Styrene bonding agent, what to use?

[arctichorse]

I'm going to build a 4 door Hilux but I want to know what's the best bonding agent to bond styrene together and then a filler to use, what do you guys use?

[Honchoforever1]

This should be of some use ☆ The Chop Shop What Glue to Use For Body Work/Repairing Cracks in Plastic and Why ☆

[arctichorse]

Originally Posted by Honchoforever1

This should be of some use ☆ The Chop Shop What Glue to Use For Body Work/Repairing Cracks in Plastic and Why ☆

Thank you! That's a load of help, still if anyone has any advice, I'll take it too.

[BigSki]

I've used MEK to melt the seams together on a joint. I also found a commercial product that is available from any plastic sheet distributor, or possibly from a sign shop that does fabrication.



This stuff works perfectly because it's made just for High Impact Poly Styrene.

[Calderwood]

I use Tenax 7R for exposed joints and reinforce hidden joints with Testors cement for plastic models.

[pantablo]

Tenax 7R is good. Ambroid Pro Weld is better. Both available at hobby stores or online.

For filler you can use green Squadron filler, but that sands differently than the styrene and can dry out causing it to crack. That's been my experience with it when it gets a bit thick from necessity. Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty in a tube is better. Best would be to fill with scrap styrene though, like this as an example:
How-To use styrene to fill holes and gaps in rc hard bodies - YouTube

Another example:







One pass of sanding and very minor filling with the bondo product:



4 door hilux's are awesome and not many have them compared to other crew cabs.
Mine:

[heartless]

Plastruct Bondene is another decent product, and usually easier to find locally than Tenax-7R - for me anyway...

I second the Bondo type glazing & spot putty for filler, quick and easy to work with, sands out nice. (and cheaper than the Squadron filler!)

[arctichorse]

Ok, great advice, now my next question, what size styrene sheets should I get? .020? .030? thinner or thicker? what I'm asking is, what's a general thickness that's average that you guys use?

[heartless]

thickness kind of depends on what you are doing with it...

structural type stuff you want thicker - .75 mm or better
filling & shaping - especially curves, perhaps a bit thinner & build up in layers... 0.5mm flexes nicely.

'Variety is the spice of life' with this stuff...