The dreaded Zinc-rot (zinc-pest) strikes again in an expensive way. DCESHARKMAN has mentioned on some of his posts that Intermountain Railway has a serious problem with this issue and unfortunately it usually does not make its presence known until after the warranty has elapsed. This leaves the owner of the models with damaged and unusable models. I have numerous F3A/B units with this chassis 'disease' which also damages the usually beautiful shells. DCESHARKMAN mentioned this issue having occurred in the gorgeous Cabforwards which alarmed me because I have several. All of my articulated locomotives have been stored in plastic weatherproof containers for many years. I finally got to that container to inspect them... and found at least two Cabforwards have the affliction. Both are the 2015/2016 sound equipped AC8 and AC12. My AC10 looks okay and the two first release AC12 #4275 & #4294 look okay (so far?). I'm wondering if I could swap the tenders from the damaged AC8 & AC12 to the original AC12s which do not have DCC/sound intalled???? At least I could salvage something. If anyone knows please advise.
I know... the problem is finding out if a tender swap from a bad unit to a still unaffected unit is viable. I say 'still unaffected' with fingers crossed and hoping that the zinc rot was only an issue with the later DCC/Sound units. Thing is that I might have another couple IMRC Cabforwards in another spot... including a DCC/Sound equipped AC11... pretty sure I had the whole set even though AC11 & AC12 were visually the same. No other articulated locomotives I have are exhibiting the zinc rot issue. I have numerous Athearn Challengers and Big Boys. I also have 3 DCC/Sound LifeLike Proto 2000 "Heritage" Y3a mallet consolidations (2-8-8-2) units... and one of the original DC undecorated. Even the 2 Bachmann Spectrum mallet moguls (2-6-6-2) are fine. So the zinc rot issue seems to be an 'endemic' pest to Intermountain Railway products only. Sadly... IMRC has some of the best detailed models on the market.
So sorry to hear your bad news. I finally got up the courage to check my five Cab Forwards. Thankfully they're all good. I checked my other 30 or so IM locos earlier this year and they're all OK. I know that the whole reason for zinc rot has been discussed ad nauseam, but I still seem to think that there's a factor that we're missing. With 40 or so IM locomotives, I should statistically have several that are ruined, but I don't. Why?
They got the Zamac formula correct for those particular examples. It's really the only explanation.. Doug
piss poor manufacturing is all it boils down too cheap (insert real bad words here ) B---tards dont wanna use good materials.......... Makes one want to buy a milling machine and other equipment so you can make your own out of solid brass or stainless or just plain steel , cast iron ect ect......i miss my mill.................
Happy for you that you've been spared. The ZAMAC mix has to be very precise and I have read where Chinese factories have Introduced some Lead into the mix which leads to the zinc-pest 100% of the time. The most prevalent 'deseased' locomotives are F3A & B units. I have not found any F7A & B units (umm yet?) with the zinc-pest. I've read where the tunnel motors have the issues as well. I have not checked mine yet. Ugh!!
Think Wolfram "W" known to most of us as Tungsten ('heavy stone' in Swedish) This material is so heavy that a 4"x4"x4" block weighs 41lbs (64 sq.in = 10.25 oz/sq in). So a 4" long x 3/4" wide (less 1/4" center slot) x 3/8" thick piece = 4.165 oz It is not electrically conducive. A small amount would take very little space in an N scale model. Lots of space left for a small coreless motor with flywheels and DCC/sound.
Well it hurts to see others have the issues I have seen, but I guess misery loves company. It is also ugly that you need to continually check, because in some cases it takes longer to show up. Since my first round of bad locomotives, some of my good locomotives started going bad as well. I just decided to pull every IM locomotive, all the F Units, all the SD40-T's, the Cab Forwards out of the collection. It broke my heart to do so, because where else did I get so many F units that Kato will never produce like my Southern Tuxedo's. I even looked at putting IM shell on a Kato drive, does not work unfortunately. It is just a shame IM will do nothing about this. So I even stopped buying their rolling stock as well. My advice Grandpa Joe, is to put it all of the bad units in a box and have a good Bourbon to ease the pain. I am up to 537 bad IM locomotives. So I make my Bourbon a double.
I wonder what would prevent them from using steel milled out for a chassis. Steel conducts electricity so would be ideal for a split frame chassis. I would not consider brass because it oxidizes.
FWIW, they sent me a replacement frame for a tunnel motor with this issue several years ago (thankfully I only had one with the issue so far). My guess is that they eventually ran out of spare frames for at least the tunnel motors and were perhaps unable to get more made, with the Chinese factory debacle that stung so many manufacturers. But this is all speculation.
I don't think it is a matter of not wanting to help, but not having the parts..Some of them engines were made 10/15 years ago..if you can't get chips to repair autos, I don't think you will find parts for those engines any time soon...David, I thought you were going to throw out the bad ones you have? could be a source for other parts like trucks and motors and shells...Might get some money back.
my 2 cents because we all have to many im trains to just trow away//i do alot of resin cast taught casting from a jeweler friend im going to ask her to teach me to do brass casting .then ill just run wires like the new atlas stuff .ill let you guys know how it works out
A mess such as this would cost them a whole bunch of $$$$$$$$$$ money to clean up. I would believe that is why there is just silence?
Yep, always comes down to that. It has been suggested that there are no parts to fix these. Isn't IM a MFGR? So, if they dont have parts, they can get/make them. IM used to MFGR all their stuff in the USA, (years ago) then they MFG here, shipped overseas for assembly then back here (USA) for distribution. So, they have the capabilities, knowledge, but not the desire, and perhaps, just maybe hope, all this just goes away, and soon forgotten. But at least one guy here has purchased many, many hundreds of their locomotives and rolling stock. I am quite sure he wont forget, nor will any of the people who have learned of his strife. And to just hear crickets on same from IM, is bewildering. As the problem is so well documented.
The only thing model train manufacturers have at the end of the day is their reputation. IM's reputation has basically hit the wall. The rot started with them wanting high volumes of preorders, when they didn't get them they just kept the model pending which stopped other manufacturers stepping in. They have had a few mis steps with quality over the years, the SD45-2's without walkway treads, the tunnel motors, SD40-2's that don't quite sit right. Now we have the zinc pest debacle that was prevalent in the 70's with Rivarossi and others. Don't mention the mis step over the GP11. Looks like Intermountain is a manufacturer to skip. They do make some nice loco's but if they aren't going to step up and stand behind their product then they will miss out. In my country you can't really sell Intermountain loco's - no one wants them. I refuse to preorder IM products - a shame as I have a few but nowhere near Davids investment.
You're talking about lost wax casting. It is typically used for jewellery but I've seen things as big as smokebox doors for 4-8-4's in 7.5" gauge. Lost wax would produce quite accurate and practical chassis parts in brass. It's not something you could do after someone gives 4 or 5 hours advise though. You'll need a machine shop with at least a milling machine with a DRO. A CNC milling machine would be far better. An EDM (Electrostatic Discharge Machine) would be a great help. I'm not saying this to put you off ....... just a warning that its got some hurdles. Moulds can be made from 60XX or 70XX grade aluminium. I have a friend that made lost wax parts for live steam locos. I believe the actual brass casting was done in Mexico to bring the price to somewhere reasonable.
