Glue Anyone? The question is which kind?

ACC sticks very well to metal, if it is cleaned first. plastic can be another story. depending on whether it is a 'slippery' acetal/delrin or a styrene derivative. slippery plastic will not take ACC well, whereas it sticks well to styrenes.

again, dependent on the type of plastic you could use 'Goo' to hold it, but that requires roughing the metal for a good mechanical bond.

I imagine your kit has styrene parts, I'd stay with ACC.

I have found that ACC is not too good structurally in my experience.   It seems to hold well in tension and compression, but not in shear.   In other words, when I bump it sideways, it falls off!    I do use ACC for some details expecially where visible and small.   

For structural work I use 2 part epoxy.   It can be messy, but is very sturdy when it set up.   On larger parts and places where you can hide it, it is great.

Another option is contact cement.   I use Duco contact cement from the local hardware.    It is good for structural work too, but I find it messier than the epoxy.

I have noticed lately that my local hardware (not big box, real hardware) has an area of rack about 6-8 feet long and from floor up to about 6 feet that is all different kinds of adhesives.   I have noticed some that claim to weld/solder metals without heat.   You might try looking for something like that.

I was going to suggest the combination strategy of Goo and CA mixed together.

Thin film of Goo on the parts, put them together, separate, add a bit of medium viscosity CA, put the parts together again.  You have a few seconds to get the positioning correct and after that it becomes exceedingly difficult to break that bond.

Some pictures and all might help here as well - some stuff might be perfectly fine with just CA.

Like that comment about all of the adhesives at the hardware store - wonder what we as modelers might be missing out on...some exploring might be in order.

Use an epoxy adhesive.

Re: Martin's suggestion

He has advanced this idea - contact cement with a couple drops of super glue - for a long time.  I just tried it on a biplane, where the fabric has been lifting up in the slipstream.  I had tried everything, so Martin's suggestion was a last- ditch effort.

So far it has worked better than all the exotic adhesives I have been trying.  I shall next try it on models - my Walthers coaches need a good metal-to-wood bond.

Look for Weldwood contact cement.  Apparently any ACC glue will work.

http://www.thistothat.com/

Bob,

A number of folks have tried it and found success.  A few years back Joe G. was very enthused after testing it telling me at Strasburg that it sounded absolutely crazy, but that it actually worked.

Someday I will find a good adhesives chemist to explain it to me.  I do not know whether it is a simple synergistic effect (a semi-theory from Prof. Sethian) or a direct co-polymerization interaction (my thoughts).  It may well be both or neither,

However, I have built entire trolleys now using it and the only problem is that it is not forgiving of one's errors!

Other contact cements combined with CA may well work as well, better, or worse....

I like the Zap-a-gap with the zip kicker accerlerant. Used it on many a model, easy to sand, paint and fills gaps.

I use two part epoxy a lot, but lately have been building a lot of wood structures

using the carpenter's  wood glue, and using Testor's plastic cement to put Grandtline, etc. windows into wood structures.  Have wondered about the longevity of that?  As said, two part epoxy is messy. but I used to use a lot of it.  I would, and did, on those metal to wood Walther's/All Nation passenger cars.

I use it when it's needed, but not as a general adhesive.  More of a last resort....