Aru Nine Models - Super Glue or Solder?

[bc6]

I just got this cool little Aru 9 Models kit and was curious which do you prefer to assemble the kits with super glue or solder. I'm pretty excited to get cracking on this kit and hope that it comes out like the photos on the instruction sheet thanks in advance.

[cteno4]

You can do either. The good thing about the arunine kits is they are much more tab oriented for assembly than the world kougi kits. In fact they are designed so you could just only twist and fold tabs to hold it together. So you can do this and then apply acc glue at strategic points if needed. Acc glue does get brittle with age on things like metal and eventually crack. You definitely want to use a very thick acc glue as on these joints thin stuff will run like mad and even medium will slip along the metal while setting at times. Epoxy can be used as well, just messier to use. Same issue with acc is it can get brittle on metal joints.

 

tabs that are totally hidden and have the room, twist the tab about 30 degrees instead of bending them over, it will make a much tighter tab joint than folding and things stay lined up with the slot better.

 

soldering is the heartiest joining method, but it takes a higher watt iron and chisel tips to solder brass well. Also lots of flux and lots of practice to do it well. Not something most pickup in an hour. But you can get good at it with practice. Lots of discussion on soldering brass over in the world kougei topic here

 

With glueing and soldering you want to make sure to really clean the brass well and even use a brass cleaner to get all the oxidation off the surface and even scratch the surface up for the best glue grip and solder flow. After reading these tutorials I recently picked up some of the Bar Keepers Friend powdered cleaner to try on brass stuff. Looks like it does a nice matte finish on brass that should be good for solder, glue, and paint to stick to well. I use to just wash the brass and some times scruff up a solder joint area wirh a contact cleaner pen, but I’m now just going to try scrubbing down the whole surface. In the past I have had issues with solder flow that looked like it was even from a very greasy finger print. 
 

cheers,

 

jeff

[bc6]

Wow Jeff thanks for the wealth of information on building these kit. I have both thick super glue and a soldering iron which I may use to build the kit I'm very excited to build one of these "easy" kits.

Edited September 28, 2023 by bc6

[cteno4]

They are fun. For your first try to pick one that’s simple and you won’t mind as much if you mess anything up it’s a learning process. Also might want to look at getting a pair of xuron etch scissors. They are great for cutting off etch parts from their sprews. You can cut it clean enough not to need any filing most of the time. Not cheap but a good tool.

 

https://www.micromark.com/Xuron-Professional-Photo-Etch-Scissor

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Also use the rest of the brass sheet the parts are etched out of to practice soldering on. It really is how you get to Carnegie hall!

 

jeff

[bc6]

Lol yeah practice is the way to Carnegie hall lol, Thanks for the great tips I think that's the direction I'm going with this project. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by bc6

[Martijn Meerts]

Also, never combine both glue and solder, unless you glue parts after you're done with all the soldering. Both super glue and epoxy don't like heat much 🙂

 

[bc6]

Thanks Martin I'll remember that 😁

[mags_minibuilds]

Reposting this link that @cteno4 provided in the World Kougei thread, it was super useful as there’s step by step and tips on several ARU kits.

http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~toyoyasu/handycrafts.htm

 

I finished my first HO narrow brass kits: 2 ARU freight cars and almost done with a World Kougei Porter engine. The ARU kits definitely have thicker brass so my soldering iron temp had to go higher or think about using a larger tip that can transfer the heat faster.

 

Good luck, don’t hesitate to ask questions. There's so many helpful folks here that helped me, so grateful. I don’t think I would’ve started if I didn’t have the support.

[bc6]

Thanks Mags for link I appreciate it.