Plastic to paper tube

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Woody's Workshop

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I recently received the Mega Mosquito (with the ultra mini brute Mosquito) as a gift. As I was assembling the Mosquitow (3 fins and nose cone) I usually use epoxy as probably most of you do. But the fit was quite tite.
So I dug around a box and found some old testors modeling glue for wood models. I put a thin layer of this on the inside of the paper tube, and the normal Testors plastic model cement on the nose cone and promptly twisted the to pieces together until they developed a drag.
To my surprise it was quite a good glue joint.
I tried it again on a larger size body tube and an old nose cone and let it set up for 48 hours. Then tried to disassemble the joint.
The results were that the paper seperated at the saturation point. The nose cone will take quite some work to make it usable again.
Just a little food for thought I'd share.
 
Better than epoxy you think ? Never would have thought to mix the two...
 
When bonding paper tubes to plastic transitions, or nose cones, I have used this technique for years. I will put a liberal amount of plastic cement in the paper tube, and smooth it out, while trying to work it into the paper, with my finger. Then I will set this aside and let it dry. I will then put a normal amount on the platic transition, or nose cone, and insert it. I have never had a joint fail from this. Remember testers plastic cement, is basically a plastic solvent, that melts the plastic to bond, with the addition of plastic "suspended" in the solvent to make it thicker.
 
+1 for putting the tube type cement on the tube and letting it dry,then gluing the plastic on.

kj
 
Much bettet than Epoxy by far.
The saturation into the body tube on the test BT-60 was nearly 1/2 way through the tube.
As I carved away the paper from the nose cone with a razor knife, I could not find a mating point in the glue which told me they mixed together perfectly.
 
I'll have to try it. I just finished a Maxi Alpha 3 with epoxy and it seems ok. What advantages do you guys see over epoxy using Testors ?

Does the plastic glue work into the tube better than the epoxy does ?

Thanks In advance....
 
Does the plastic glue work into the tube better than the epoxy does ?

Thanks In advance....

No, it does not work into the tube better, but after you have worked it into the tube, and allowed it to dry, a new application "dissolves" the top layer, and then the plastic part you insert, so it "Welds" the plastic part to the "imbedded" plastic you applied to the tube. This provides more that just a surface gluing of the plastic, that the epoxy would give, because the epoxy can not soak into the plastic. As I am not a chemist, I can not say the the molecular bond of the epoxy is less strong though.
 
What I have found, is at the end of the saturation point of the body tube, it becomes a breaking point for impact.
Meaning that if it comes down hard the wrong way, the tube will buckle or crimp at that point.
Does this mean we must use CA on the inside and outside of all our paper tube rockets?
Hell, Build, fly, what ever happens happens.
Deal with it.
No matter how many hours you spend on a paint job on a restoration vehicle...
If the darn owner goes out and does a burn out in gravel to show off...
Does he honestly expect to come out of it without stone chips?
Common sense.
You put into it what you use it for.
If it's a show or a shelf dust collector, go for it.
If it's a flyer, ahhh, is good enough.
Cuz, it's gunna take it's share of scrapes n gouges.
Right?
 
Woody:
Yes. Testors tube type Plastic cement will work..but and I have to say Loudly BUT! it becomes very brittle over time...not a lot of time like but less then 18months. after which a flight or two an the parts fall apart!
While there are several good Wood to plastic adhesives, I'll stick with 5 or 30 minute Devcon epoxy which retains a bit of it's cured flexability over many years (decades).
 
The answer to every thing is rocketpoxy (G-5000) except where wood glue, CA, West Systems and about 50 others I can think of would work. Engineer your adhesives to match your structural requirements. Heck, I've even used a UV cured surfboard glue for field repairs! Thanks for your experimental excursions into the plastic/paper zone, Woody! It's nice to see some de-constructive post-analysis on your glue bond. That, my friends is 'rocket science' defined! Thanks for sharing, brother!
 
The answer to every thing is rocketpoxy (G-5000) except where wood glue, CA, West Systems and about 50 others I can think of would work. Engineer your adhesives to match your structural requirements. Heck, I've even used a UV cured surfboard glue for field repairs! Thanks for your experimental excursions into the plastic/paper zone, Woody! It's nice to see some de-constructive post-analysis on your glue bond. That, my friends is 'rocket science' defined! Thanks for sharing, brother!

You got that corner of the garage stall cleaned out for my summer visit yet Fyrwrxz???
I'm coming this year, ya know! Even if I have to pull a wagon full of rockets all the wat to CA from MI!!!
I'll cook, u n the better half can eat. Just keep the kitchen stocked!
 
Another glue that works well with plastic-to-paper bonds is the "plasti-zap" CA. It's basically a medium thickness CA with some plastic solvent mixed in. It's a bit expensive but you don't need much. I've also heard you can mix a pure solvent type plastic cement like plasti-weld with various other adhesives to get a similar effect. You could probably just add cheap acetone from Home Depot to other (compatible) adhesives rather than buying plasti-weld. I haven't tried the latter; ever since I discovered Plasti-Zap it's been my go-to solution.

Woody if you come out you'll have to meet the whole SD gang!
 
San Diego of course...contains fyrwrxz, kenrico, me, initiator, and a few others....we enjoy all the festivities of the desert launches and pool noodle crashes.
 
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