Need advice: Will epoxy glue fog a vacform canopy?

[John Howling Mouse]

Realize that CA glues give off fumes as they cure which can fog up clear parts but will the same thing happen using a two-part epoxy glue?

I've heard mixed results about Future/Klear providing enough of a barrier to protect the clear canopy from CA glue fumes so I was hoping to use epoxy glue instead.

This is for my Morsair's vac-formed canopy.  There's not a lot of surface area to connect it to the airframe and I need something "gloopy" enough (gap-filling) that will tack it down.  I have gap-filling CA glue but I'm trying to avoid that.

Anyone?

[Brian da Basher]

I can't answer your question about two-part epoxy, but I'd suggest using white school glue like Elmer's. You can fill gaps with it and it will dry clear. It also takes paint well. I use it exclusively now for attaching clear parts and have never had any problems.

Brian da Basher

[upnorth]

I've used epoxy a few times to glue canopies down and never had any fogging issues with it. I used Devcon brand exclusively and swore by it.

As for white glue, Elmer's is quite good and fills gaps well.

Even with a dip in Future, I'd be hesitant to use thicker, gap filling CA for the job.

You may want to try a combination of techniques:

Dip your canopy in Future just to be on the safe side

Put a couple of drops of normal CA in an upsidedown plastic container. soft drink bottle caps or 35mm film canister lids are ideal for this.

Using a wood skewer, apply small drops of CA at various spots along the edge of your canopy, not a whole lot, just enough to anchor it to the model.

Once the CA has cured, fill the gaps with epoxy or white glue. I'd recommend white glue as you can thin it out with water and apply it with a brush, in thinned form capilary action will make sure it gets into the smaller, tighter section of the gap to create a secure bond.

[The Rat]

Sheesh, you kids! None of you have learned to be lazy enough to look for simple answers. Okay, here we go; Presumably you've got plastic sheet around the canopy, so just cut out your canopy, apply the glue to the leftover scrap, and wait.

Duz I gotta do evrytink? 

[John Howling Mouse]

In the end, just as I was about to mix up the epoxy, I completely chickened out (bok, bok, bok!) and resorted to good ol' Krystal Klear by Microscale!      I knew it wouldn't be as strong as white glue but it would dry completely clear (whereas, in the past, I've had some white glue dry as a translucent haze----just off enough so you could always tell it was there).

So far, so good.  But I now have to wait-wait-wait for the yellow paint on the pair of canopy frame/shrouds to dry before I can glue them over the canopy's lower edges (since I'll have to tape them into place while the cement sets).

Thanks for the feedback, guys.  Sorry that I chickened out.   

[lancer]

Have to say that I've never even thought of using 2 part epoxy before, I'll have to try it. Currently, I tend to usr good old polystyrene glue to fix my canopies, as it's guaranteed that htere will never be any fogging of the canopy. The drawback is the time it takes to dry, but a small price to pay for a clear canopy I think.