OK, had a chance to work on the building for several nights and got the styrene stuck to the building with decent results so far. I didn't have too good of luck tracking some of the adhesives that were mentioned here, so I wound using this: It seems to be holding very well. It dries clear and has given me ample time to adjust the styrene after applying to the building, which is what I was looking for. Not sure if this will be my glue of choice, but for this project is seemed to work fine. It's nothing more than a thick water based contact cement, almost like a caulking. I still plan to look for and try a few of the adhesives mentioned. Here is what I came up with so far, it needs some cleaning up yet; filing and sanding but it's turning out about as I expected it should. I plan to add a facade around the top edges and then add some "L" strips to the outside corners to accent the building with trim. All the windows and doors are ready to install once I get the building painted, if I can decide on what color to use? Debating between a light tan or beige with white or brown trim? Then start adding all the little rooftop and building details. Thanks everyone for all the input. When I get the building finished, I'll post everything on the blog.
I have successful results in bonding materials of different composition by using a transfer adhesive. I learned of this product during my 28 years of employment at 3M. 3M has a line of transfer adhesives. On first glance they look like an adhesive tape, but they are a thin layer of adhesive applied to a liner. One applies them, peels off the liner and places the styrene, etc. on the surface to which they want to bond. The problem with liquid adhesives is the effect of the solvents on different types of materials. In my experience attempting to bond scale corrugate metal to styrene with liquid resulted in warping of the styrene.
I want to extend a "Thank you" to thank all who helped me out with their input for this project. I'll continue experimenting with other types of adhesives with future projects. I'll continue with the updates on this project on my main thread of The Little Rock Line. Thanks...
