ZInc Pest. Another odd question from myself. Prewar content.

[ivesboy]

 

  Okay gentlemen, another possibly stupid question from a young collector. I lack the experience of many of you guys, so school me. 

  I recently purchased a nice 1689E prewar set. To my dismay it arrived with the loco in pieces today. Yes a victim of the dreaded Zinc pest. Anyway i know that it is primarily caused by impurities in the alloy. I have also heard that moist humid conditions can accelerate it's effects. I have also heard it was due to too much air in the metal. 

  Okay the stupid question. Is zinc pest for lack of a better term, "contagious" to other die-cast pieces. That is if a bare area of die cast material is exposed to something affected by the pest are the chances it will suffer from the affliction increased? Just curious. Don't want my trains to start crumbling. And yes i am paranoid.... arn't we all?

 

[lionelsoni]

Here is the Wikipedia article:

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

What they say about zinc pest's being a thing of the past is not true.  I have had a number of instances on K-Line pieces; and MTH replaced my Big Boy's boiler when many of the hatche appliques began to rot.