cottage industry suppliers quarter of a century (yes, I know, it is a long time isn’t it) ago. I suppose this is progress but you have to wonder if we aren’t losing touch with our roots a bit. I mean, when these were new, modellers would happily take some RTR, chop it up and throw chunks away to make a model that would now be surpassed in quality by average out of the box products today. We moaned that Johnny foreigner had better goodies on the model shop shelf but the craft based hobby in the UK compensated for this with all sorts of odds and sods (most of which seem to be in my cupboard actually) to assist our efforts. The end results had, like this packet, character.

Of course the magnets will still work fine. For reasons I don’t understand, permanent ones never wear out. I’ve even dug them out of old layouts to re-use them in the past. A little bit of history buried in the ballast.

Funky microstrip

Digging around in the boxes under trade stands at exhibitions can be enormously rewarding. I've picked up many of the little bits that are so handy for model making this way. It seems that if it's not a Hornby choo choo then some traders are happy to chuck it in a box marked 50p.

This is A Good Thing. And explains why I have boxes of tiny packets. So many that sadly I can no longer remember what is in most of these leading to many duplicates.

I am certain though that I have never seen this stuff before. Strips of plastic made by someone other than Slaters. Supplied in a wide selection of colours.

Why ?

Who decided that what a modeller needed was a variety of colours ? It's not like it wouldn't be easier to just produce white. Or black which is also useful.

Each pack has a reasonably consistent range of colours too. Did someone at P&E Modelling Accessories have the job of counting each colour into a packet ? If so, did the product vanish from the market because they went mad ?

Modellers sizes

Browsing a hardware shop recently I found this hung on a rack. Liquid Nails glue in a tube.

While it might not strike anyone as that exciting, it's good enough to get me dipping my hand in my pocket. Liquid Nails is an excellent glue but usually only available in huge quantities. Coming from the building market where you splurge it on to attach skiting board to walls etc., normally the buyer finds themselves confronted with a cartridge of the stuff intended for one of those gun things. Even the smaller bottle version is a bit on the big side - it's pretty uncontrollable too. A tube is perfect though.

As model makers we have odd requirements. Even though glues and paints work out more expensive in smaller quantities we'll still snap them up this way. Most of the time this makes sense the residue will just go to waste. I can't be the only one who bought the biggest tube of UHU from a market and regretted it later. Of course I didn't know that in the heat it would explode in the bottom of my toolbox...

The trick is to realise when you need bulk. Baseboard making for example - get the big bottle of PVA as you'll use it eventually. Model boat hulls, if you can get the paint or varnish in a big pot, go for it. You'll save money on tinlets. It's not always necessary to employ the "propper" modelling version either. Many pros have been spraying Ronseal varnish from DIY stores for years. With each can costing the same as 5 tinlets and yet holding 20 times as much, if you can justify it the saving is there to be had.

Manufacturers of course wedge the price of the small quantities up a bit to cover the higher than normal packaging:contents ratio but even so I suspect the profit margins are higher too. Talking of packaging, the only thing I didn't like about this glue was the enormous clear plastic stand come wrapper. What's wrong with a cardboard box ?

McDonalds - the model makers friend

Wood
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

I was picking up my McDonalds order the other day when I stopped off at the straw and napkin stand for, well a straw and a napkin. On the stand was a pot of wooden coffee stirrers. The fast food chain has decided to challenge the Starbucks market and you do so need to swash the contents of your batte latte matte around a bit.

Anyway, I’ve seen these before and they are a useful part of my modelling toolkit.

The first option is to see them as a source of raw material. The wood is close grained and suprisingly good quality. By splitting the stick down the centre along its length you get two nice 4mm scale planks. After a light sand the results are great for loading wagons. There are a couple running around my hospital layout like this.

The second use is in holding bits of brass while soldering. Lolly sticks and wooden chip forks are also good for this. Once the bit of wood gets charred, chuck it away and use another. They last for a very long while. I often push one end of the stick against the board and stuff the brass bit under the other. This keeps my delicate pinkies safe from the nasty heat.

If you can’t face a trip to the golden arches, Weatherspoons pubs and some coffee shop chains also offer these so help yourself !

Stocking up

Solder Sticks
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Since the solder modellers use is a by-product of the electronics industry, many modellers are worried that this will mean there will be no solder. One trader is claiming that lead based solders are illegal, although this isn’t strictly accurate. What the rules say is you can’t sell an electrical item, such as a computer or more pertinently a model locomotive, if it contains lead based material. Hence my experiments with lead free solder.

Since the high melting point stuff is OK, I’ve turned my attentions to low-melt as used to build whitemetal kits. There isn’t a lead free alternative for this so if it looks like the supply will be disrupted for a while as people work out what is and isn’t saleable. I don’t use a lot to be honest, as I prefer to attach smaller parts such as chimneys and domes with glue. That way they come off whole rather than bending if knocked. A bent chimney is a nightmare to fix. One knocked off can often be stuck back on without even touching up the paint.

Anyway, I thought I’d better buy a little solder. I normally use the stuff from Langley models which I suspect is a by product of their kit business. Available in packets of 10 sticks I decided to buy 50. However postage is free on orders over £20 so I went for a nice round 100 – cost about 35 quid.

This is probably a lifetimes supply but it doesn’t do any harm to stock up on materials you expect to use a lot of now and then. Mind you, if it does become scarce, look out for some eBay sales in the future !

Flux

Templers Copalux Flux
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

Tom asked, “What do you use for flux, and where do you get it?”

When soldering you are supposed to use a “proper” liquid flux – at least according to all the books on the subject. However it’s never available when I want some and besides I’ve never found it necessary.

Currently I’m using Templers Copalux flux bought from a DIY store. It’s a paste flux that seems to do the job nicely. It’s wise to clean it off the piece after soldering – use “Shiny Sinks” from a hardware store or the cleaning isle of Tesco. I have left a couple of test pieces uncleaned for a few weeks and nothing has gone green. Mind you, it has the consistency of Vasaline so I doubt paint would stick to it very well !

The picture is black & white because I’ve wruiten a review of solders for the DOGA newsletter and I’ve lost the colour version.

“Any top tips for a complete beginner?”

Make sure the metal you are soldering is clean. If I’m not sure I rub it with a fibreglass pencil to make sure it shines.
Don’t try and solder big lumps of metal together – or at least not in your first days with the iron. The metal will suck heat away from the join. Practise on spare bits of fret or thin strips from the K&S rack.
If you use lead-free solder. Make sure it is the sort with a small amount of silver in it. Maplin sell something suitable for £2.49 for 4m

Hope this helps. If anyone has any more questions – feel free to e-mail me