[Diecast/Models] Minichamps metal fatigue

[TimD]

What I'm about to describe seems faintly absurd. Certainly I had trouble believing it and I saw it with my own eyes.

For the last couple of years, I've been noticing a strange bulging effect happening on one of my Minichamps. It's a Steve Soper BTCC BMW 320 from 1993 and it's been in my possession from new. It never came out of its box and to be frank, it's probably spent more time in a cool dark packing case than on display. This is because it's gradually been collapsing under its own weight. The roof pillars started to sag and the bodywork at the rear arches started to flare away from the chassis baseplate.

Then this morning, I was working in my study and heard a slight cracking sound. After investigation I eventually set eyes on the BMW in its box. It had snapped into several pieces. All the roof pillars had cracked, releasing the bonnet and boot structures from the passenger cell and the screw threads connecting the body to the chassis had sheared.

The model is utterly ruined. Even if it could be glued back together, it is warped out of all true - certainly looks nothing like a BMW, at any rate.

Now, has anyone else encountered this in Minichamps models? I know that Dinky Toys from the 1930s are prone to metal cracking, but they don't warp as they do so. Do we have to take special care of all PMA products or is it a bad batch? Are Minichamps only blessed with a certain life expectancy? Examining other models, I note cracking in the paint finish of my Katayama Tyrrell as well - that's from the same era too. Should we be worried for our collections?

[Knowlesy]

Paint cracking is common with a lot of models, but that is just bizarre......a disintegrating model!

[jna]

My earliest Minichamps go back to 1995/1996 when the first Le Mans Vipers and McLaren F1 GTRs arrived on the scene, and so far so good - other than a barely noticeable split in the number decal across the door/doorframe of the #25 Gulf F1 GTR. I have seen mention in the past on a diecast forum issues with peeling/cracking decals, and paint bubbling, but I have never heard of your problem.

Paint and decals can be affected by direct sunlight, e.g. white turning yellow. I have a small number of showcases for my Le Mans models, and they are all on walls where no direct sunlight can affect them and they are not positioned above radiators.

I really am no expert, but could the situation have intially arisen by the screws connecting the body to the chassis being badly overtightened, thus creating a stress factor? Sounds improbable.

How old is this model as it is a 1993 car? It is kind of worrying to hear what has happened bearing in mind the investment in a collection - or in the case of the McLarens the 'capital gain'!

Now if this had been an old Vauxhall or Ford falling apart one could understand, but I thought BMWs were built to much higher standards!!

[mountainstar]

sounds too weird. I have quite a few of those bmw models from that era and haven't seen anything like that.

[John Turner]

The drying out, cracking and flaking of decals is one thing, but model disintegration is another! Hopefully, this is a rare occurrence for all our sakes, given the amount of time and money we have invested in our hobby. It sounds almost as if the constituent parts of the metal were in incorrect proportions or inadvertently had foreign matter introduced during manufacture, creating long term instability. If so this would surely be part of a batch. Might be worth writing to Minichamps describing the gradual degaradation in the model to see if they have an explanation - also to provide reassurance that this is not typical of the durability of their models!

[jna]

John, It had crossed my mind to mention informing Minichamps, but upon further consideration I felt 'what's the point'. They will not be interested. They never are. You are lucky even to get a response to an email querying errors on a model.

If this was a Spark model I reckon they would exhibit some concern. After all, I am aware that if you have a part missing from a model, and they have that part in stock, they will be happy to send it to you.

Pauls Model Art has been very successful and has risen above the need to consider the concerns of collectors.

As perhaps 50% of my Group C and thereafter Le Mans/WSC/FIA-GT collection is from PMA I hope that what has happened to Tim's model is a very rare occurance, and perhaps linked to a rogue batch of that particular car rather than the thin end of the wedge.

What I am going to do is post the basis of the issue on a diecast forum where model experts maybe able to come up with a reason or may have seen the problem with that car.

[Dave Brand]

[QUOTE=John Turner It sounds almost as if the constituent parts of the metal were in incorrect proportions or inadvertently had foreign matter introduced during manufacture, creating long term instability.[/QUOTE]

It sounds like that to me. What is commonly known in model car circles as 'metal fatigue' isn't actually fatigue - it's intercrystalline corrosion, caused by impurities in the metal.

If so this would surely be part of a batch.

If they have a good quality system they should be able to trace individual models back to the raw material batch used in its production; if they receive a number of complaints it will flag up a batch problem.......but a good quality system should have picked up a material problem in production......

[jna]

So, is this BMW an older release, i.e. soon after it actually raced in 1993, when perhaps the quality control was not up to much?

PS with reference to my previous post a friend of mine already asked the diecast forum, so we will see what transpires.

[Mackmot]

sound like poltergeist

[TimD]

John, it was a mid-nineties issue, PMA serial 430 932306. Gallingly, the little so and so cost me £22 new, back in the days when no-one but no-one ever discounted Minichamps or Onyxes.

I'm trying to find someone with a digital camera with a good enough macro so that I can post the evidence for all to see. At the moment though I can only manage blurred renditions of pieces of car.

[TimD]

(and all of this simply reinforces my original thought way back when I put money down for it - I should have bought the BBR kit!)

[956C]

[mountainstar]

Yes I do want to see the vulcan mind melded deformed BMW.

[Tim 27]

Just out of interest Tim, was John Clelands Cavalier parked behind it whilst on display?
Surely under new E.U. recycling laws B.M.W. are duty bound to come and remove it from your premises as it is past its useful life?

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally Posted by Tim 27

Just out of interest Tim, was John Clelands Cavalier parked behind it whilst on display?
Surely under new E.U. recycling laws B.M.W. are duty bound to come and remove it from your premises as it is past its useful life?

You beat me to it! I was going to ask if John Cleland had hit it..
Or is it dying at the thought of what the BTCC has become?
Seriously though, sorry to hear that Tim, most bizarre.