Hey guys,

I removed my buckles from my Spat armour for painting, but then tried to assemble things in a hurry [Con Crunch!] and managed to crack the ABS when doing the rivets.

Was thinking of super-gluing the crack, and epoxying bit of aluminium sheet inside as a backing.

Thoughts / advice welcome please.

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Cpl Aron "septic" Williams
A10/TQ0.0.82146E1

might be able to heat weld the inside of the crack with a soldering iron. then maybe epoxy on the back or zap-A-Gap glue.

If it were me I would probably try and super glue it. Gel not the super thin runny stuff as it could seep out and ruin the paint. Also no accelerant as this might also affect the paint. I think your idea of strengthening the back might work but i'd try and use a bendy piece of plastic rather than aluminium. i.e. something that you can squish in and make a really good contact with the two halves.

best of luck

I’d leave out the super glue, it will be too brittle on a high stress area like this. Run a bit of epoxy in the crack and back it like you initially thought.
You’ll probably want to sand down any excess epoxy or alternatively; paint it to look like a weld, field-fix

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AKA: Simon

Am I seeing that correctly that it is the BACK plate? If so, you could just put a reinforcement plate on the inside of the whole darned thing covering the slots, old rivet holes and crack, then fill it all in. With new rivet points mounting the webbing over the top and deleting the slot, you get more accurate while eliminating the weak spot entirely.

But I only recommend that if it is indeed the back plate. The breastplate did use the slot system, where the back did not.

If the material is ABS, reinforce the area with another piece of ABS. Use a heat gun on the "patch" and form it to the contours of the broken part. Mask the painted surfaces. Use acetone liberally to lightly dissolve the surfaces of both pieces (it will seep into the crack allowing the same reaction) and clamp them together as tightly as you can. This will chemically bond the parts FAR better than almost any other glue/epoxy, essentially making them a single piece. Slots and holes can then be remade as needed.