What the Glue?

A few years ago I stated using clear bath tub caulk to “glue” passengers into seats. It was great! Once the adhesive cured it was invisible. Plus, taking passengers out of the seats was easy. Just pry them to the side and off they popped. The painted seat wasn’t ruined no was the passenger.

While looking for more bath tub sealant in the hardware store I noticed a slightly different product. DAP has a product called “Kwik Seal”. It comes in bright white or clear. As opposed to the silicone sealant with its vinegar smell as it cures, the DAP product is odorless.

Furthermore, the “Kwik Seal” is miscible with water. This means it can be mixed and diluted with water. If you do dilute "Kwik Seal", use distilled water to reduce the chance of impurities in the water interfering with the curing of the product. The cure time seems to be the same as undiluted “Kwik Seal”.

The clear “Kwik Seal” comes out of the tube white but turns clear when cured. I like this as it easy to see where it is as you place passengers in seats. If too much “Kwik Seal” is used it can be cleaned up immediately with water. It starts curing as soon as it comes out of the tube. If time has passed it’s better to just let the product cure and then cut the excess off with a razor blade.

Since starting to use “Kwik Seal”, I’ve use it as a glue for other uses. It has been used when other glues might cause problems like gluing something to plastic where ACC is not applicable. The constant lighting boards in my models are held in place with “Kwik Seal”. The board can be pried off the styrene with a razor blade.

Diluted, “Kwik Seal” can be used to hold glazing or other “light” objects in place. It can be applied with a brush. BTW – Clean the brush immediately. For glazing if too much is applied wait for the material to cure then remove the excess with a tooth pick.

Besides DAP, Loctite has a generic product called “POLYSEAMSEAL ALL-PURPOSE Adhesive & Caulk in One”.

One item I would not apply it to is any electrical board where exposed “wiring” or connections are soldered. One such board was “glued” to a non-metallic surface metal and a short circuit occurred. When the board was removed the problem was resolved. There is no problem with Dallee’s Adjustable Constant Voltage power Supply board. All the electronic circuits are on one side of the board.

Cheers,

Ed