Scout Chest reinforcement

[ZanderCage]

Hi everyone. So I'm looking to reinforce my RS Scouts chest piece with some ABS strips on the back of the crease and I'm wondering what kind of plastic weld you would recommend useing? I see people recommending devcon plastic weld but it doesn't seem like that is readily available where I'm from would JB Weld plastic weld work or should I get ABS cement?

[Dart]

You're best off with something that bonds the plastic directly, like a plastic weld and not E6000 or CA glue. I'd do a test before you use the ABS cement. I can't remember if it gets warm when used... possibly affecting the RS chest negatively. Do a test and go from there. Make sure that whatever piece you use, you make the reinforcement a single piece that gets bent over the back of the crease. Stronger that way. And you don't need a huge piece, maybe about 1" is enough near the bottom of it, just above where it dips in.

[ZanderCage]

1 minute ago, Dart said:

You're best off with something that bonds the plastic directly, like a plastic weld and not E6000 or CA glue. I'd do a test before you use the ABS cement. I can't remember if it gets warm when used... possibly affecting the RS chest negatively. Do a test and go from there. Make sure that whatever piece you use, you make the reinforcement a single piece that gets bent over the back of the crease. Stronger that way. And you don't need a huge piece, maybe about 1" is enough near the bottom of it, just above where it dips in.

Sounds good thanks. I think I'm leaning more towards the JB Weld plastic weld cause I believe abs cement does get quite warm. Do you have any advice on placement or any tips? Just wanna make sure i get it right the first time and not make mistakes.

[Aradun]

JB Plastic Weld is what I used.  Make sure the surfaces are clean and dust free before applying the weld.

As for placement, I recently discussed this in another thread and posted pics on where my reinforcements were placed.  You’ll need to apply heat to the reinforcement pieces to soften them up so that they will conform to the shape of the armor.  Of course you’ll want to just apply the heat to the reinforcement piece apart from the armor and not directly to the armor itself.

 

[ZanderCage]

1 minute ago, Aradun said:

JB Plastic Weld is what I used.  Make sure the surfaces are clean and dust free before applying the weld.

As for placement, I recently discussed this in another thread and posted pics on where my reinforcements were placed.  You’ll need to apply heat to the reinforcement pieces to soften them up so that they will conform to the shape of the armor.  Of course you’ll want to just apply the heat to the reinforcement piece apart from the armor and not directly to the armor itself.

 

Thank you very much.

[welshchris77]

CA superglue will work great, just have to be careful not to drip it anywhere you don't want it to go, wearing gloves is good also so as not to accidentally glue your fingers together!, lol

[Dart]

10 hours ago, welshchris77 said:

CA superglue will work great, just have to be careful not to drip it anywhere you don't want it to go, wearing gloves is good also so as not to accidentally glue your fingers together!, lol

If someone is using CA glue, better to use the gel glue as it isn't as brittle.

[Aradun]

Standard CA glue has its applications but I would refrain from using it to glue reinforcement pieces to the chest armor. The locations for reinforcement are high stress areas that flex when donning and doffing the armor. CA glue will fail over time under these conditions. I can’t speak to the gel CA version.

[ZanderCage]

I ended up useing JB Weld plastic weld and it worked great. Had some difficulties with shaping the reinforcement pieces but that because I'm not the best with a heat gun. Thanks everyone.

[welshchris77]

On 2/1/2025 at 12:21 PM, Aradun said:

Standard CA glue has its applications but I would refrain from using it to glue reinforcement pieces to the chest armor. The locations for reinforcement are high stress areas that flex when donning and doffing the armor. CA glue will fail over time under these conditions. I can’t speak to the gel CA version.

Always worked fine for me, build loads of armour over the years and also used on high stress areas, never had an issue with it, perhaps not all CA glue is the same though, who knows 🤷‍♂️

[Chopper]

Dennis is correct. You want a chemical bond that joins the reinforced plastic to the chest plate. A chemical bond, like with abs glue or plastic weld will have some flex. CA glue is strong but rigid and brittle. It does not "weld" the plastic reinforcement to the armor.