Is there a safe way to break apart a Plastic Model

[StingrayP226]

Hello all I got some Valkyries recently second hand that have a few parts that I want to take apart, clean, and reassemble on. Is there a safe way to break them apart if they are glued together using plastic glue or do I need to find another work around?

[daboarder]

was it glued with plastic glue or super glue.

If it was super glue then just dunk it in water for a bit before cracking it apart.

If its plastic glue, well thats harder, plastic glue works by dissolving the polystyrene on both sides of the joint, then these dissolved segments mix and the solvent evaporates leaving only the polystyrene. Its a chemical bond. To break them you need to crack them along the fracture lines, its a lot harder, Id recommend cutting them with a sharp knife

[lomaxxdurang]

Note I have a big slice in my thumb from this procedure. Be careful because sometimes the plastic will just shear and then give at an awkward cut on my thumb for that reason.

[DarkLink]

If it's plastic glue, you're going to do more damage to the model than it's worth. Super glue likely isn't going to be that much better. Probably worth it just to glue the hatches shut, scrub the paint off the outside and go from there.

[White Tiger88]

If it's plastic glue, you're going to do more damage to the model than it's worth. Super glue likely isn't going to be that much better. Probably worth it just to glue the hatches shut, scrub the paint off the outside and go from there.

Soak it in Simple green......It even eats down plastic glue after a bit to loosen it.

[DarkLink]

That's worth trying, and sometime it works really well. Just don't try and force it if it doesn't work.

[Morgrim]

If it's superglue put the model in the freezer, the cold weakens it. If it's plastic glue you're out of luck as others have said.

[DETHMOKIL]

Remember that super glue only bonds in a very certain way. It Tends to have very low shear strength, so don't pull it apart, try to slide it apart, like how you would remove two strong magnets. if that makes sense. Don't force it, and do it at the lowest point possible, to try avoid bending plastic. It works very, very well for metal minis.

Then I'd sliding in an X-acto blade into a gap and use it very carefully as a tiny crowbar. If there are no gaps, then simple green won't help much any way.

Finally, there is cutting your loses and hacking it apart with clippers to save one piece, while destroying another. This is what I do to really crumby guardsmen. The legs and lasgun are arms are worth more then a torso which can usually be scraped from flamer/'Nade guys. Nooby players make way to many of those.

[StingrayP226]

Its plastic glue and on some of these Valkyries the original owner didn't clip off sprue flash before gluing parts together leading to parts having massive gaps due to the flash not allowing a flush fit.

[Thaldin]

If there are big gaps, can you get a small hobby saw in them?

[Darren Richardson]

ahh that might work to your advantage....

if the seams aren't flush you have a better chance of performing Model Surgery (tm) on the poor Valkyrie, just carefully cut into the parts of the spruie flash and you should then be able to remove the peices and then sand down to a nice flush fit.