I mentioned that I use solvents instead of “cement”.
The stuff I use is ethyl acetate, can be purchased in gallon cans and smaller bottles.
It is also one of the main ingredients of Acetone free Nail Polish Remover (NPR??).
Tamiya also sell a pure solvent “glue” in a square bottle, the same stuff is also sold by Tamiya as a thinner. Bigger bottle is cheaper …
Xylol/Xylene and toluol/toluene soled as laquer thinners will also work but these are more harmful to our health than ethyl acetate. The beauty of it is that it smells more or less the same as the “remover” so if you have an SWMBO who uses nail polish she can’t complain about the strong smell (not unpleasant, just strong).
The solvents do not glue, they soften the styrene plastic enough for the two surfaces to bond together and almost become one solid piece of plastic. Sort of like welding but without using heat.
MEK, Methy Ethyl Ketone will also weld styrene, it is harmful to your health so make sure to have very good ventilation or protection masks.
I stopped using “cement” glue for styrene 45 years ago, never looked back.
With solvents you hold the parts together BEFORE applying the solvent. Adjust until you are happy with the joint, take your time and get everything lined up and clamped if needed.
Use a small brush (think 00 size) to apply a small amount of solvent to the joint. Capillary action will draw the solvent into the joint and “weld” it. Sometimes a difficult or large joint requires two or more tiny drops of solvent.
If you spill it over the parts (parts on table, bottle tipped over) you will be in deep sh!t.
Been there, done that, the 1/72 scale crew figures for the Monogram/Revell Flower class corvette turned into featureless blobs, sigh …
Here’s another update:
I added some weld beads and small PE bits to the aiming stake bag / cleaning brush rack along the outboard left side rear of the hull. I still have to add the cleaning brush sections and tie downs with straps. I’m also about half way done with the left side tracks. I’ll leave the machine gun off til painting and weathering is complete. I know I’ll knock it off at some point.
The pole bag looks outstanding Rich. All the little details are coming together now. Won’t be long before the paint booth.
It was a pleasure meeting you face to face finally at Armorcon. I’m sorry we didn’t have some time to talk. What a show! Whew!
Thanks for the kind words Matt. And yes it was a pleasure to meet you at the show; I realize you all were very busy. Fantastic job by you and your team to put on an outstanding show!
Finally got around to doing some work on this thing. I originally used plastic rod for the cleaning brush sections but they looked under scale, instead I used brass rod that was a little thicker. Looks a tad over scale but the rod assortment I have is either too big or too small. I then used some buckles from V Model and some lead foil for the tie down straps. I should get the tracks on and some paint on this thing this weekend.
If you can still move the clamp for the tow cable, that might be a good idea. It was located a bit further to the rear, closer to the corner of the air intake, and angled a little so the cable eye pointed inward somewhat.
I’m looking at my son of Sherman reference and it shows the cable pretty much where I have it now, that’s what I was going on. Pictures for discussion purposes only:
Not sure why that particular pic is not showing up, but the drawing I’m referencing is on page 165 of the Son of Sherman book volume 1. It shows the cable eye moved all the way to the back of the hull top past the air intake.
You’re right, sorry — I was going by memory, and thought it was a little further back. And no, I wasn’t thinking of the later HVSS tanks, because I know it’s nearly all the way at the back there
However, word of warning here: I’ve learned the hard way to not take the drawings in Son of Sherman as absolutely accurate depictions of size and position of the things they show. They’re very good to show what was there, and approximately where, but they’re not necessarily true to life. For example, here is Zvezda’s M4A2 (75 mm) turret on a drawing from the original Son of Sherman:
The loader’s hatch matches the drawing almost perfectly. However, it was pointed out to me that the angle is wrong — it turned out to be off by 19°, which is very noticeable. After filling it with plastic card and putty, the yellow tape here shows where/how it should be:
