You are not alone! I had a very similar experience recently as my Antex 25w wasn't doing the business on 12 AWG which was winding me up as I've done lots of soldering in the past and pride myself on being pretty good at it!!! I couldn't even get the new wire to tin!
Suspected the iron was under powered so I got a 50w station from Maplin but that was no better so returned it. I think their irons are fine for soldering components but are not man enough for RC needs. My dad has a 20 year old 150w Weller and some proper lead based solder (prob also 20 years old) and that did it in a trice.
I think you'll be fine with the Weller and some decent solder. As others have said, fluxing the wires also helps. You may also need to use more solder than you usually would as the 12 AWG seems to act as a heat sink.
Good luck!
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