Lead Rot

[The Dozing Dragon]

Just discovered some half painted figs bubbling away under the paint.......more on the blog. 'Tis a sad day for old Heritage and Citadel minis.





http://deartonyblair.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/lead-rot-i-am-cursed.html

[von Lucky]

Thanks for the warning. Let us know when you find the article.

[Glitzer]

Pine has far less reagents than oak or walnut. There have been some articles aound the net that the GW minis from the 80s suffered from tin pest (like this one from the guy at Excalibur Miniatures). The Wikipedia article on the topic states, that it is propably more dependent on temperature. I'm bothered by the side note to lead-free pewter in the article. I asume we will see if modern lead-free minis will be able to withstand tin pest the next decades... 

[von Lucky]

The only solution is to cast our miniatures in GOLD. That'll solve EVERYTHING.

[The Dozing Dragon]

But lead has always been my gold 

[jthomlin]

But lead has always been my gold 

I've always said one of my particular talents was the ability to consistently turn gold into lead ... 

Terrible thing, the old lead rot. Sadly, I have a box full of poor souls in the same or worse condition. Lucky for you DD the scourge can exist here in paradise, otherwise I would be insisting that those lovely Tekumel figures be removed as far away from your leaden lepers as possible ... i.e. my place ... 

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[Donpimpom]

omg, all that stuff is rotten? a real disaster

from wiki "due to ..... or very low temperatures ~-30 degrees Celsius aids the initiation"
where do you live? in antarctica?

to say it short, miniatures stored on non-wooden cabinets and living at south of 42nd parallel north are safe?

[Glitzer]

omg, all that stuff is rotten? a real disaster

from wiki "due to ..... or very low temperatures ~-30 degrees Celsius aids the initiation"
where do you live? in antarctica?

to say it short, miniatures stored on non-wooden cabinets and living at south of 42nd parallel north are safe?

Short answer: No

Long answer: Maybe. I'm no scructure physicist, so I know no answers myself, everything that follows is someone else's wisdom, and thus not neccessarily scietificaly correct: There seem tobe  a lot of other factors. Some metals in the white metal inhibtt the change, other accelerate it. Alcoholics also seem to acellerate the change. As far as I understand physics this will also change the activation energy and critical temperature for stability. Anything, that influences the crystaline structure of metals can initiate the change, so I asume there is no save way (let's just asume one single atom that suffers from radioactive decay -> alpha tin might form...)

My advice: No garage, no attic, no basement (unless it's heated, yes it says 13,5 and most basements should have that, but it's a catalytical process, so some components in the paint/alloy/penny bases etc. might as well rise the critical temperature of change), no drastic changes in temperature,... just keep them in rooms you would want to inhabit yourself, remove any infected minis at once and hope for the best (or switch to resin/plastics).

[Michi]

Not being affected yet, but have witnessed zinc pest on one of my railway models...

[Sangennaru]

Impressive to see:



and an interesting article here

http://www.sigcon.com/Pubs/news/10_01.htm

[Dr Mathias]

I think that happened in one of my more horrifying dreams...

[Diceplague]

The only solution is to cast our miniatures in GOLD. That'll solve EVERYTHING.

Some companies are already doing that, at least judging by their prices...

[von Lucky]

I remember as a kid watching an episode of MacGyver(?) and one of the characters was hiding a cache of gold in his toy store (in the display window no less) by having it recast into toy soldiers (ACW).

I think it was then that my love affair with this hobby started.

[Constable Bertrand]

Well that is rather alarming, and Jack, that time lapse is fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

The good news for us 'scroungers' is that when the tin pest takes over there is still a way forward.
1. Buy some plastic american soldiers
2. paint them as SG1-6
3. Respray all your metal figures as hordes of 'replicators'

remove any infected minis at once and hope for the best.

They are not "contagious" from my reading... Glitzer are you suggesting they are?

[Glitzer]

They are not "contagious" from my reading... Glitzer are you suggesting they are?

The process is said to be self-catalytical, so I asume they are.

EDIT: Given all the other factors the catalytical sink of necessary activation energy might not be enough to "infect" minis made of proper alloys.