RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi

I have a Taigen King Tiger with a metal turret and engine hatch etc and have noticed that there are patches of what looks like die cast corrosion with the white powdery stuff coming through the paint. Is this a common issue with the Taigen \ Torro cast metal parts?

I had thought about sanding it back and washing down with vinegar but I had loads of issues with this die cast rot when I collected Die cast cars and am just tempted just to replace the turret with a plastic Heng Long Turret if I can find one - although they seem a bit harder to find at the moment as I have looked about for one.

Would be glad to hear if this is a more common problem and if treating it makes any real difference or is it going to keep needing resprays?

Thanks

Good question.

Can you post a picture?

I do have some experience with this but it was with raw unpainted items out of the box not painted .

Did the tank come already painted or did you paint it?

Do you live near the ocean?

I got the tank painted but it looks like it was an unpainted one to begin with.

I had major problems with some die cast car makes and did not want to have to repeat it with the tanks as you were always chasing it on the cars

Pics of bad bits. Deck will be easy to replace with plastic but turret not so.

Apologies in advance but my camera skills are non existent

Short answer from my experience. No. I haven't experienced this with my Taigen Full Metal Tiger I. I got mine brand new from Taigen fully painted 3 years ago. It's been through the wringer before I decided this past December to Update it's finish, and I didn't notice anything like that when I had it apart.

I did experience this issue with some brand new unpainted out of the box metal tracks and metal sprockets for my Heng Long Jagdpanther recently. I resolved it with time, effort and power tools.

The first picture looks like where the tracks are hung on the side of the turret so maybe the tracks weren't finished? And on the corner edge where it looks bubbled and corroded, maybe poor or incomplete paint application? And the turret rear hatch hinge and rear deck hatch again paint application?

Heck if you didn't paint it who knows what is under the paint and maybe why it looks bubbled up on the corner.

Did you open up the top of the tank? I'd be curious what the inside looks like from underneath for the turret and all the metal hatches too.

Me personally if it was a project that I was going to undertake. I'd strip it all down to bare metal and plastic and start from scratch. (I have lots of cool methods for stripping stuff down.)

If it's not a project and you just want to wipe it off and maintain it. I think you might be in for what you already mentioned about your previous die cast car collecting.

But there are a lot of more knowledgeable guys here who can help or guide you more,

Chef

The paint on the turret is a bit thin and not sure what or how much primer there is on it. I am now wondering when you mention that it was where the tracks would sit whether some sacrificial corrosion took place with two types of metal in contact. It would start the creep of corrosion if that is the case.

THe inside of the hatch is unpainted and does have the corrosion on it but not looked inside the turret so far. I ill take a check.

I suppose paint removal followed by vinegar scrub then etch primer (after washing the vinegar off) and repaint then wait and see. Just my horrible memories of the die cast cars mkaes me fear it will ineveitably come back at some point.

I suspect that the damage is because Etching Primer was omitted from the original preparation
The bad news is you really need to strip down to bare metal and remove any corrosion and I mean any corrosion then liberally apply Etching primer,
You can apply it by rattle can or in small areas use a paint brush BUT do not scrimp on the application of etching primer or you will be back to square one,
After that a couple of coats of Primer before applying the Top coat of your preference.
Prepping a tank for paint takes time if you rush you end up with disaster