Greetings from Israel. And welcome back.. the glue pot missed you
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Welcome! I am in the same situation. Working on completing a 1/20 Ferrari F189 to relearn skills.
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welcome to the group we are all mad here. and if you ever find yourself heading to the front range let me know if its the right week maybe you can come to the IPMS meeting.
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Thanks SFC. There is that compulsive nature we have when we see new and/or old kits 
. I’ll be asking but so far many of the questions I had have already been addressed from the older posts I’ve come across. But rest assured when I hit that concrete wall I’ll be asking and also asking opinions. Some good natured ribbing and an occasional whack in the head is always needed.
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Thanks Sam. We are all in the shallow end but, some do jump in the deep end and then regret that lol. As soon as I make a light box which is yet another project that will need to be done amongst my kits and my forever honey-do list. I also use YouTube and have a few channels I subscribe to. For Kit reviews which has been great and also triggered that compulsive nature to buy buy buy and a couple channels that do builds which are way above my current skill but always fascinating.
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Thank you Robert. Ahh the glue pot and now so many types to use.
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Thanks Joe. It can indeed and decades it has been. My main focus is WWII AFV’s and Aircraft. It’s what I did as a young boy. I do have 4 WWI aircraft one which I decided to tackle and is a bit of a nightmare, I also have some fantasy figurines that my wife and daughter got me 2 years ago. I’ve already painted 5 of them and still have 6 or 7 in a box still sealed up. All of those were 3D printed they found on Etsy. Those have been good to redevelop figure painting skills most of them are 75mm scale. I also have some 28mm Ral Partha figures that have been following me around for 4 decades some are painted and others still waiting.
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For styrene I stay with ethyl acetate, it is essentially the same as Tamiya Extra Thin which is the same as their thinner.
It softens the plastic and then evaporates, it does require tight joints since it works best with capillary action (hold the parts together BEFORE applying the solvent).
Toluene/Toluol and Xylene/Xylol also works.
These solvents are often found in thinners for lacquer paints.
Check the labels and test on some sprues.
My model building improved a lot when I stopped using traditional styrene glue.
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Well Top I just went through my stash last week and cataloged everything and had a good chuckle. I put everything kit wise into a spread sheet since I ended up buying multiples of a few tanks. Current physical stash 83 - 1/35 scale, and 53 - 1/48 scale aircraft. 136 kits not including what may come on Xmas or what I ordered after a bit of a spree.
So am I in? 
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I have a Dragon 1/48 Spad XIIIc on the bench and its killing me. I’ve had some mucked up kits out of the box in the past (Revell, Aurora, Lindbergh) but this one wins the prize. It’s a poor representation of a famous aircraft. It may end up in the all new all dancing test box I am making for those illegitimate kits. Everything has a purpose.
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Thanks Uncle Heavy, as the saying goes when I was training apprentices (former electrician) I’ve forgotten more than I’ve learned, I have a plethora of useless information floating around in the old cranium and no one has done or seen everything.
It was one of the first things I did when I decided I wanted to do this 2 years ago. Build a logistics base to work from.
I have a variety of glues, putties, thinners etc. I did a lot of reading online, read my FSM, watched and still watch YouTube and that was the common denominator using lacquer thinners as a primer. The most interesting Youtuber I found is Night shift. One heck of a talented builder but he explains the where he learned it and/or the how and why he uses certain techniques. Using and mixing thinners, cement, retarders and putties together. I’m pretty nerdy when it comes to anything I love, model building and history go hand in hand. But at the end of the day I still have alot to learn.
My wife informs me I’m a super nerd and she only keeps me around to build stuff for her lol.
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Mad as a hatter well I fit it right in then, I’ll just sit in the back lurking and muttering to myself.
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I learned about styrene vs lacquer thinner when I got some thinner to use with Humbrol paints (a few tins had turned to jelly). I got suspicious about the smell so I tested on some styrene scrap.
Couldn’t use it as paint thinner since it softened the styrene
BUT HEY
I can use it as solvent glue instead of buying the little bottles from the hobby shop.
That was a toluene/xylene mix, the next time I bought some I noticed they had changed
the formula to contain ethyl acetate instead of toluene (something about kids sniffing it
to get high).
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I’m late to the greeting party, anyhow welcome aboard the crazy train. Lots of loonies and some heavy hitters around here that have outstanding advice. A common denominator, is a large majority of us here are returning to the hobby in retirement years.
Seems Monty Python is also another common denominator around here.
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I have been on the forum for 23 years. What I can say is some of the best modeling I have seen has come from the members of this forum. We run the spectrum of novice to master modeler. Some here custom make their models (not from a kit). This is a good place to be.
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Tis only a flesh wound 
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Thanks Top I have seen some posts that are remarkable. I also like the fact from many posts is the encouragement and advice. I have seen quite a few scratch builds over the years that ended up in museums. Perhaps I can fold the long experience as an electrician into the builds. One step at a time.
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