Best glue for cracked Carrera track section?

[SlotCat]

I've got a fairly new section of Carrera track that has a little more than a 1" long crack in the racing surface goes all the way through, but lays flat unless I press on it with my fingers. What is the best glue for this? MEK, acetone, CA or?

[docdoom]

I would use 2 part poxie and glue a scrap plastic to the back side of the track were the crack is.

[RichD]

The track is made of ABS, which is a type of styrene. Regular model cement, like Testors should work. I would run a generous bead of cement along the crack on the underside of the track and then flex the track a little to get the cement deeper into the crack. Leave the track section upside down until the cement is dry. Extra plastic glued to the bottom of the track with epoxy would be the ultimate solution.

[F1Fan]

Working from underneath I would scuff the area with a piece of coarse sandpaper (epoxies work best if there is "mechanical" grip) and then glue a thin piece of (also scuffed) plastic or even a popsicle stick along and across the crack. Clean and dry the areas to be glued with some isopropanol alcohol prior to gluing.

I would suggest a rubber reinforced CA (I like Loctite) or one of the made for plastic two part epoxies - the CA should flow a bit better into the crack, but if you are able to provide the additional support below, you should have a permanent repair.

[chrisguyw]

As Rich indicates the Carrera track is styrene, so regular plastic car model cement, or some styrene plastic weld are the best choices. I would also recommend a piece of styrene sheet glued over the crack/split from underneath, but, I would strongly favour styrene model cement/styrene weld over epoxy.

Over the years, I have repaired Carrera, Artin, Eldon, and Aurora/Afx track this way with great results.

Cheers
Chris Walker

[F1Fan]

Working from underneath I would scuff the area with a piece of coarse sandpaper (epoxies work best if there is "mechanical" grip) and then glue a thin piece of (also scuffed) plastic or even a popsicle stick along and across the crack. Clean and dry the areas to be glued with some isopropanol alcohol prior to gluing.

I would suggest a rubber reinforced CA (I like Loctite) or one of the made for plastic two part epoxies - the CA should flow a bit better into the crack, but if you are able to provide the additional support below, you should have a permanent repair.

Lot's of good advice, but just to be clear, there are epoxies that are especially formulated for use with plastic:

[SlotCat]

Ive used that stuff but different brand on some RC monster truck bulkhead reinforcement, omg it's good stuff and as stated chemically melts into the plastic to cure as one strong piece! Impressive stuff!

[Heli_ca]

On Scaley track I have used a hot glue gun. Put a large blob of hot glue on underside and put wax paper down and just press down so that the glue fills entire cavity under the crack/track.

[Model Murdering]

The best cement for black ABS?

Black ABS cement.

Use a backer.

[SlotCat]

Very nice! lol

[Slotspeed]

I have just used a good quality cyanoacrylate superglue on several different track sections for Carrera track and it works really well, have not had it debond or break again. Most often I put a backing behind a crack and I've used cut up bits of mega blocks (I think that is the brand of kids oversized bricks that I used) and it all bonds together instantly, feels like it will never come apart again.

[oldstromguy]

I've fabricated custom track sections, like this 1/2 R1 curve for Strombecker track. Some scrap track pieces and a little bead of gel CA glue worked fine to keep it together.
The seam is perfectly smooth on the track side.

[SlotCat]

Nice custom track piece!

[SlotCat]

Lots of great answers, thanks! Wasn't sure what kinda of plastic it is, but with HRW's wealth of information I used acetone (my go to for styrene/ABS) just dabbed it into the underside of the track, flexed it all around to work it in, put more on couple times and clamped it flat with a small DeWalt wood working clamp. After it was all cured, I smeared a light coat of black ShoeGoo underneath and filled what tiny bit of crack remained. In hindsight I've got some scrap Carrera shoulders I coulda cut as a backer, but it should be fine as I've used ShoeGoo on all kinds of stuff, very durable and still flexes at about same rate as the rest of the piece as it's not hard and I put a light coat.

For some ABS/Styrene mods/repairs I've found that a thin slurry of the same plastic mixed up is the best glue and if done properly, no filler required!

[mattb]

It's not rocket science, super glue, model glue, hot glue(which works great when you fabricate new pieces of track), Acetone, it all works, a layer of plastic underneath helps, but unless you plan to step on it, any glue works fine. If you want to walk on it, build a routed track!