1960 Corvette by gsdpic - MFH - 1/12 - Multimedia

[gsdpic]

Melt Test

 

I received the new soldering station, though have not yet received the solder.  The key feature is the ability to set the temperature, so I did a little "melt test" on the kit supplied white metal.  I grabbed one of the three parts of the front license plate bracket.  I've already commented that I might not put that bracket on so I figured it was a good piece to use for my tests.

 

I started with the soldering iron at 350 degrees F, which is about the melting point of the solder.  I then held the tip of the soldering iron to the bracket and fortunately nothing happened.  From there, I bumped up the temperature by 10 degrees and tried again, repeating that process until something happened.   The first sign of any melting was at 430, but that was very minor.  Even up to 475, the melting was minor and slow.  That is as high as I went.  So seems like I have 80 to 100 degrees to play with between the melting point of the solder and where the white metal parts might start to melt.

 

The solder is supposed to arrive Tuesday.  It is coming from the west coast so with any luck it will not be affected by the winter storm.

[CDW]

On 1/22/2026 at 12:48 PM, gsdpic said:

Just a quick update that I ordered a better soldering iron and some solder that I will attempt to use on the frame.  Meanwhile, all I've done is drill a few more holes.

I'm in the same boat with you on soldering white metal, Gary. No experience with it and what little I have was bad experience. The problem is the low melting temperature of the white metal. The solder used must be one that melts at a lower temperature than white metal. Did you order some from England? That's the only source I found, a shop in England, although some modelers say a well-stocked model railroad shop carries it. There is no well-stocked model railroad shop near me and I found none online in the USA.

A very experienced friend in Canada who builds many MFH kits says he uses 5-minute epoxy and CA glue to build his kits. Even he has not enough experience with solder to feel comfortable using it. Now the nice thing about using CA glue is that an acetone bath will dissolve the CA glue if you make a mistake. CA glue is a perfect match for temporary glue to check fit in temporary assemblies of white metal parts. My friend assembles his entire model temporarily before committing to a permanent glue. He gives it an acetone bath to take it back apart once he is certain everything fits properly. This of course DOES NOT include resin parts, which should not get an acetone bath. He tapes and uses blue tack, or white glue to assemble resin parts. 

[uss frolick]

I, too, am a classic 1960 model.

[gsdpic]

13 hours ago, CDW said:

I'm in the same boat with you on soldering white metal, Gary. No experience with it and what little I have was bad experience. The problem is the low melting temperature of the white metal. The solder used must be one that melts at a lower temperature than white metal. Did you order some from England? That's the only source I found, a shop in England, although some modelers say a well-stocked model railroad shop carries it. There is no well-stocked model railroad shop near me and I found none online in the USA.

A very experienced friend in Canada who builds many MFH kits says he uses 5-minute epoxy and CA glue to build his kits. Even he has not enough experience with solder to feel comfortable using it. Now the nice thing about using CA glue is that an acetone bath will dissolve the CA glue if you make a mistake. CA glue is a perfect match for temporary glue to check fit in temporary assemblies of white metal parts. My friend assembles his entire model temporarily before committing to a permanent glue. He gives it an acetone bath to take it back apart once he is certain everything fits properly. This of course DOES NOT include resin parts, which should not get an acetone bath. He tapes and uses blue tack, or white glue to assemble resin parts. 

 

Right, finding and deciding on solder was a challenge.  Some of the videos of soldering white metal kits show solder with a melting point of 70C or 100C (158F or 212F).  I googled and found one or two US-based online stores that listed something like that on their web site but all showed out of stock at the time.  But I now see one that has the 100C stuff in stock:  https://ironplanethobbies.com/product/dccconcepts-sapphire-100-low-temperature-solder-dcs-s100

 

Instead I bought something else I saw recommended, Muggy Weld Super Alloy 1.  I bought the smallest quantity I could find which seems to only be on amazon, not on their web site....four 18" sticks for 60 bucks.  It is supposed to melt at 177C/350F.   So, we'll see how that goes. 

 

I might be setting myself up for regret, but it seems a bit nuts to glue everything together with CA then dunk it in an acetone bath.  And I don't particularly want to deal with buckets of acetone.   As for epoxy....I know a lot of people hate CA but I'd much rather use it than epoxy.

 

Once I get the stuff,  I will try it out first on that same front license plate bracket, which has just three parts.  I suspect I will wish I had some better clamping solution for holding the parts while I solder.  At least the frame parts that I plan to primarily use it on are fairly large.  I'd be a lot more leery of using it on small or thin parts, like the tubular chassis of a race car.  If it does not work for me, maybe I'll try the 100C stuff from the link above.

 

[CDW]

Gary

 

This fellow has some excellent videos on building MFH kits, including soldering. His videos are well worth watching.

 

www.youtube.com/@motorsportinscale2291