Hello, I am going to be working with some photo etched instrument panels soon and they use acetate backings for the dial faces. What is the best way to glue the backing to the instrument panel? I am considering superglue but I worry that it will do to clear acetate what I know it does to clear styrene.

Superglue will fog the acetate, try using Elmer's white glue. It will hold them and dry clear.

Hi Michael

I agree with Chuck - either use superglue very sparingly (just a couple of dots applied with a toothpick) or, better, go for PVA (white glue). The part won't need to bear any load, so the bond with PVA is plenty strong enough.

All the best

Rowan

Thanks. Now all I got to do is get around to getting started.

You really do want to avoid superglue. It will fog the acetate big time. You can use some clear paint which will hold the acetate when it dries. If you are using a prepainted PE Instrument Panel, Clear Lacquer will eat and smear the paint. So be careful with that.

I recommend avoiding superglue as well. It may fog the acetate panel, but that doesn't matter much since future or clear varnish applied to the gauges will fix that. The main problem is that CA doesn't leave much time to adjust the position of the PE panel over the acetate.
PVA works great on these things. Thinking about it, microscale's kristal klear (or a similar product) could be even better, because it dries clear, you get the gauges treated at the same time.

Thanks for the help. I now have the instrument panels installed on my latest project:



This is a Nardi F.N. 305 in 1/72 scale from AZUR:



It is also my first kit with a vacuform canopy. They are hard to work with...

EDIT: Whoa, I forgot to resize the image of the box cover. I went ahead and removed it but you can see the photo here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Goldstandard/P1010088.jpg

If you have a Dremal tool you'll find them a bit easier. I rough cut mine and then use my Dremal to sand / grind them to final shape. Glue them in place with microscale's kristal klear (or a similar product).