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  #1  
Old 12-05-2016, 05:34 PM
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Overeasy123 Overeasy123 is offline
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Default Styrene as an Alternative.

Working on a MoreRockets-Kitted Scorpius, I was thrown into a quandary when the included dowels were way too big, at 1/8", for their application. I needed 1/12" doweling! TowerHobbies took care of me: I ordered 2 bags of Revell dowels and a pack of Evergreen .080" styrene rod. Under $10, and they waived shipping!
I cut 8 5" lengths of the styrene and glued 'em up with Testors plastic cement. They're a perfect, easily-paintable substitute for the wood dowels that would require filling and sanding.
It occurred to me that maybe I should share some other applications of styrene that I've used in the past. Take the Mars Lander for example. Cutting strips from a ribbed styrene panel gave me excellent definition on the Landers' footpads, definition that mostly would've been lost in the original embossed paper part. And for the Oleo Struts? I simply cut sections of styrene tubing. So much less fuss than building support wraps and filling a launch lug! And arguably, a cleaner result.
I've been waiting for someone to read my mind and suggest to me the perfect metal spring, with part number, to replace the rubber bands in my Mars Landers. They're all sub-assmbled and ready to put together. With the right springs all I hafta worry about is the mis-cut centering rings of Semroc's early production run.
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  #2  
Old 12-05-2016, 06:02 PM
jetlag jetlag is offline
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Your Testors cement probably won't hold; it is lousy cement for styrene since they reformulated it.
Tenax is much better. Tamiya is great, too.

Allen
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Old 12-05-2016, 10:09 PM
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Overeasy123 Overeasy123 is offline
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Thanks, Allen. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Right now all's I got in stock is Testors Orange Tube and Testors Liquid in the black bottle.
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  #4  
Old 12-06-2016, 05:15 AM
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gpoehlein gpoehlein is offline
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Personally, I'd toss the Testor's Orange - that stuff is worse than useless! The Testor's liquid is somewhat better, but as Jetlag said, Tenax or Tamiya are much better. As far as I'm concerned, Tenax is the only plastic cement I'll use.
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Old 12-11-2016, 02:17 AM
leftover leftover is offline
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Awesome thanks for sharing

I have several clones on the planned list and moat of them use dowel in Some way.

Building a clone of the Uss Atlantis right now and was to the point where i needed to start cutting dowels when I thought about the evergreen rod alternative.

Was wondering what to use to glue them as well.

Scorpius is on my list also.
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Last edited by leftover : 12-15-2016 at 10:12 PM.
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Old 12-11-2016, 01:56 PM
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bernomatic bernomatic is offline
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Below is a link to a thread in the Cantina where I used some sheet styrene to replace a lost fin on the fin can.

Astro Cam Rehab

I know I may be going against the culture but I do find the Testor's tube glue good for something . I have used it to create fillets on repaired fins on fin cans with some good results. Unlike the liquid glues which just "melt" the plastic together (or as one brand would infer by its name "weld" the parts together), the tube glues include plastic particles suspended in the glue so you can build up some plastic.
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Old 12-11-2016, 07:49 PM
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eljefe eljefe is offline
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I haven't heard of this Tenax glue before, and a lot of products come up under that name. Is it the one called "Tenax 7R"?
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Old 12-11-2016, 08:28 PM
jetlag jetlag is offline
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Yessir
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  #9  
Old 12-13-2016, 12:12 AM
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Overeasy123 Overeasy123 is offline
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Default Atlantis, Sanding, Filler Primer.

Hiyah, leftover. I've worked up a coupl'a Atlantises. I stuck with the wood doweling, throughout. Glued it up raw, too. If I had it to do over I sure would've spent some time sanding the dowels and sealing them with CWF. What the heck was I thinking? I never considered plastic for this kit because of the dowelings' use as structural component, in places.

I left myself with much more sanding in the end. I can clean this up with sanding, and then still hit it with a Filler Primer.
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  #10  
Old 12-15-2016, 10:11 PM
leftover leftover is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Overeasy123
Hiyah, leftover. I've worked up a coupl'a Atlantises. I stuck with the wood doweling, throughout. Glued it up raw, too. If I had it to do over I sure would've spent some time sanding the dowels and sealing them with CWF. What the heck was I thinking? I never considered plastic for this kit because of the dowelings' use as structural component, in places.

I left myself with much more sanding in the end. I can clean this up with sanding, and then still hit it with a Filler Primer.

Yeah I was concerned about that as well especially on the lower deck pieces that glue to the dowel.

Went with the styrene on the engine trim and the defector array though.
See how they hold up
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