At some point within the last year, a forum member posted photographs of his Lionel 350E which was part of the Lionel Classics Milwaukee Road Hiawatha reissued in 1988. The pictures showed the casting had warped inward to a point at which it interfered with the motion of the rods, rendering the locomotive inoperable. Somewhat concerned, I checked the locomotive from my set and, while it does not exhibit the warpage of that model, the finish has developed very noticeable "webbing" on both sides. I have since spoken with several other hobbyists who discovered varying degrees of disintegration on their locomotives which were not present when the locomotive was new. I should mention in all cases the cars do not appear to be suffering the same fate.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and have you any suggestions regarding the matter? I believe MTH has issued the prewar styled O gauge Hiawatha on one or two occasions so I was contemplating contacting MTH concerning the possibility of obtaining a replacement shell.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

That is VERY disturbing!

It would seem that in this day and age of advanced mettalurgical knowledge and techniques, zinc IMPURITIES would be a thing of the past!

Unless, CHEAPER, LESS PURE zinc alloys were used in these castings!

Samhongsa (the Korean manufacturer) has been known for their quality workmanship, so this is very disappointing.

MODERN zinc diecastings should NOT have these issues!

Upon close inspection of my Lionel Classics 1-390E and 2-400E, I could not see any signs of "zinc pest"!

hi yes i noticed the same webbing of paint at first i thought it was from it being stored i a plastic bag,,bought it used,the i noted my classic 390 is starting to flake paint on the cab roof,i guess since this are almost 20yrs old some probems are bound to happen , so far the blue comet and cars look good terry

This all is coming out. I have the same problem with my Hiawatha set. O-gauge MTH.

I have 3 expert opinions and all concur that mold release was not properly removed and residue was left on the shell which is causing the problems.

This is all the Korean stuff by Samsongha that everyone wants to say is better than the China stuff. see other thread

Terry:

The cab roof on the 390 is sheet metal, and not a casting. The flaking paint is a separate issue from the "crazing" of some zinc castings.

Jim C:

Was the mold release residue an isolated instance with the Hiawatha set?

Art, Do not know.

S-C-A-R-Y!!

I would be much more worked up over this issue had Lionel not released the recent O scale Hiawatha which has, more or less, rendered the tinplate reissue surplus for my needs. Still, it concerns me such casting problems have surfaced with an item made as recently as 1988.

Bob

I had the same problem with a #1-400E. It grew and warped. I replaced it with an MTH frame about 10 years ago.

So far, so good.

Getting a "bad" frame sounds like a crapshoot!