What types of glues will work best to build model rockets?

It is helpful to know that adhesives that work well with porous materials—like balsa—do not always work well with nonporous materials—like plastic.

Carpenter’s glue or wood glue works well when bonding balsa and paper parts together, but it does not work when bonding plastic nose cone parts together.

For bonding plastic pieces together, we recommend plastic cement.

You can also use some types of CA (cyanoacrylate) glues for bonding both porous and nonporous materials together. However, while the CA bond to plastics is good, it is not any better than solvent-based adhesives, such as plastic cement or liquid cement.