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It depends on the parts, the glue area, and likelihood of glue oozing where you don't want it, and how careful/patient you are.
Also, plastic does not equal plastic. That is, blow-molded type parts are not styrene. So what might be a good compromise glue for gluing styrene to a blow-molded part, would not be the best glue for styrene to styrene
That said, for the 1/45 Little Joe, I am using either liquid cement (Plastruct brand), or good old Testor's glue in a tube. The kit instructions generally shows tube cement for all styrene to styrene gluing, but in some cases liquid cement can be better/easier unless you are sloppy (get a drop of liquid cement onto the body wrap... don't even try to wipe it off, it would turn a small drop into a huge smudge).
Liquid Cement - For assembling the fin halves, Algol nozzles, and Escape Tower struts and ring. Also for attaching the longerons, both the six big ones (2 long ones (N) and 4 shorter ones O)), and the eight little ones (P). I used self-closing tweezers to grab and place the little ones. I also plan to use liquid cement to assemble the RCS thruster quad housings, and to glue the RCS nozzles too. Later, the RCS thruster assemblies will be painted, dry, and then glued to the Service Module using carefully applied thick CA
Tube Glue - To glue the fin to the styrene body, mostly on the inside areas that contact the alignment/attachment tabs, as well as a bit on the root and the horizontal arcs on the inside. When I glue the Tower assembly onto the "capsule", I plan to put it in place dry, then on the inside brush in some liquid cement to seep in (but not run to the outside), then still working on the inside, add some tube glue to the remaining "stubs" of the bottom of the tower legs that protrude inside. Lugs just got glued on with tube glue.
For the escape rocket nozzle assembly and Tower skirt, I will use tube glue. But first I will paint both parts flat black, then scrape away paint in the areas to be glued, those areas will be so deep as not to be visible. Otherwise, painting after gluing would require a lot of paint to get into the resulting nooks and crannies. After painting the capsule/tower white, I will carefully scrape paint from the top of the tower pins, and use a small drill bit to help to remove paint inside of the holes in the skirt assembly, and use tube glue to bond the tower skirt to the tower struts. Before gluing though, I'll temporarily place the escape rocket motor tube onto the skirt and after gluing the skirt to tower, I'll rotate the capsule to check that it is at 90 degrees, no wobble when rotated, otherwise adjust it before the glue sets up.
For the shock cord attachment that is glued inside the capsule, I used liquid cement for the initial bond, then went back and added tube glue. I have to admit that I used the original round "long donut" (shown as "not used") for that purpose, and not part "HH".
When it comes time to glue the centering rings to the model, I will use a small amount of 5 minute epoxy. I have sometimes had nasty surprises when using Elmer's or Titebond to glue in a ring, where over time the glue shrinks and shrinks down the area of the tube where the glue holds the ring, on a well-finished tube you can see where it is sunk in. But epoxy won't do that. Also of course, more time to get the placement just right with 5 minute epoxy, it won't "freeze" as can happen at times with Titebond, often not in the right place. When it comes time to glue the mount, do take note of the proper orientation of the 6 outer holes in relation to the fins and system tunnels.
Ah yes, another step ahead before gluing the mount. On the 12-51 series Little Joe-II's (the ones with movable fins and aft RCS capability) a coating of white RTV was applied to the base for heat protection (QTV and A-001 were left natural aluminum). So, I'm going to paint the body silver without the mount in place, then paint the bottom of the mount ring flat white, and then glue the mount in. I will add the Algol motors later, possibly not even glue them as the fit is nice and snug.
- George Gassaway
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