Is plastic actually better than diecast?

God that's gotta hurt. Yikes.

 

to return to the original question of this thread; one cannot say which is better, but one should be concerned about the fact, that 'zinc pest', a problem which seemed to be long forgotten, returned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_pest

The picture below shows a not too old Kyosho die-cast BMW, which suffers from that unstoppable deterioration and collectors who became aware of this now seriously worry about this.
On the same forum, where I found this picture, there are more of Ferrari HW-models - mainly 456M - which suffer exactly the same.

Best Regards from Germany

Martin
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Never had that issue, and I have some older models. I bet it has something to do with exposure to excess heat or light maybe?

I mean plastic doesn't take to kindly to direct sun either. ANY material can be harmed if not taken care of.


EDIT: I read that it might have to do with bad metallic paint, hence why it seems to effect certain models!

Hopefully they have learned, and use the proper metallic paint now.

 

Its pretty rare for this to happen.
I used to sell diecast, and I only have seen a few broken up, one broke in half, and one shattered like glass.
That of maybe 1,000 cars give or take.

 

I have always felt plastic kits were best for the home modeler. Not too expensive and if you screw it up you can afford to start over. Plastic just needs too much care to make it long term. Resin or white metal, i.e. Studio27 type models and resin models from the better kit makers are the best way to go...but the builder needs to know what he [or she] is doing. Most importantly the paint and assembly methods. A well built resin or metal model will last a lifetime if built properly.

Plastics kits as a built offering to a customer [in my case anyway] always feels cheap...sorry. They can be very nicely presented but they are still plastic. In any case if you want to preserve any model long term they must be stored/displayed as carefully as possible and kept away from household dust and the like. I have some plastic [vintage hot rod types] that I have had for years...and still look decent.