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I disassembled my K-Line Plymouth to see about sticking a ERR MiniCommander 2 in, and guess what I found!  I suspect I won't be using this smoke unit!

First time I've seen this in the K-Line Plymouth, good thing it wasn't the actual locomotive body!

K-Line Plymouth Zinc Pest!

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  • K-Line Plymouth Zinc Pest!
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@coach joe posted:

John do you think the plastic is any better.  being exposed to high temps repeatedly, I would think they would become brittle, like a plastic impeller in an automobile water pump.

I have no idea what kind of Plastic Lionel uses for the smoke units.  If it's a cousin of Bakelite, it would be very temperature resistant, but I really don't know.

@harmonyards posted:

It’s the luck of the draw where the vendor gets their raw material from……..not all zinc castings, or zamac castings are doomed to failure, …….I believe it’s the raw material vendor that either A. accidentally produces a bad batch of ingots, or B. don’t care that they produced a bad batch of ingots…….

Pat

I think whether or not one encounters zinc pest, IS the luck of the draw, along with how many steam locomotives are in one’s collection.

As a smaller operator, I’ve had probably no more than 6 or 7 die cast steam locomotives over the past twelve years ( I’m more of a diesel man), all Lionel. And in that time, have never experienced any zinc pest.

It’s likely and proportionate, that the more locomotives one has over a longer period of time, zinc pest will eventually getcha. 😉

Yes John,  this Zinc issue is sad. I have a beautiful 6-38076 Chesapeake Ohio 2699. Runs perfectly and smokes beautifully. Just this week I have a zinc issue. Part of shell broke. Just ordered  a Pere Marquette shell that should work.

Not necessarily zinc pest. Was the entire shell warping and showing cracks throughout? It could have simply broken from a casting problem or a fall.

Odds are, anyone will experience zinc pest at some point especially if they have a lot of equipment.  However, it's not totally luck-of-the-draw.  You shouldn't find one random part affected on one random locomotive model, rather, it would generally be a whole batch of a specific part that's affected.  For instance, these are just a few well-documented cases:

- Acela locomotive wheel journals

- JLC Allegheny front steam pipes and rear water hatch

- Atlas O Master Line 40' PS-1 boxcar ladders and grab irons from the early/mid 2000's

- JLC GG1 truck frames

Now, if you have one of these or other affected models, whether your particular piece will have the issue is luck-of-the-draw.  But I would say you're extraordinarily unlikely to have the only known case of zinc pest on a particular model.  For this reason, I think documenting cases of zinc pest is well worthwhile, both to raise awareness and to provide the opportunity for folks to share remedies or seek out solutions such as 3D printing or what not.

Jim, that could be, but two or three spots broke at screw areas near or on screw mount. Threads etc broke and sort of crumbled. I see no crazing thou.

Zinc pest is very distinctive. Some sort of casting or design problem in your case. Doesn’t matter in the end, given that you had to replace the shell. But so far Chinese-made shells have not exhibited zinc pest. Frames, couplers, smoke units and (on my MTH GS4) streamlined skirting have been reported, all too frequently.

Such parts manufacturing in China is often outsourced by the main factory to small manufacturers, who have been described as “garage” industries — very small operations. As Pat has said above, they are either careless or simply don’t care about the quality of their work.

The problem is that no one seems to be vetting these garage manufacturers. Not the main factory. Not the importers. Not the Chinese government. So we are the victims left to deal with the result.

@harmonyards posted:

It’s the luck of the draw where the vendor gets their raw material from……..not all zinc castings, or zamac castings are doomed to failure, …….I believe it’s the raw material vendor that either A. accidentally produces a bad batch of ingots, or B. don’t care that they produced a bad batch of ingots…….

Pat

My guess is B , and the fact that sprues and trees are recast ,too many times , corrupting the ingots. You may also as why this is a problem in O gauge 3 rail and no where else in the hobby industry

@harmonyards posted:

It’s the luck of the draw where the vendor gets their raw material from……..not all zinc castings, or zamac castings are doomed to failure, …….I believe it’s the raw material vendor that either A. accidentally produces a bad batch of ingots, or B. don’t care that they produced a bad batch of ingots…….

Pat

How do you say “B” in Chinese?

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