Poor Kyosho quality...

[Hibernaculum 933]

I love those two miniatures that Kyosho made a few years ago of the Turbo Scorpion and Optima. They are detailed, great-looking souvenirs of the original cars. I was ready to admit the Chinese had done a superb job. They can be found for $40-$80ea.

  

I have a few of them, and recently decided to take one out of it's packet for a proper look. But after handling it for a short time, I noticed that the white paint on the wheels is so poor, it wipes/peels off with your finger with almost no effort. The paint on every wheel is sticky to touch. Either it was like this since production, or it has deteriorated in the packet over time, despite not being exposed to anything.

So I opened up a second one, bought from a different source. Same problem.  

Anyone else noticed this? Technically, it's worse quality than a $3 Matchbox car from the supermarket. Perhaps the paint has deteriorated over time. These models first appeared in 2006. Maybe the shelf-life of Chinese paint is 10 years, after which it becomes liquid again?

[ChrisRx718 4470]

Aw that's a shame, I was admiring these back in the day - we imported some to sell at the shop (Time Tunnel Models) and the first few sold really quick even given their relatively high price, the last two sat around for a few months. Great little models to look at, perhaps the paint could be touched up with some white enamel?

[Hibernaculum 933]

Yes, they are great to look at at least. And yeah, I am going to try to smooth the paint down a bit, and try to touch up with some enamel... it's the only option really. It seems the motto with these models may be: don't handle them.

[RETRO R/C 59]

I have a number of these - got me worried now mate! 😜

Cheers

darryn

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

I don't have any of these, so please excuse the possibly silly question; are the tires made of synthetic rubber or another kind of soft material? Because, if so, it's probably the reason for the problem. I collect die cast models, and with brands like Solido, Johnny Lightning, Nacoral and some others, it's a well known problem that the plastic wheels, their paint or plating are attacked by a component (softener probably) in the synthetic rubber tires.

[Hibernaculum 933]

On 27/09/2016 at 7:21 AM, RETRO R/C said:

I have a number of these - got me worried now mate! 😜

I know, right! They should be ok so long as you leave them in the packet, and don't handle them. Or drive them along the arms of the sofa... (like I do). But I guess we'll see. Sticky paint on a 10 year old toy, is weird.

 

On 28/09/2016 at 6:27 PM, Mokei Kagaku said:

I don't have any of these, so please excuse the possibly silly question; are the tires made of synthetic rubber or another kind of soft material? Because, if so, it's probably the reason for the problem. I collect die cast models, and with brands like Solido, Johnny Lightning, Nacoral and some others, it's a well known problem that the plastic wheels, their paint or plating are attacked by a component (softener probably) in the synthetic rubber tires.

Not a silly a question at all, as you may be onto something Mokei. The tyres are some kind of rubbery stuff, which aesthetically is nicer than if they had been hard plastic wheels. But if it somehow infects the enamel on the rims like you say, it's still a weird problem to be having in the 2000s, with so much toy manufacture behind us. Think of all those counter-top toys we had in the 80s with little rubbery tyres, and matchbox/hot wheels cars that also had them (some were rubber). Never seen enamel fall off those like it was wet.

Of course it's a tiny issue  But tiny issues ruin tiny diecasts. My feeling is that in the end, it has to come down to corner cutting. Using the cheapest of the cheap in terms of paint or prototyping. A hired factory in "Hengshui province" whose only concern was 100,000 units at 33yuan per unit, for somebody called "Kyosho".