Cancerous Camaro

[FenderMender]

 

Patient:

A Motor Max (#73293) 1:24 scale diecast 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS soft top American Graffiti model kit included two sets of custom flame decals and a pre-primed body.  The soft convertible top is plastic. The kit was bought new a number of years ago for five dollars and proved to be a decent one. Painting and detailing of the car was satisfying. The quality of the parts and all appeared to be quite good at that time, but after a couple of years degradation began and persists to this day.  It is so severe now that if any panels were to be forced open, the hinges would surely break or the part itself would be bent out of shape and /or dislodged from the car. Essentially, the model is now "sealed" with no access to the engine, trunk or the interior via the doors.

DIAGNOSIS:

Diecast cancer, which is a highly destructive process to the diecast metal parts. There appears to be no cure and once it has begun, no significant remedy to curtail the process.

TREATMENT:

Try to gain some additional time for the patient before the inevitable by performing restorative surgery to two major parts, the lower rocker panels. Also, apply a dose of cosmetic paint to affected areas for an improved self-image and confidence builder.

PROGNOSIS:

The patient should be able to function marginally for a period of time, but eventually the body will weaken and will crumble into non-repairable pieces. When this will happen is questionable, but the surgery done should prolong its daily life in the short run and consequently, it should feel better about itself.

Camaro in the throes of the disease:

  
Camaro on its last leg:

The Camaro chassis was removed so that the body could serve as a mold for a project.  Upon doing this, the major body parts began to crack into smaller parts. The body less the chassis was taped together as a whole and a cast was made from this.  Upon removing the tape, the Camaro was reconstructed using permanent glues as shown in 'Camaro After Surgery'.

 

Camaro after surgery:

New scratch-built rocker panels were installed to unify front and rear body parts. A matching blue acrylic paint was applied to chips, glue lines, spots and patches of missing paint.Before surgery, no body panels would open. After surgery, the trunk lid worked nicely.  Since the hood and doors won't open, the Camaro's engine was left out and added to the parts bin.
It will be interesting to see how these "repairs" fare in the overall disintegration process in time.

 

[Tom Geiger]

Poor Camaro!   Yes, diecasts are made from Zymac and different blends of it have started to degrade over time.  Not restricted to cheap cars, it’s been seen on the expensive Franklin and Danbury Mint cars.  I just pulled a Brookfield Jeep out of ten year storage and I can see minor bubbling on some of the panels.

[Russell C]

A.k.a. the "Zamac tragedy"  http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/155243-zamac-tragedy/

If I hadn't gotten straight Ds in chemistry, I'd have more fun finding out how that zinc alloy breaks down. "Zinc Pest" is part of the problem in zinc casting, and this alloy was supposed to cure that, but the cure only works so long as metal casters don't toss junk scrap into the molten metal mix.

[cobraman]

Wow !  That's worse than my Cobra.

[NYLIBUD]

Too much bondo,lol