Gluing Plasticard

[Angel Barracks]

So, now that I have my Chopper II:

I am cutting away like mad, but…

In this picture you can see the rough layout of some pieces.

They are to be glued on the small edges, but what is the best way to do this with the pieces still lying flat on the mat, without the glue sticking them to the mat itself?
Put some cling-film underneath?

[Not Connard Sage]

Sheet of glass.

 

“Where do I get a piece of glass, you bloody idiot?” I hear you ask. “Cheap photo/picture frame” I reply

You can also mix paint on it. Stick some duct tape or summat similar around the edges to avoid that ‘ouch’ feeling.

 

Here’s one I made earlier

 

 

 

 

 

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Angel Barracks]

Not Connard Sage wrote:

“Where do I get a piece of glass, you bloody idiot?” I hear you ask

Or a mirror, plenty of mirrors in the house.
One less now.

[irishserb]

If you are going to do a lot of this sort of thing, you could try using a small steel plate/sheet (maybe from a hardware store or even a small baking tray possibly)and small flat magnets ranging from 1/4 inch to about 5/8 inch diameter.

Place appropriate sized magnets under the center of each piece of plastic such that the edges to be glued are aligned and touching.  If needed, place another magnet on top to clamp the parts in place.

Glue by applying solvent to the joints using a disposable syringe with needle ground flat , such that it isn’t an injury risk. The syringe (actually the rubber planger inside should last from weeks to years depending on the frequency of use.

A couple of years ago, I had to make a model of a construction site with a ton of scaffolding in place.  I made a jig this way using stacks of 2 or 3 magnets on the either side of the ends of the long sections to capture the plastic parts.  Placed one or two single magnets under the lengths of plastic to raise them and  avoid gluing them to the plate, and under the cross-members of the scaffold frames, and glued them together to make the side frames of the scaffold sections.  Gluing 4200 pieces of plastic took a remarkable short period of time, and yielded very consistent accurate results.

Using the magnets on a plate is infinitely flexible, very reliable, and relatively cheap.

Also note that particularly with thicker strips of plastic, that you may find a bevel to you cuts from top to bottom, and may need to sand the cut edges flat or square.  Otherwise, once you glue your parts, you find that you are getting a twist or angle at the joint.  The company that makes the chopper used to make a similar device that would allow you hold your part either square or an a constant angle and had a sanding block the you slid back and forth at the cut end of the part to sand the edge square.

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