Foil Adhesives

[Paul Mullins]

What is the best adhesive to use for attaching bare metal foil, (or any other type of foil), to a plastic kit? I get the basics of how to do it, I just don't know which adhesive to use. Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Old Blind Dog]

Bare Metal Foil Corp. makes and sell its own adhesive. I've heard good things.

But, truth is, you can use pretty much any water-based white glue, if sufficiently diluted before application. The thing is, whatever you use must remain relatively tacky after the glue has dried some.

A while back--we're talking years--somebody on these boards posted a recipe for homemade BMF adhesive, but it's been so long that I can't remember who it was or where, exactly, it was posted.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

[RichardL]

You can use Micro Metal Foil Adhesive from Microscale.

[arnobiz]

From what I've read here and there plain white glue (the sort you would use for wood) works fine.

[TonyT]

I have sticky backed foil :)

[B-17 guy]

Bare metal foil is too expensive for me to use, I use cheap household kitchen foil with elmers glue and furnace tape.

[Neo]

Get gold leaf adhesive work wonders

[ChippyWho]

Many thanks; this has been a big help -especially since my BMF now flatly refuses to stick to anything but itself. It is a few years old, but should this stuff have a shelf-life?

[F-16]

I understand that self adhesive bare metal foil (unused) does have a shelf life of approximately 6 months. After that the adhesive dries out and the foil on the sheet starts to degrade and crack. At this point it is useless to use and will break into lots of little pieces.

However, once the foil is applied to the model, the adhesive lasts really long. I have a number of models done in foil that are more than 2 years old and the foil had not cracked or anything.

Scott

CNJC-IPMS

Edited March 9, 2013 by f-16

[ChippyWho]

I understand that self adhesive bare metal foil (unused) does have a shelf life of approximately 6 months. After that the adhesive dries out and the foil on the sheet starts to degrade and crack. At this point it is useless to use and will break into lots of little pieces.

However, once the foil is applied to the model, the adhesive lasts really long. I have a number of models done in foil that are more than 2 years old and the foil had not cracked or anything.

Scott

CNJC-IPMS

Ah, many thanks for the information Sir. I figured this must be the case; next time I'll use the 'JIT Inventory Model'! The foil itself is fine, no cracks or any other deterioration, it just wants to remain aloof...

For the record, I always admire fully-foiled models although I'll never have the guts to try one myself. I did find BMF useful for specific areas though, and it worked really well when new. Lesson learned!

[balls47]

Bare Metal Foil has adhesive on the back. I have tried it and it's great stuff. Due to the price, I use it for trimming and small jobs. For larger jobs, I use the thinnest (and it's usually the cheapest) aluminum foil that I can find. My foil adhesive of choice is Sealer by Metal Leaf with a picture of Mona Lisa on the bottle. It looks pretty much like the others. It's a white, Elmer's type, glue. I get mine at Hobby Lobby.

[Horrido]

This *may* be the wrong stuff, but the bottle looks about right with the label. I've never used it, just heard different sources say it's the best they've tried. No clue how it compares to the Micro Metal Foil Adhesive:

http://www.texasart....af-Adhesive.htm

Edit: Seems balls47 posted it.

Also ran across some metal foil tape for finger nails during my search. Anyone hazard a test?

Edited March 12, 2013 by Horrido