BALLASTING
It needn't be waiting days for lakes of diluted PVA to dry then hours scraping loose ballast off the top of sleepers that's been washed up with the glue if instead you just use super glue.

It's ten times quicker, ten times cleaner and sets the ballast instantly and exactly where you placed it but, easy goes it around pointwork and especially around the tie bars.

Now, the big question is - how much will all this cost considering the regular price of superglue at around 6/8 quid for a 50g bottle? Well, that depends where you but it from where and 'Tradingangels@hotmail.co.uk. will sell you 10x50g BonFix Super Thin Viscosity Super Glue High Strength, High Speed for only £29.99 so I bought a 120 quids worth which more than ample for what I needed - about 8 to 10 bottles.



Anyway,you will most definitely need a mask and goggles when applying the drops between and around the sleepers as the fumes are positively potent !




















So, here are the results after about 2 hours work.



Allan

Prima facie, it looks good, Allan.

It can wick into the smallest spaces, so yes, great care around any moving parts.

What you can smell is cyanide, so well ventilated is the watch cry; and remove all pets (caged birds etc), from the area.

Hi Allan,

Neat (if expensive). CA fumes can be quite irritating, plus you will soon see where all your finger prints are on the sleepers. HCN generation normally requires temperatures above 200 degrees C, so unless there is a fire you should be OK. In which case the fire service will appreciate being told. The vapor is CA monomer, not HCN. The CN group is tightly bound to the acrylate polymer.

One thing you may find is that it could be noisier than PVA or caulking, both of which are flexible. Lifting track will require a CA debonder such as acetone, which will of course attack the sleepers.

Nigel

After having read your comments guys on the adverse effects of Superglue I have to whole heartedly agree - GUYS, DON'T USE IT !

The reason I say that, after having started this thread encouraging others to do so, Is that despite using a mask, I have been coughing up blood and now have a very sore chest. As some may know, I have lung cancer and quite possibly the cyno fumes have aggravated the tumor - I'm not really sure until I have seen my doctor but It might not be a bad idea if the moderators deleted this thread altogether.


Please, just stick with the old safe and sound diluted PVA method. Your health is more important than speed and any dangerous short cuts as those I have recommended here and now seriously retract.


Again, DON'T use superglue for ballasting !


Best regards.


Allan.

Hi Allan,

I minimised my comment on adverse effects. I am so sorry to hear about the reaction. Hopefully it hasn't exacerbated the other problem.

To fellow modelers: CA fumes are nasty, and unless you have a chemical respirator and appropriate ventilation, it should only be used in small quantities (that means drops). The one which we normally use in modeling, the ethyl ester, is quite toxic. That's one of the reasons it comes in small quantities.

From my bottle of CA:

WARNING: EYE, RESPIRATORY AND SKIN IRRITANT. BONDS SKIN IN SECONDS. And the label also contains the red lozenge with exclamation mark.

It has a low vapor pressure, which means it evaporates rapidly, specially the thinner ones. Try and use the gels, rather than the liquids.

Nigel

Hi Allan.

I'm sorry to hear about your reaction.  Rather than delete the thread, it might be worth leaving it for others to see.

Cheers

Gosh Allan sounds awful, I hope the effects are only temporary and you are mended soon. However; I admire your pioneering spirit and the results look good! I believe this stuff was originally developed in the Vietnam war for rapidly sealing wounds?

I agree, a useful warning thread.
I too was unaware of the potential health hazards of CA.

I’ll be much more careful in future.

Hope it clears up soon Allan

[user=11]Bob K[/user] wrote:

Gosh Allan sounds awful, I hope the effects are only temporary and you are mended soon. However; I admire your pioneering spirit and the results look good! I believe this stuff was originally developed in the Vietnam war for rapidly sealing wounds?

Nope, accidental discovery during WW2 when new clear plastics for gun sights were being studied, put to one side because it stuck to everything. First sold in 1958 (original discovery 1942). It has medical applications, not just wound healing. And not the derivative we use for modeling.

Treat it with respect, wear gloves and eye protection, small quantities, plenty of ventilation, no heating (HCN generation).

Nigel

I hit my scalp & created a flap of skin and it was  too hard to stitch so I jokingly suggested Super Glue & the Doc took me up on that & got out the medical version & it worked a treat.

I've even used our regular modelling CA glue for a big cut.

It works fine.

[user=11]Bob K[/user] wrote:

Gosh Allan sounds awful, I hope the effects are only temporary and you are mended soon. However; I admire your pioneering spirit and the results look good! I believe this stuff was originally developed in the Vietnam war for rapidly sealing wounds?

The medical versions are not the same as the consumer version. For a number of reasons regular CA should not be used as a substitute for bandaids or sutures. The last thing you want is CA in the bloodstream.

Nigel

Well, I spent most of Christmas day and most of boxing day in a Grimsby hospital ward coughing up impressive amounts of blood ( told the nurses I was a Nam vet and it was shrapnel on the move ) covered in sticky pads, drilled full of holes for various tests and cannula things, pipes and plugs, several xrays, fed through a large plastic doughnut for a scan and hospital food because the doctors- 89 of them - suspected a blood clot in the lungs. Results ? No blood clot, no suggested treatment just go home and keep coughing up blood ! 

What on earth would we do without modern medical analysis  and subsequent hi-tech treatment ……..?  But some of dem nurses by Golly…..


Allan

No casting of chicken bones then. 
Nigel

[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:

No casting of chicken bones then. 
Nigel

Not quite, but there was a gaggle of Matrons in long hats dancing around and throwing dead frogs into a cauldron.


Allan.

[user=1427]allan downes[/user] wrote:

[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:

No casting of chicken bones then. 
Nigel

Not quite, but there was a gaggle of Matrons in long hats dancing around and throwing dead frogs into a cauldron.


Allan.

Sounds like my kitchen on Christmas Day 

Hope you make a full recovery very quickly.

John.

[user=1427]allan downes[/user] wrote:

[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:

No casting of chicken bones then. 
Nigel

Not quite, but there was a gaggle of Matrons in long hats dancing around and throwing dead frogs into a cauldron.


Allan.

Dead frogs? First year medical students, That's why there is a shortage.

Nigel