Black Hawk Models will be including a tube of "Sigment" cement and a piece of sandpaper in some of our kits. Currently it will be included in the "American Flyer" and the "Tethered Trainer" ( a 1940's kit). The new "Cyclone Hawk" will also get the cement. There will NOT be an increase in the price of these kits. Each kit with the added cement will be labled "WARNING, Model Cement Included, DO NOT SELL TO MINORS".
     We are hoping that this will make it easier for the beginner so that he does not need to try to find model cement.
Larry

I think my first cement was Comet. Next came Testors, Ambroid, Duco, and Sig.

I remember one friend was relegated to using "Stanley" cement because his mother sold Stanley Home Products. 

Larry...nice touch.

George

... Anybody remember trying to turn the screweye into the end of the tubes back then?  Actually twisted a couple open that way.
Believe it or not, I still have a sealed 20 cc metal tube of Ambroid from maybe the late 50s. 

Yep! You had to push and turn at the same time.

I also remember using those screw-eyes as pushrod guides. 

George

...and the rolled-up empty tubes as wingtip weights.

wow

This old tube I have goes one better.  You have to use a straight pin to puncture the tip seal.  I remember having tubes I could puncture holding a straight pin by hand, and others that almost needed a hammer and nail.  They could bend a T pin using a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Of course, I didn't build my first kits using tube cement.  The nght of my 4th birthday, I snuck my birthday presents into my room and using a jar lid I picked up somewhere, I assembled 2 Strombecker wood ships using the dry caesin glue mixed with my saliva.  Really surprised my dad the next morning.  He and Mom hadn't realized I could read well enough to follow the instructions, and figure out the difference between the pack of glue and the pack of wood sealer.

I built quite a few of those Strombecker kits when they were available.  In fact, I still have one, an F-94B.

Larry,

Apologies for hijacking your thread. We seem to have gotten way off subject.

I noticed in your initial entry about putting a warning about not selling to minors...is selling glue to minors prohibited now?

George

The warnings aren't really that new.

I remember about 1962-63 the owner of an LHS commenting on the attempts (or maybe actual laws enacted) trying to prevent sales of any cements or solvent based paints to minors.  Most of the HS owners knew the difference between regular minor customers who'd buy a tube of glue, maybe a couple bottles of Aerogloss or Testor's or Comet dope for model aircraft building, and the junkies who'd try to by 5 or 10 or even more tubes at a time for what is now called huffing.  I was there on at least one occasion when he refused to sell a couple cans of AG Dope Thinner to a bloodshot eyed runny nosed kid after selling me a couple cans of dope, a pint of the thinner, and a large tube of Ambroid. He'd on several occasions actually delayed a couple people while his wife called in the authorities on that type.  Even managed to put the cops onto a small local pusher group that was getting people to go into stores and buy or steal tubes and bottles for them.  Took about 6 sellers, 3 or 4 hundred pounds of pot, and large quantities of Heroin and LSD out of circulation.  Most of the other hobby shops did similar things. A lot of business people back then had a real sense of civic responsibility.

     I am sorry but I have been out of town so did not see the chats.
     Most states prohibit the sale of toluene, a chemical in cement. We label the kits to remind that the store owners that they must watch local laws. It is the toluene that gets you high at the cost of a few brain cells. MEK soaks into the skin and winds up in the blood system, it can stay in your system for life. I used it for a couple of years in the 60's and sometimes I can still smell it when I an doing bodily functions.
Larry

I remember that being discussed in an American Modeler magazine back probably when I was in 7th or 8th grade.  I think the first time I actually saw (smelled?) it was in a tube of Duco cement.  Or maybe one of the plastic cements.  About 20 years ago, I bought or found in a kit a tube of imported cement that was labeled as having an irritating odorant in it to discourage sniffing.  Thought of it as being false advertising, since it smelled more citrussy, like fresh orange.

I guess I never had all that much overdose on thinners, or I was one of the people who is somewhat resistant.  Or maybe just the fact that I usually worked near an open window or doped outside helped, because even now, at 66, I usually measure over 100% of my calculated lung capacity on pulmanory tests, and on the treadmill, I don't breathe hard and barely get to my target heart rate and blood pressure on my occasinal stress tests.  And about the only hallucinations I can remember having are when I get stuck listening to political ranters.  Or reality TV shows.  Too bad I didn't have the same luck with my hearing after over 60 years working with engines of all kinds.