Model Forum / General / Rockets / March 2006

For my first mid-power rocket I used Pro-Bond polyurethane
adhesive, thinking it would be easier to use a one-part glue than
a two-part epoxy.  I've never looked back.  It's my primary
adhesive, and I've even taken to using it for fiberglassing fins
and body tubes.  When I need something to set up fast, or for
external work such as fin fillets, I will use a five-minute or
30-minute epoxy.  But for everything else I use Pro-Bond, and
I've had no trouble with any of the rockets I've built using that
glue.

...Rick

Different materials require different glues.

Yellow wood glue will not stick to or soak into plastic.

Thousands of past posts have discussed glue. Googling of the newsgroup will
provide you with more answers than you can imagine.

This has been hotly debated here in the past.  5 minute epoxy?  30 minute
epoxy?  1 hour epoxy?  Actually any of them are usually stronger than the
objects being bonded.

Many years ago I decided to determine "the speed of balsa".  So I built a
stock Big Bertha, original paper centering rings and all, with a 29mm motor
mount.  The huge Big Bertha fins were mounted with nothing more than Elmer's
white glue.

This was launched many times on progressively larger and larger motors.
Many flights were made on G 40's, G 64's and G 80's.

I did finally find the speed of balsa when I launched the Big Bad Bertha on
a Vulcan G 200.  You could hear the fins buzzing from the flutter all the
way up and they finally all failed.  All parts were recovered for analysis
and not a single glue joint broke.

So most any glue should be fine.  White glue works well for light
construction, even on G powered flights.  5 minute epoxy sure does make
mounting the fins easier though and is definitely strong enough for any mid
power model.

Dave

The same glues apply here as in modroc. If you need epoxy use it but wood
glue (yellow) and CA have worked fine for me for years. Epoxy works well too
but it's dang heavy.