[Closed] Has anyone had any issues with metal fatigue and paint

Hello, Fred! Nice to see you here. You're right: junk is the word for most of the FM 1/43rds. A couple are very nice, but most of them are just okay and
qualify only as placeholders. And a couple are just plain terrible.

This has been discussed here before, and I seem to remember a knowledgeable
collector writing that FM assigned different management teams to different car
projects, and some were better than others. In addition to knowing the products
better, I think I remember someone saying that some teams kept a tighter rein
on production, etc., with the result that some of the cars came out very good
and some of them did not. I don't have all of FM's 1/43rds by any means, but I
have perhaps 12 or 13 of them and some are indeed very nice. Others...pitiful.

Fred, most diecast replicas are certainly not junk and I understand "white metal" can also be susceptible to types of corrosion and surface prep issues and faults.

Both diecast and white metal are equally valid mediums and any faults in a few examples are an issue with below spec preparation or faulty mixtures.

But, in any case, the '52 DeSoto I have is excellent.

What do you guys expect, Remember where they were made.

I agree completely!

The question is: what can we do about it? Anyone have ideas?

Nothing Karl. Absolutely nothing but watch the metal go to dust.

There was an issue of Modeller's World many years ago that showed one collector's heroic efforts to save an elderly diecast by coating the casting from underneath using epoxy. Didn't work very well.

I have a question about resin. Every time I open a box containing a resin model I get that whiff of the material. Remembering that matter is neither created nor destroyed, this must mean the casting is losing mass. I wonder what this could mean for a resin model long term? (Not that I'll be around to see).

If you relabel them "HotWheels", they snap them up as "error" cars. LOL

It has also been recorded on early Rio's.

I agree too.

I have never seen 'diecast cancer' on any Lesney 'Matchbox' model ......

either but then Jack Odell was THE master diecaster.

Cheers Chris

Fred, I have a Pathfinder white metal model where a part of the body casting just fell off ......

and it wasn't cheap either! Don't expect this sort of thing to happen on something that has been hand assembled about 15 years ago in England!

Cheers Chris

Regarding Dinky Toys Harv this is true to all post war ....

Dinky's made in Britain and France but the small scale 'Mini-Dinky's' are one of the worst post war ranges to suffer from metal fatigue. This range was made by a sub contractor in Hong Kong. Tri-ang must have picked another firm for their 1:42nd scale made in Hong Kong range because, as yet, there are no recordings of metal fatigue.

Cheers Chris

Wow Tom I have just added this to my 'Holy Grail' list! LOL

True Chris - I had the Mini-Dinky MGB and the chassis had the dreaded cancer.