Model Train Journal

I suppose Walthers "Goo" is no longer with us, and I hear hints that Bargs without toluene is not quite as good as it used to be.

I am, with great trepidation, looking at the Skytop kit Maroon sent me last month, and considering how to proceed. I am thinking going with thicker floor and a wood roof, which would give me a sturdy car body, but would still need contact cement for sides-to-body adhesion, and for those delicate window frames.

Considering water-based contact cement. We are using 3M-30N or similar for some aircraft work, and getting good results. I stumbled on a shoemaker's forum (impressive, and no grammatical/spelling errors) and they might be leaning toward water-based adhesives. Barg's was always the standard in the 20th Century.

Any thoughts?

bob turner wrote:I suppose Walthers "Goo" is no longer with us,

Really? https://www.walthers.com/goo-r-1oz-29-lml-tube

Everybody changed formulae in the late 1990s. Did "Goo" escape those changes?

Even Brasso changed for the worse.

Thin your brasso with ammonia.

bob turner wrote:Everybody changed formulae in the late 1990s. Did "Goo" escape those changes?

Still acetone based. Works fine for me.

I use E6000 for assembling composite material kits like Walthers, BCM, Chesters. Sturdy durable bond, flexible not brittle, if it beads out the seam it doesn't cook off paint if you immediately wipe/work off excess with rag, cloth, wood stick etc. Very "clean" clear MEK-like adhesive.
Best of all (for me) it can be razored apart without damaging the sides or surfaces, and the dried remnant(s) rubbed off.
Never been a fan of Goo.

De Bruin wrote:I use E6000 for assembling composite material.......

I'll have to try some soon.

Just use Goo since I've got a steady and sure enough hand using it to prevent the usual mess that most people encounter; also, mixing it with CA works for a lot of things, too.

To be clear, I started using the E-6000 for bonding disparate pieces as in metal sides to wood floors and roofs etc. as opposed to the pins.
It is ideal for that kind of application. Based on the photo evidence though I'd go with your existing adhesive method/processes for assembling those wood kits, very clean and effective.
I have had good results using alphatic resins (up formula variations of good old Elmers) on wood kits, but certainly not in all circumstances.
Refresh my memory on when/reasons you introduce CYA into the process.
Thanks

De Bruin wrote:Refresh my memory on when/reasons you introduce CYA into the process.

Generally useful on wood end grain joinery and also wood to metal castings - Goo on the porous surface; CA on the non or lesser porous surface; put together - a few seconds to work into place and it's done. Not particularly forgiving and takes a scalpel and/or razor saw to separate.