I have a problem with the China made Plastic kits from Estes, and I was wondering if others have had the same problem. Unlike many of you I do not mind the easier to build Plastic kits for a change from the more complicated time consuming kits. Also if my Grandson brakes the rocket or I loss it no big loss, just buy another and build it in an hour.
But back to the problem I have been having, the plastic Testes cement dose not work on the newer kits, it simply is not melting the plastic together.
Last year Jacob got the Lucky Seven for his Birthday, after building it and after its first flight the Nose Cone that’s in 3 pieces fell apart, upon inspection the nose cone joints were not melted and the glue could be scraped off. This year I purchased the Liquidator and last month I took it to our low power launch, and even thou I did not fly it because it was to windy, but still 2 of the fins came off from just setting on the ground.
I’m positive they’re using the wrong plastic, Plastic Cement only melts certain plastics, and will not melt just any plastic. What do the rest of you thank?

The plastic used in some of the newer Estes kits will not 'weld' together with normal plastic model cement. I just use thin CA instead.

One thing I have noticed that helps a little is to sand the joints being glued. It roughens up the conntection spots plus gets rid of the glossy coating that a lot of plastic parts seem to have. Even then, I also lean towards using CA on my plastic stuff.

One on my workbench is the Thunderstar, a lot of plastic in the kit. I sanded the nose cone, tower assembly, etc. and used regular Duco Plastic Modeler Cement. The whole nose assembly appears real solid for not using any CA on it, but only time will tell I guess. I do know I could not get any of the display nozzles with the X-Prize kits to stick on unless I sanded a little and used CA...

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Kurt Knox
NAR #93503
MASA section 576
SAM #0316

It probably is a difference in the plastic. Have you tried the orange-label Plastruct? I've used it with better success than the Testors for some applications.

Another that I've heard successfully used for Estes plastic components is Tenax-7R. This is another chemical solvent-fuse-weld type of cement.

As always, YMMV...

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Craig McGraw

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SAM 0044
AMA 352635

This isn't a new problem. I've had it with the 2nd release Orbital Transport plastic nose cone. Also had this problem with the Comanche 3 nose cone too. I resolved it by ordering replacement balsa nose cones from BMS.

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Have a good day
Bob
NAR 77103

Which type of Testors plastic cement are you using? I've found that the tube stuff is near-useless. I've not had any trouble gluing the Estes plastic nose cones together (not tried on the X-prize kits) with Testor's liquid cement. The new bottle is pretty nice with the metal tube applicator.

Greg

The tube-type (orange tube, the blue tube is TOTALLY useless) Testors cement has changed formulas from what it was up until about 10 years ago. It now contains far less toluene and I'm pretty sure it no longer contains Oil of Mustard (Allyl Isothiocyanate).
Neither of these changes made the product better, they made it far worse for actually welding plastic together....I had heard that this was done to make the product less "sniffable" for the idiots who sniff glue....what a great plan....lower the quality of a product to near uselessness for the intended purpose in attempt to make it safer for numbskulls that belong on the "Darwin List" who use the product for some un-intended purpose.

The good news is that one can make Testors tube-type plastic cement nearly into the old formulation by squeezing the tube out into a 1oz glass airbrush jar or other similar bottle and mixing in some Toluene at 20-25% by volume with the contents of a 5/8oz tube of cement. One has to apply the glue with a brush, but it is a solution to those that cannot easily get their hands on Tenax 7-R or Plastruct or Ambroid ProWeld.

I personally just use Tenax 7R as the product works far better and faster than any tube-type Plastic Cement EVER has...with Tenax the joints are truly welded & I have yet had one break in over 20 years of use. The fumes from Tenax 7R, Plastruct, or ProWeld are far more irritating than Testors cement, but I find that a VERY SMALL price to pay for a far superior product.

Don't even bother with Testors Liquid Plastic Cement....the stuff is horrible for cementing most plastics....it isnow just a jar of MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) which is good for cementing very few plastics and is best at NONE. Testors Liquid Plastic Cement used to be Methyl ISO-BUTYL Ketone, which was actually half-decent at cementing plastic, but nowhere near as good or fast as Tenax.
Why manufacturers change a product that works for a far worse product I'll never know...makes no sense to me and never will at any price-point of any goods.
I'd always rather spend more $$$ for a product that works well than a supposed "new & downgraded" replacement at the old price as I VALUE the dollars I spend and want them to go toward decently working products.

As a side note, never use Testors Green or Yellow tube cements for building anything that has to do with rockets in any way, shape, or form. These are wood cements that are suitable ONLY for constructing light tissue-covered rubber-powered free-flight model airplanes and they WILL fail when subjected to any sort of high-speed or high-load flight application. I have seen several people try to build rockets withe these glues in the past and they almost always result in spectacular flight FAILURES.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Yes Arley, I mentioned this almost three years ago when the various X-Prize rockets came out.

It is definitely the plastic formulation. I eventually built my Lucky Seven with ZAP for Plastics (a plastics forumulated CA glue). Same with my Thunderstar, but the escape motor nozzles could not be done properly, so I left them off. I still haven't built my Rubicons, but others have resorted to CA and epoxy, or even to mechanical means to attach the fins (and keep them attached!).

The good news is that the problem appears to be somewhat fixed in later products (Interceptor, D-Region Tomahawk), though I would still not recommend Testors tube glue, but either Tenax or Ambroid Pro-Weld, or one of the Plastruct glues.

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Roy
nar12605

I used Tenax on the wingpod and all other plastic-to-plastic joints on my Interceptor.
For mounting the wing pods to the balsa fins and the tailcone to the body tube I used 5-minute Epoxy.
NOTHING bonds plastic to unlike materials even close to nearly as well as Epoxy.
You do not need (NO 1/4" radius epoxy fillets for LPR, please) to use a lot to do this, so the weight penalty is NEGLIGIBLE.
Plastic CA will work, but the bond is not nearly as strong. Never try using plastic cement to bond plastics to non-plastic materials unless you like failed glue joints which WILL eventually happen.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Yes I to have used CA to glue plastic together, as for the other products mentioned I will check with Hobby Town and see what they have.
As for gluing plastic to other materials, I have found that CA is the best, Many years ago I built the Estes Saturn V using CA to glue the plastic parts to the rocket and no problem. Epoxy dose not adhere will to Plastic, G10 or Fiberglas fins and Nose Cones.

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