Gluing down small-scale furniture (or not)

Some thoughts by Anna-Carin Betzén

To glue or not to glue, that's the question... Personally, I tend to avoid using glue to fix furniture and accessories in place. In 1:48, I usually use holding wax instead. But sometimes gluing is necessary, like when you're making a roombox that will be a gift. Also, everything in my IKEA houses is glued, because if (or rather, when) I open these houses I have to put them face down to fix the back piece again, and there's an obvious risk that things will come loose in that process. In even-smaller-scale houses (H0 and 1:144), I glue everything to be safe. But in 1:48 scale houses that stand right side up all the time, I tend to use wax. I like being able to take out furniture pieces etc to look at them or check measurements.

Whether you've decided to use glue or holding wax, it's sometimes tricky to put the things where you want them. After fussing with tweezers for what seems like hours, and getting glue everywhere except where I wanted it, I finally came up with a simple way of placing 1:48 furniture in hard-to-reach areas (like at the back wall of a 20 cm (8") deep room where your hand won't fit). I used it on a chair, but this should work for most furniture with legs. It will probably work for smaller scales too.

Attach one end of a coffee stirrer (or similar) under the seat of your mini chair using a small amount of holding wax. Hold the other end of the stirrer and try positioning the chair in your mini house, to make sure that you can place it in the location and angle you want. Remove the chair from the house (stirrer still in place under the seat) to add glue or wax under the legs, then position it again. Press down slightly with any suitable tool that won't mar the top surface, then carefully press the stirrer down to release the chair. There'll probably be traces of holding wax left where the stirrer was attached, but they will hardly be visible.



www.btz.se/minis/ web site by Anna-Carin Betzén. All rights reserved.