Zinc Pest Issues From Micro-Trains?

railtwister Feb 1, 2023

  1. railtwister

    railtwister TrainBoard Member

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    I have a pair of recently released MTL 50’ standard boxcars, Central of Georgia black/silver balloon paint job (#031 00 281, and 031 00 282) that have a label with a copyright date of 2020, both of which have severe body damage due to expanding metal frames caused by zinc pest. The ends on both cars are broken out, and one car has the shell broken underneath the door, due to the metal deforming and lengthening.

    As if the loss of these two unique (and expensive) cars is not enough, so far I have sent two eMails to MTL concerning this matter, and have received no response. To say I’m unhappy is an understatement.

    I have been buying N scale cars from Kadee/MicroTrains since the early 1970’s and this is the first time I’ve had to deal with defective metal from this company. I’m posting this to inquire how many others have had similar defective metal frames, and whether it includes other types of frames as well, or just the 50’ single door types, and also to serve as a warning to other modelers to be aware of this potential problem.

    Please respond to this thread, stating car type and part numbers, if you have had cars with similar problems, so we can see how widespread this issue is.

    Sincerely,
    Bill Nielsen in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
     
  2. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I have had it a few years back on the 50' special run Trainboard Missouri & Illinois box car. I had an undec car that I used the frame from.
     
  3. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    First time I had heard of a zinc pest issue with MT metals.
     
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  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    A blast from the past. Indeed some of those cars developed this malady. :(
     
  5. MRLdave

    MRLdave TrainBoard Member

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    So it sounds like this was limited to a run of 50' boxcars from 2020? Wasn't that when the big fire got right across the street from MT factory and a lot of employees lost their homes?
     
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  6. Calzephyr

    Calzephyr TrainBoard Supporter

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    This is something most of us would never expect from Micro-trains. I wonder if any of their FT A/B locomotives have developed this malady as well.
    I generally do not check any of my Micro-trains models since they typically stay in their 'factory air' confines.
     
  7. MRLdave

    MRLdave TrainBoard Member

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    The locos (at least the chassis) are made in china.......all the cars are made in Oregon, so it would be 2 totally different issues. When I did the MT tour, there was only one person (in total) doing the foundry work , so I'd guess he does things in fairly large batches. Apparently there was a batch of 50' boxcar floors that were bad......unfortunately I don't think there's any way for quality control to catch that issue.
     
  8. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I would think there is a 'recipe' for precise quantities of different metals to put in the melting pot. If not...there should be...JS
     
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  9. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Have been in Quality Insurance I can tell you it is easy to detect. Just needs support from above.
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    As this can be sort of a 'stealth' issue, there might not be any obvious way. Unless they could somehow test a certain number of pieces during the flow of production. Do they, as a matter of course?
     
  11. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    In the case of M-T's freight cars, the floors would be easy to replace I'm guessing. Unless a new floor would be instantly noticeable to collectors and would reduce the car's worth?
     
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  12. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    The problem is that the swelling of the freight car frames cracked the plastic shells...o_O:rolleyes::eek::censored:
     
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  13. railtwister

    railtwister TrainBoard Member

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    I would say fracturing the body shell ends and splitting the plastic under the doors allowing the body to sag noticeable while still in the box, plus deforming the underbody brake details to the point of popping the truck pins out of the frame, pretty much destroys any collector value these cars may have had. The couplers are frame mounted rather than being mounted on the trucks like 90% of my other MTL cars, so about the only thing salvageable with these cars is the jewel box and the vacuum formed liner. The fact that MTL has not responded to my two emails informing them of the problem is also disturbing. The cars are long gone, and I’m out over $50 with nothing but junk parts to show for it. The frustrating thing is that this can and probably will happen again, if I keep purchasing MTL cars.

    Did MTL make any effort to correct the problem with the special run cars produced for this group?
     
  14. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I never got around to pursuing it, just swapped out the frame and keep running it. It is weathered so the repaired cracks in the shell are not visible.
     
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  15. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I occasionally check my MISSOURI-ILLINOIS SPECIAL RUN CAR for the problem. So far so good...no problems....whew !!!
     
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  16. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Oh, I forgot about that. :( I've not found this in any of my M-T cars, but it's been a while since I've looked at some. I have a pair of M-T FTs and they run fine. Not sure what's under the shells though.
     
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  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    You would think after all the years with this issue everybody would have come up with a different metal to use.
     
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  18. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    You know rather than a cast metal how about a stamped metal. I do not know the cost involved with machining a stamping die or whether the level of detail can be stamped. Nor do I know how long such a die would last. But the automotive industry has been doing it for years along with other products that are stamped out from rolls of steel of varying thickness depending on what is being stamped. And Bachmann along with some other old time manufacturers used to have plastic underframes that had metal weights. I have cars like that that are 30-40 years old.
     
  19. PaperAndPetro

    PaperAndPetro New Member

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    New member here - I felt compelled to add to this thread since this very thing happened to me several years ago.

    Back in 2012 I got an MTL 50' Norfolk Southern single-door boxcar (road number 400016; product number 025 00 732) as a Christmas present. The copyright date on the box is 2011. After about three years, I noticed that the car's shell was starting to crack beneath the door on both sides. I popped the metal underframe out to inspect it, and when I tried to put the shell back over it, I was unable to do so since the metal had expanded. I did not want to damage the car further, so I put everything back into the box and forgot about it for a while. Eventually, I removed the trucks and put them on a different car. At a later date, I was messing around with the frame again and I actually managed to snap it in two with not very much effort!

    I'm a hoarder, so I still have the car's shell and underframe packed away in the Box of Shame; I'm going to toss the frame, but I might save the body so, as suggested in a previous post, I could put it on a frame that's in good shape, weather the car, and run it again. And out of all the MTL boxcars (including a few other single-door 50' cars) that I have, this is the only one that has had this problem.
     
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  20. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    Speaking of this nasty metal disease........

    I found a box of old IM F units I had forgotten about.

    This is what I found, though I was not surprised.

    I publish this photo here so everyone who has not experienced, well this is what to look for!

    Cracks in the shell as hopefully you can see in the back of the shell.

    As you can see in the photo, this swells up and then starts to disintegrate. Notice all the cracks in the frame. I a short period of time it might start to disintegrate completely.

    This is dead IM locomotive #527 due to this frame rot.
     

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