Really glad to hear IM was dealing with it honorably. Now I have to check my special run boxcar...which still has factory air. Ugh. I haven't seen this in current production in a long time. I've learned to accept/anticipate it in old Atlas/Rivarossi stuff, but it's like the measles returning....you think it was beat, but nooooo.... Having worked in ISO-XXXX environments, you get a vendor to certification, and then believe what they tell you and don't 'waste' money on periodic testing of inbound material or parts for quality, they have to have an plan in place and set control limits, recertify, all that. Oops. Yeah, about that.... Company I worked for before ended up closing an entire division due to warranty claims on defective material on a fully 'certified' supplier. Not coincidentally on the quality of the metal finishing. You forget that for most model railroad stuff, it's a more tangled multi-supply logistics chain that you can imagine, particularly for locomotives with motors and electronics. I'll bet you that the metal casting is at least a couple suppliers down. Hopefully Joe will chime in here on the boxcar frames, that's really unusual for them.
I have experienced zemactitus on a few car under bodies but not any recently. And my last experience with it was with the wheels and frames of the Bmann 4-4-0s. Ordered replacement parts and they had the same issue. Next 4-4-0 was by Atlas.
It's all about the mixture (A chemist told me ZAMAC is not really an alloy). If it's bad, it won't take long before it deteriorates. If it's good, it will last indefinitely. Doug
What I've been told is the name Zamac comes from the names of the alloys used to make the metal, Zinc, Aluminum, Magnesium, And Copper. Zamac was developed by New Jersey Zinc and Zinc Pest is caused by impurities in the alloys. It's strange that this old problem has come back to haunt new models.
Well that’s because the Chinese factories were tampering with the alloy mix to make it cheaper to produce, or just not caring enough to QC the mix. I think both the US customers and the factories have learned to check for this as the problem reappeared for a while in the early 2ks and then disappeared again.
All my IM locos with release date 2005 are fine, also the SD45-2 Trona , release date 7/2010 ! Thanks Bremner........Rainer
MI special run boxcar car is just fine, now the paranoia apparently moves over to my IM F-units.... I've had several old Rivarossi's with it, but seeing newer production... I believe it. Interesting that you never hear of a Kato with this. I think they actually control their own casting. I've always been really impressed with their metallurgy, from the rails, to the wheels, and the frames.
Randy, I agree, my Kato GP38-2 runs as good today as the day I purchased it back in 1988 and shows zero signs of Zinc Pest. To add to the List are my early Atlas / Kato GP35's, Kato SD40, RSC-2, GG1 and F40PH. The majority of my locomotive fleet is from Atlas and I've never had this problem with any of their locomotives. Hopefully IM and their Chinese manufacturing partner now has this issue sorted out.
I have had this problem with several Altas (Non Kato manufactured) locomotives that were made in China. The obvious connection here is China manufacturing......... 1,088 Kato locomotives starting with the U-30C with no frame diseased units!
Well after being single so long, there was nothing to control my discretionary spending! That was before marriage and a child, now very much toned down.
Hey, You were just setting up Jr.'s college fund...in trains. Some people put it in the stock market, you put it in trains. Nothing wrong with that!
Well it is actually not the case! College expenses for the child are already taken care of via co-existing investment portfolio! Be aware that most of that time I was not living in California so there was an excess of income for trains and for investment! She goes to college courtesy of Microsoft, Cisco, III-V Semiconductors etc, tech stocks have cemented her education.