Re: [OT] Princess Bride and Lead Rot

On Mon, 10 Jun 2002 13:24:53 -0400, "Tomb" <tomb@dreammechanics.com>
wrote:

>Lead Rot: Could a bath in some solution (perhaps slightly acidic or
>basic?) clean/sanitize the figure? If the figure is cleaned, could it
>not be painted to prevent a recurrence? Does the rot affect non-lead
>white metal? It seems there ought to be some recovery possible. 

I'm not sure if the lead fixtures the US Navy talk about were painted or
not.
I do know that I had some significant lead rot on some Star Frontiers
ships. I
carved out the rotted bits (made it look like battle damage), and
painted the
figures. I haven't had a problem with them deteriorating further, and
that was
back in '97 that I painted them. 

I think white metal is less of a problem because there is more tin(?) in
the
mix. Pewter (initially zinc and lead) used to have lead as part of the
mixture, but apparently now it uses other metals like copper. Of course,
this
is just a little I found out, and possibly wrong! Jon could probably
give us
some information on the GZG figure metal mixture, and any experience
he's had
with lead rot.

I know the Star Frontiers miniatures were shrink wrapped and stored on
foam.
The foam, being oil based, may have some acetic acid in it (just a
guess/possibility, I don't know for sure) and could inadvertently
started the
whole rotting process.

>Someone mentioned (Henrix?) not storing figures cold. How cold is cold?
>Air conditioned chilly basement cold? Or freeze-your-ass-off winter ice
>cold? 

I would think that cold temperatures would slow down the chemical
process, not
speed it up. Perhaps someone has stored figures in a basement and
assumed lead
rot was from being cold when it was something else entirely. A root
cellar,
for instance, may have a higher concentration of CO2, which was part of
the
chemical reaction cycle.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
 - from the Random H.P. Lovecraft Story Generator: