Gluing Passengers to Passenger Car Seats

I just use a dap of hot glue.

I use hot glue. Sometimes they drink too much & fall over; so never say forever

I've had great success with clear silicone sealant. Just a dab and they hold really well.

I have used Lepages rubber cement; it's not permanent, and if you want to change the figures around, or remove them down the road, it's easy to pull the figures out, and rub the glue off.  You have to put a good glob'o'glue on their butts, and stick them into the seat.  Let it set overnight (dries clear), and they hold pretty firmly.  I'm not sure they would survive a drop onto a concrete floor, but then I doubt the passenger car would either.

Thanks for the suggestions everybody! 

I buy those sheets of "glue dots" from either Hobby Lobby or Michaels. They work great.

Good advice there. I used a dremel tool with a grinding fan, just a quick pass over the seats and backs of legs, and they're ready for paint.

I cut the shins in half, about a scale 10" up from the ankles because NO scale figures I've ever had would fit the seats of my AMS or Bachmann On30 coaches. All of them had way too long legs for the seats. You'll never see them missing inside the cars anyway. Felt odd throwing away a few dozen O scale feet when I was done, though...

I like silicone. It sticks well, fills the gaps between the passengers and the seats, and if you make a mistake it's not that hard to remove. If want the passengers to be removable I use peel and stick dots or some "museum putty" that I got at Ace Hardware. 

over the last 15 yrs I used Clear Silicone (GE Brand) on over 300 passengers. Great stuff.  Kept everybody in their seats or standing.

Like Rod said.  Use rubber cement.

Another thanks for all the information!

Another quick question: Who makes the best scale figures? My local hobby shop only carries Railking figures which IMO look pretty good!

Scale doesn't really apply to a lot of these passenger cars. It depends on what fits, and what looks best. Most of the time, the legs or at least feet, get chopped off. I keep a variety of figures on hand from different manufacturers and different scales.

a 1/48 figure does not always fit or look right in q 1/48 car. I have used 1/50, 1/64, and even 1/75 figures for domes. Their heads should not be jammed into the glass, nor should their shoulders tower above the head rests

Just yesterday I was thinking about what I'd do with all the feet when I got around to populating my one and only passenger car.  My solution: create a shoe store front.  You can place the various feet in the windows like shoe manikins ... Problem solved!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

In the top side of a couple of vista domes, K-Line, I used H.O. scale figures as O or S scale was too large. 

Lee Fritz

I used "tacky glue", it's a craft glue you can used on various materials including fabric.  It dries clear and holds well, but if you ever want to move them, it's easy to peel up the glue with your fingers.

Used to use hot glue... it dont last forever. Now I use this:


I sit their butts down, and they're not getting back up. HD, Lowes, Michaels... any craft store or big box store carries it.

Was going to try it. Not sure what type of plastic all the manufacturers use, from the product site:

Can E6000 be used on Styrofoam™?
No. E6000 is also not recommended for use on any polystyrene, polyethylene or polypropylene plastics.

I have used that epoxy on every type of passenger car I have, and every type of figures I could find. Its never been a problem for any of them. Its holds forever, and I can carry the car bases around by the peoples heads. CA is the only othe glue with that kind of holding power, but its brittle... so the figures can break loose. The epoxy is flexible.

I starte using it because other glues that I tried, did not hold permanently, especially if you transport your cars a lot. When I open up a passenger car...its a one time deal. I'm not going back in again unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks!

"Scale doesn't really apply to a lot of these passenger cars. It depends on what fits, and what looks best. Most of the time, the legs or at least feet, get chopped off. I keep a variety of figures on hand from different manufacturers and different scales".

"a 1/48 figure does not always fit or look right in q 1/48 car. I have used 1/50, 1/64, and even 1/75 figures for domes. Their heads should not be jammed into the glass, nor should their shoulders tower above the head rests "

This is very good advice, nicely stated.  I don't use "soft" adhesives i.e. silicone or hot glue.  Consider storage conditions that may be hot and dry.  Stuff dries out and the people are in the aisle ways.  I don't like opening up passenger cars so I went for a more permanent solution like CA gel.  Also scraping the paint and chopping the feet is inevitable.  Disregard this if you think you are going to want to replace or remove people, although a short, sharp, shock will even dislodge CA bonding (i.e. engineers in dummy units).

Just my 2 cents!

Rich 

I find Sinbad glue be excellent!  I purchase it every year at the spring TCA meet in York in the Orange Hall.   A gentleman and his wife sell it exclusively at their Sinbad booth.  Using Sinbad, I've had plastic figures glued in the same spot for many years now ... never to fall over ( even Otis the drunk guy ).   I know I sound like a Sinbad advertisement ( and this is not that at all ) however, I feel so strongly about this bonding agent that I want to share my experience with all folks in the hobby!   

I would think you can purchase Sinbad on line too.  I have never checked.  I have never seen this glue in a hobby shop.

I use "Grab-It" glue,  a quick setting glue that works well and stays somewhat pliable if you ever need to relocate your passengers.........  it is similar I think to the E6000 pictured which I have also tried out and like.

Mark

According to their website, the Sinbad glue is just another Cyanoacrylate glue, just higher priced.

Museum Wax, something no home decorator in earthquake and volcano country should be without. Lets you stick things down and keep 'em there when they get all shook up but lets you peel 'em off when you get fed up.

Bogie

I've never used Museum Wax, but with all the great comments about it, I ordered some and I'll check it out.

Museum wax has many hobby uses and I use it nearly every day.  The biggest use for me is to put it on the tip of a screw driver - flat or philips.  It holds screws on the driver's tip while you get it started.  It will hold people on station platforms, etc.  The nice thing about it is that it comes off and leaves no residue.

NH Joe

I use Super Glue Once there are in they stay there. Why would you want to take them out? 

I have several styles of screw starters to start screws, but I figure the Museum Wax may be useful for other purposes.

SW Hiawatha - You can check out a review of Sinbad by googling Cybermodeler on Line.

I have found this glue to be more effective than all other cyanoacrylate glues I've used.

You've got to keep them out of the club car.

George