What’s the best glue to stick Aluminium (tin) foil? It makes great corrugated roofing but how to glue it?
For the buildings on my £35 model railway, I’m using a lot of Aluminium foil to make corrugated roofing. (See my guide on how to make corrugated roofing).
What I didn’t mention is how to stick the shiny sheets together.
There are comments on other sites that suggest PVA but you’re just wasting your time if you try this. PVA is great for ballasting, scatter material, paper, card and styrofoam and polystyrene but it’s no use whatsoever for tin foil. I’ve tried!
And Superglue, surprisingly, didn’t seem to work either.
No, for sticking tin foil together I use UHU all-purpose adhesive.
Extra: If you want to stick tin foil for a material that melts with UHU, foam etc, use PVA to glue a sheet of paper to the foam and then use UHU to glue the tin foil to the paper.
Just deposit a small amount along the areas to be fixed and hold it firm until the glue dries.
> A final, personal, note: I spend a huge amount of time testing, photographing, writing and researching techniques for these articles and pay for all the running costs of MRE out of my own pocket. If you found this article useful you can support me by making a donation on my fund-raising page. Thanks and happy modelling, Andy.
Andy is a lifelong modeler, writer, and founder of modelrailwayengineer.com. He has been building model railways, dioramas, and miniatures for over 20 years. His passion for model making and railways began when he was a child, building his first layout at the age of seven.
Andy’s particular passion is making scenery and structures in 4mm scale, which he sells commercially. He is particularly interested in modelling the railways of South West England during the late Victorian/early Edwardian era, although he also enjoys making sci-fi and fantasy figures and dioramas. His website has won several awards, and he is a member of MERG (Model Railway Electronics Group) and the 009 Society.
When not making models, Andy lives in Surrey with his wife and teenage son. Other interests include history, science fiction, photography, and programming. Read more about Andy.