Am I the only one who looks longingly...

[Sir Norman Ray]

Hey all, I don't know if there is another thread like this, so please forgive me if there is.

Anyway, I currently have three Lego Pride and Joys. The First, is my Market Square. Best Christmas Present, only beaten by my 21st Birthday Present from November. (Laser Eye Surgery. MEIN FUHRER! I CAN SEE!)

The other two are my two South Essex units, the first being in my signature below and is an early 19th Century British Battalion. The second unit, and my current project, is the South Essex in WW2, which is currently shown here on BrickArms. Attatched to it is Maggie, my MechBrick Churchill tank named after my favourite post WW2 PM (Thatcher) and Simpson character (no prizes there for guessing)

Maggie in her modded glory

I love my tank to bits. But, it falls apart with the drop of a hat. It last fell apart on Monday morning. Okay, i admit it, I trod on it with my slipper. But I have found that its horribly easy to break this thing, and have to spend an hour repairing it because of the way its built. Even tapping it can be dangerous.

But am I the only person here, after hours of painstaking building, who looks at that tube and thinks the world will be a better place? Has anybody actually ever glued LEGO bits together before, and have you regretted it?

Please tell, because I plan to go to BrickCon in October with Maggie and the South Essex, and I doubt a NINE HOUR flight will leave that tank in good order, no matter how many shirts I wrap it in.

Thank you for reading my ramblings,

-Sir Norman "it this or chewing gum. AND I'M ALL OUT OF KICKING THE FORUM CENSOR." Ray.

Edited April 21, 2009 by Sir Norman Ray

[prateek]

i've seen multiple glued MOCs and none of them can come apart so if you plan on taking it apart, i wouldnt glue it

[5150 Lego]

Yes i have glue pieces toeghter, and yes, i have regretted it. Mainly because once it glued, thats it. There's no going back. You might love your tank to death now, but later on you might want to"borrow" a peice for another temporary moc, might want to add something later. I've learned that there is always a way to add on, or change the design that might make it stronger, or more realistic. If you glue them in, you'll never know if that one new piece you got could have added streath, or that exrta detail/function you've been longing for.

[CP5670]

I don't glue any models and would never want to do that, especially since I continually update my older MOCs over time. It's worth trying to make the model fairly strong in the first place. Technic elements can help with this and provide a lot of structural strength, especially for large models. A well built model shouldn't really come apart that easily.

There is actually a related point worth mentioning here; there are many so-called "advanced techniques" that people widely use in MOCs but are actually very flimsy and wouldn't appear in any official Lego set for that reason. I don't necessarily see anything like that on your model, but it's something worth keeping in mind.

[Raven Brickroft]

Glue? On LEGO? Heresy!!

No. I haven't glued any of my bricks. If it's that flimsy, maybe you should rethink its structure.

[Eskallon]

I would personally never glue my mocs, the reason for is that I will build then destroy then build then accidently destroy and then I would half build then get bored and move on. So it wouldn't help me. I would try improving the structure. I cant really tell but maybe if the inside is hollow fill it in.

[Duke]

The only thing i've glued is a broken flag (clips snapped) to a flagpole. Is there nothing you can redesign on the interior to make it stronger such as make it solid?

[Sandy]

To put it frankly, gluing MOCs will ruin the very purpose of LEGO-built models - that you can change and modify them any time to whatever you want. So no, I would never glue my creations. *shudders*

[furious]

if you used PVA or wood glue the parts should come apart with a wash in water. *

I cannot be held responsible for the parts not coming apart.

[Ralph_S]

Glue it? I wouldn't do that if I were you, because you'll never ever be able to take it apart and you'll never by able to change it (except by adding parts to the existing structure, of course). At the moment you might think it's the best thing since sliced bread, but a few years from now you may actually find that you don't like it all that much, that there are some things that you want to improve or that you'd rather use the parts to build something new.

Many of my models are complicated and often quite fragile, but I have displayed them at public events. It's not unusal for something to break, but so far it's never been too difficult to fix things. Granted, I've never taken them on a nine-hour plane trip, but I have taken them on pretty lengthy journeys by car. Just pack it very carefully in s small box with some packing peanuts around it. Some bits might come off, but you'll avoid major structural damage.

You might want to see whether there are things you can do to make it a bit stronger and if you really do want to add some strength by glueing things, use adhesive tape where you can't see it. That can always be removed.

One more obvious suggestion, don't leave your MOCs on the floor were you can step on them or otherwise hit them with your foot!

Cheers,

Ralph

[Talin Agasan]

I glue plenty of things, but never Lego. Sort of goes against the whole point of Lego.

But a practical note: if you glue it, and then step on with your slipper, what happens? More than likely it'll be more broken that simply bricks falling off. You may have bent, buckled or broken bricks.

[Natman8000]

The only thing i've glued is a broken flag (clips snapped) to a flagpole. Is there nothing you can redesign on the interior to make it stronger such as make it solid?

Same, my JSF's flag wing snapped so I restored the part w/ glue. I'm very glad I did that, wouldnt do that to anyting else though.

[xenologer]

If I had a MOC that fell apart so easily as you describe. It would NOT be my favorite.

I take pride in a MOCs strength just as much as I do how good it looks. What good is a spaceship that can't be swoosed? or a car that can be vroomvroomed?

My mind doesn't even go near glue, instead my first thought is, 'I need to redesign this MOC so it is strong on its own'.

[Eilif]

Okay, i admit it, I trod on it with my slipper. But I have found that its horribly easy to break this thing, and have to spend an hour repairing it because of the way its built. Even tapping it can be dangerous.

This appears to be your problem. I think that investing in a shelf (about 10 bucks at your hardware store) to store your MOC's safely, would be a much better investment than super glue. It's up to you of course, but I would advise against it.

My MOCs do quite a bit of traveling, and I've found that it's worth the effort to design sturdy MOCs. For those with fragile parts, they either get special packing, or I remove the fiddly bits before transit.

If you absolutely must glue, I would recomend only gluing the fiddly bits, and using a washable white glue like "Elmers School Glue" If your entire MOC is fiddly, then it's time for a redesign, or the above mentioned shelf.

[diabloiij]

only glue the essential parts, so If you want to break it up later, you will only lose like 10% of the bricks.