Bonding Aluminum Panels

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Made a decision, rightly or wrongly, to buy a kit which has an aluminum lower hull bottom plate, aluminum back plate and aluminum lower hull side panels, all separate parts which need to be bonded together. I'm not into Mig/Tig welding (or any "welding" alternative). But, I need to bond them. Is there an epoxy-type product that would do the job? And while I'm at it, let me ask what bonding product would be suitable for bonding the aluminum base to a polystyrene upper hull?

I know, I know, I should have answered these questions before I took the plunge, but, hey, it's not the first time to leap before looking.

All advice most appreciated.

[PainlessWolf]

Good evening,
There are products that will solder or weld metal to metal just by applying then following up with the application of heat. If the kit were mine, I would first give some thought to being able to adjust the panels if required. I would use brackets and scale hardware to assemble the pieces like a Tamiya kit does so that I could take it apart and reset angles or summat if I had to. The top can be attached to the lower hull with the use of magnets in plastic mounts. Good luck with which ever route you take.
regards,
Painless

[tomhugill]

Keith used JB weld on my tiger p and it's rock solid.

[971wright]

Hi The best way is JB weld ,make sure the parts are clean and well keyed so the jb weld has a good surface to stick to.The hard part is holding them in correct position while it cures , use a plastic sheet/bag so it dosnt stick to bench tape it down to bench if it dose stick to bag easy to remove ,if its stuck to bench very hard.


regards pete

[SCHWEREPANZER]

Thanks Painless, Tom and Pete. Good thoughts all. I see some JB Weld in my future. And thanks, Pete, for the helpful suggestions to prevent the model from becoming a permanent fixture to the work bench!