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What the heck is happening here ?


cobraman

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I'm quite concerned about that VW bus, looks like Franklin Mint. Although FM & DM both have had rash issues, I have not seen the cancer on any.   I have that VW bus here never opened. :blink:

Ray and Lance, It surprises me that you have had very little issues on this. Maybe its the cars you have but there were some that the entire run went bad.  I have had way more bad ones than most collectors had, but I also have more cars than most collectors.  I will say that there are some you can't tell by just looking at them. If you apply even slight pressure opening a door or hood it could snap off. 

I have had so many it put me in the parts business, :wacko:  There a few that the plastic bases have gone brittle as well.

I would also like to make it clear that this is NOT just items from overseas. I have two farm toys, made by different companies here in USA that also fell apart. 

Ok, I have to go find my VW.

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I'm quite concerned about that VW bus, looks like Franklin Mint. Although FM & DM both have had rash issues, I have not seen the cancer on any.   

It's no secret that both Danbury and Franklin have used the same production supplier in China.  Notice that both discontinued their programs at the same time, when the supplier went out of business?

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I'm quite concerned about that VW bus, looks like Franklin Mint. Although FM & DM both have had rash issues, I have not seen the cancer on any.   I have that VW bus here never opened. :blink:

Ray and Lance, It surprises me that you have had very little issues on this. Maybe its the cars you have but there were some that the entire run went bad.  I have had way more bad ones than most collectors had, but I also have more cars than most collectors.  I will say that there are some you can't tell by just looking at them. If you apply even slight pressure opening a door or hood it could snap off. 

I have had so many it put me in the parts business, :wacko:  There a few that the plastic bases have gone brittle as well.

I would also like to make it clear that this is NOT just items from overseas. I have two farm toys, made by different companies here in USA that also fell apart. 

Ok, I have to go find my VW.

Yeah, Tom, I've never had a 1/18 Diecast with a case of Cancer, but plenty that had paint rash. When I was a Hot Wheels collector, I did have 1/64 cars with Diecast Cancer, and it was tough to watch an expensive Redline, develop that white crusty powder, and fall apart before your eyes. Seems strange that most cars with this condition, takes 20 or more years to show up.:(

 

Cheers,

Lance

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I never had a Hot Wheels go bad. Some of those 69 Camaros only took a few years to show up. I recently found a few of the old 30's Anson cars have the hood break off. You could not see any indication that they had the rot but lifting the hood broke it from the hinge. I could not find it any where else on the car.

 

It is a sad story

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I was a huge collector of 1/18th scale at one time and over the course of 3 years, sold nearly 500 on ebay.  I never ran across this issue but having been involved in the hobby between collecting, reviewing for Magazines and working with the manufactures, I have seen the end result several times over.

One of the cars that I sold on ebay nearly 15 years go suddenly developed the problem.  It was a rare car that went for large money.  The guy that bought it (remember, 15 years ago) messaged me through ebay as I have had the same handle on there for YEARS and wanted his money back.  I told him 1). I did not remember him but I do remember selling the car and 2) he had to talk to the manufacture as it was a manufacturing issue.

It sucks, especially if you paid an enormous amount of money for something that is rare.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had no idea this could happen. Mind blown. I don't collect diecast, so until now I'd never seen an example of zinc rot/diecast cancer/etc.
 What a nightmare for collectors. Now that I know, I'll be careful if I ever decide to buy any diecast.

 

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  • 1 month later...

I know it as zinc pest and it is actually a quite well known phenomenon. Many old toy soldiers suffered from it and sadly it wasn't uncommon with old Märklin locos either.
Luckily it has hitherto eluded me, but I'm just waiting for it to occur on some of my diecasts.
The explanation that it is caused by an incorrect alloy recipe is correct. Sadly it will pass initial quality control and the effect occurs only long after the items have been cast.

That this rarely happens with old British diecasts should tell you something about the care and attention that went into their manufacture.

Edited by Junkman
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I know it as zinc pest and it is actually a quite well known phenomenon. Many old toy soldiers suffered from it and sadly it wasn't uncommon with old Märklin locos either.
Luckily it has hitherto eluded me, but I'm just waiting for it to occur on some of my diecasts.
The explanation that it is caused by an incorrect alloy recipe is correct. Sadly it will pass initial quality control and the effect occurs only long after the items have been cast.

That this rarely happens with old British diecasts should tell you something about the care and attention that went into their manufacture.

Happened to two of my old Lesney Matchboxes - both of my Benz Ambulances had the hinges on the rear door disintegrate and fall off, and most of the paint followed shortly afterwards.

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  • 5 years later...
On 1/13/2014 at 2:06 PM, cobraman said:

Opened one of my Cobra cabinets and noticed this bad cracking on this die cast. It is an Ertl brand. All others are fin but this one has split very badly. I have another in kit form and that body is fine. Anyone else see this on one of their die cast ? Any idea what happened here ? Seems kind of weird to me. I have some much older in the same cabinet and they are fine. ???????

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb207/cobraman86/Mobile%20Uploads/fiatwipanddiecast004_zpsd7a098b1.jpg

My friend, I'm sorry to say that particular model car is condemned by the so called zinc pest! This phenomenon is also known as Zamak cancer and it's caused by a chemical contamination in zamak, which is a metallic alloy diecast model cars are made of.

When such phenomenon happens, the affected parts tend to expand and crack in an irreversible process and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it, but look for a new model car to replace the damaged one!

Zinc pest is our greatest nightmare, since it can affect about any diecast model car from any brand, no matter whether it's a cheaper or a premium one! And, as it takes place, the metal starts "rotting" and becoming extremely brittle, at the point it simply starts cracking and falling apart! Some model train collectors tried, without success, to dip the affected parts in vinegar. The process had been slowed down, but that was it, as parts continued deteriorating! Very moist environments also tend to lead to such processes, but, fortunately, that is not a rule, since not all model cars kept in the same condition tend to have such problem!

Thus, whenever you see such cracks on a model car model, pray they exist only on some moving parts, since those can be replaced if the car body is intact. In case the body is affected, it will be just a matter of time for the model car to be about gone and become a donor of the non affected zamak parts, as well as the other "non-zamak" parts.

That's sad, but true!

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