I am no lobbyist and have no interest in the plastic industry. I just want models that don't fall apart in the box, on my layout or in my hands from material defects. That doesn't happen with plastic. Is plastic perfect, no.
Like I said Zinc pest is a problem. The manufacturers are not interested in addressing this problem. They aren't out anything when our models fall apart. As a matter of fact it is a windfall for them, because that means we are buying new rolling stock, locomotives, accessories, etc. when ours fall apart. I would rather have plastic that lasts longer than I will be around than zinc that has the potential to fail while I'm still alive.
As far as steamers are concerned, I have some very nice Kato, Spectrum and BLI steamers in N scale that can be considered top of the line in that scale that have plastic shells. They have outstanding levels of detail and run flawlessly. My HO Spectrum Mikado is actually nicer than the N scale version of it that I have and it has a plastic shell. I would say they are the N and HO scale equivalents of my O gauge Premier steamer in both detail and performance. If MTH offered a plastic Premier steamer I would have no issue with purchasing one.
If the manufacturers would get the pest issue resolved then I would have no problem with zinc what so ever. They aren't going to fix it, so I have a problem with it.
Insert beating dead horse emoji here.
