Windows in the galleries: second attempt
Sometimes things go wrong. Last night I fitted the windows on the left-hand gallery, but it didn’t go well. I had cut the clear panes to the size of the openings in the gallery so they would fit inside, but it didn’t come out neatly. Took it all off again.
The biggest problem is the glue. The frames are very small and every drop of CA glue seems to leave stains. I was afraid the same would happen with the brass frames. PVA won’t work, but I still don’t consider CA glue a success, so I asked for advice.
Hans Groenenberg is working on the same thing and had the same problem with his transom: the CA glue quickly runs out over the glass. He now uses UHU Hart, or otherwise a thicker CA glue (gel) that doesn’t run as much. His windows are 9 x 6 mm. Building Mouse: after applying, dab away as much glue as possible again with an old rag, then there’s simply too little glue left to run. Piet uses Pattex Extreme Repair for jobs like this. It doesn’t react with paint, so no white blooming, and the longer drying time isn’t a problem here because there’s no tension on the windows. In his view CA glue is fairly aggressive and he only uses it to secure knots. I ordered a tube of UHU straight away, but it won’t arrive until Tuesday. So off to the DIY store for the Pattex then.
CA glue after all
This morning I did get the windows in, with CA glue and a bit of improvisation. Positioning once the glue is on is impossible because of the fast drying time. So I first cut out the outline and made, as it were, a tiny frame that the piece of plastic fits into exactly. That gets the position right straight away. Then I glued the plastic in first and the white frame on top of it. This time without too many stains.
The right-hand side is done too. Getting the position right remains a hassle and I’m still not sure it’s right. What makes it tricky is that the left and right sets aren’t exactly the same size, so the two sides look just slightly different. Building Mouse remarked that you usually only see one side at a time anyway. I’m happy with it.
