: Paul, thanks for your response. The issue is a bit more annoying: It's not
: getting them clamped for hot-melt, it's getting the hot-melt to hold
: afterwards--even when clamped overnight before releasing, using
: high-adhesion glue.

Why even bother with hotmelt glues here at all?

Let's get back to the basics: You do not want these strips glued to your forms (using relatively weak and brittle hotmelt glue, or any ohter glue for that matter) but rather you want the strips edge glued to each other. Use the screw and wood scrap to hold your strip in place while the serious glue you put on its edge sets up, bonding it to the previously applied strip.

When the glue is hard and you remove the screw the strip will try ot straighten, but will be constrained from doing so by being glued to the other strips. It will come away from the forms a bit, but not so far as to be a problem. When you add the next strip, you use the screw and wood scrap to pull the two strips into contact with the form. Previously glued strips will follow right into their proper places. Some of those you've hot glued will of course stay where you glued them, and some will pop off from the springiness of the added strips, but they should draw back into place as you clamp on each successive strip.

In a worst case, put a screw into the offending strip, not a nail. The nail doesn't hold the strip in as well, and it will be more difficult to remove neatly. use a scrap of wood over the strip to protect it from indentation by the screw head. When you pull out the screw you can plug the hole so it is hardly noticed. Don"t go overboard with screws. One screw in a form at the tightest part of the bend should do the trick for a recalcitrant strip, and the next ones will be happily edgeglued to it, so those should stay in place for at least a strip or two before you may need to use another screw into the actual strip, instead of alongside it.

Hope this helps

PGJ