During my recent wargame with Gary Sheffield I noticed that some of the figures were suffering from lead rot. For those of you who are too young to have ever come across this phenomenon, it is a result of the figures being cast in a lead alloy that if it becomes damp, begins to break down. The first sign is the paint beginning to flake off, followed by the more delicate pieces to break off the figures.
The figures in question were Del Prado ready-painted ones, and all I can assume is that before they were painted, they were damp, and that this dampness was trapped underneath the paint and has been causing the alloy to moulder away ever since. It may be that the recent very hot weather has finally caused the rot to break through.
Without a serious search, I have found at least a dozen affected figures in my collection, and I am left with something of a conundrum. The affected figures could be removed from their bases, cleaned up, stripped back, and repainted … but I’m not sure that it would be worth the effort. It might just be easier to consign them to the scrap heap and rebase the unaffected figures.
It’s something for me to think about.
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about "lead rot" in Wargamers Newsletter way back in early 1970s, but fortunately never experienced it. I suspect that once it has started the figure is doomed! It would be a LOT of work to strip and repaint, unless you could be reasonably certain that you have removed all danger of further rot. Good luck whatever you decide
regards
Paul
Thistlebarrow,
DeleteI had another look at the affected figures this morning, and at least one is just crumbling away.
I think that trying to repair the damage will be time consuming with no guarantee that it will work, so I suspect that these figures will end up being thrown away.
Regrettable but necessary.
All the best,
Bob
Sadly I had that happen to about 50 of my metal Napoleonics some 15 years ago, I separated them from all my other figures. I took a dozen and cleaned them up with a wire brush, left them in the sun for a few weeks but the rot reappeared after a few months.
ReplyDeleteI did further research and found that soaking in vinegar helps.
Maybe soaking in Dettol to strip the paint off, then wire brush and soaked in vinegar, then left in the sun might work.
That's a lot of work.
Willz.
In the end they all went to the great wargame grave yard
Tiberian General (Willz),
DeleteI’ve pretty well decided to throw the affected figures away rather than try to repair the damage, although I might experiment with a couple to see if they can be repaired without too much trouble.
All the best,
Bob
Probably the best solution. Sorry for your loss. 😀😀
DeleteStew,
DeleteLuckily it’s not that common nowadays, but years ago it was a far more prevalent phenomenon amongst in the wargaming community, and we had to learn to cope with it.
All the best,
Bob
THis any help
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blmablog.com/2018/11/revisiting-lead-rot.html
Tiberian General (Willz),
DeleteThanks for the link. I’ll certainly look at it later today.
All the best,
Bob
More
ReplyDeletehttp://iron-mitten.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-terror-of-lead-rot.html
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=129679.0
http://minismuseum.com/2015/12/27/lead-rot-cleaning-pt-1/
Just a few, you are not alone.
On the painting table no one can hear you scream.
Willz.
Tiberian General (Willz),
DeleteThanks again. Everything that might provide a solution is of help.
All the best,
Bob
I have read about special formulas for treating such figures. Home castings are even more vulnerable when made from old lead spouting and kept in damp sheds. Undercoating such figure with varnish and also overcoating in varnish are possible preventatives. A certain type of wood is also supposed to be bad for lead figures but I forget which one.
ReplyDeleteQuantrilltoy,
DeleteI suspect that the quality of the metal used in the castings is the cause. I varnish all my figures, and this hasn’t prevented this outbreak of lead rot.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob, I am sorry that some of your figures have been afflicted with the dreaded rot :(
ReplyDeleteSome of the many theories I have heard over the years relate to bare metal reacting to PVA glue used when basing figures, coupled with a lack of ventilation during storage - although some theories hold that the lack of ventilation will cause it!
Given that you have recently suffered an outbreak, could you please share if either of those two conditions would apply in this case?
Uncle Brian,
DeleteMy figures all had the bottom of their bases painted and are glued onto their bases using superglue … and have not been in contact with PVA.
They have been stored in a dry environment in plastic boxes that are closed but not sealed tight, and the environment has been kept at an ambient temperature.
I suspect that the cause is poor-quality metal alloy being used to cast the figures. The alloy is now breaking down and becoming powdery, and this is causing the paint to flake off and the figures to become fragile.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
DeleteThank you for letting me know that PA and ventilation could be eliminated as factors. I think the poor quality metal mix is an excellent deduction.
Cheers,
Brian
Uncle Brian,
DeleteGlad to have been of help.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI think you might be correct regarding the quality of the metal used with these particular castings. I acquired some Del Prado 25mm Waterloo figures a few years back and several crumbled away on opening the little packs.
Bob
Bob The Old Painter,
DeleteSorry to read that you’ve also suffered the same problem. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that it is down to poor quality alloy being used to cast the figures.
All the best,
Bob
I hope you're going to give them a suitable military send-off Bob.
ReplyDeleteNundanket,
DeleteI certainly will.
All the best,
Bob
Sorry to hear that the figures are rotting away. I must admit that I have never experienced this - I have some Del Prado 54mm Napoleonics (bought cheaply when the Works were selling them) but they seem fine and maybe made from a better alloy.
ReplyDeleteMike Lewis,
DeleteI had some of those figures (I have since passed them on to another wargamer) and I understand that they have not suffered from the dreaded rot. I must assume, therefore, that the Napoleonic figures that have gone rotten were produced from an inferior alloy.
I now have to go through the whole collection and weed out any other cases ... a task that I am not looing forward to.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteI too have some 54mm Del Prado Napoleonic figures and have had no problems with them. I think your idea of an inferior alloy is likely to be correct.
What a pity! I hope not many figures are affected.
Arthur
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteIt is good to read that your figures are unaffected by lead rot. From what I can gather, many of the figures used by Del Prado were cast and painted in Russia, which may well account for the variable alloy quality.
It’s currently a bit too hot in my toy/wargames room to do a thorough check of my collection of Napoleonic 25/28mm Del Prado figures, but a quick glance indicates that it’s at least 20 figures. The collection will be diminished but not devastated.
All the best,
Bob
I’m pleased to say that I’ve never experienced any problems with old figures but as a materials scientist I’d make a few observations.
ReplyDeleteLead will combine with oxygen in the atmosphere (oxidise)and form a white film on the surface just as iron/steel does forming the very familiar yellow/orange/red rust which is iron oxide. Iron keeps on rusting because the iron oxide formed has a bigger volume than the iron it replaces and thus it flakes off, exposing more iron to continue oxidising/rusting. Rust is a term which is usually only used in the context of iron/steel.
Back to lead – there’s also carbon dioxide in the atmosphere so the white film that forms is lead carbonate. Oxidation will pretty well stop at that point as a complete film forms and largely prevents further oxidation. Take a look at any lead flashing on your house to see what I mean. In the days when white paint contained ‘white lead’ it would gradually turned grey and even black if the atmosphere was badly polluted (as in the days when there was more industry in the UK).
Even back in the old days (1960s) figures were usually cast from tin/lead alloy rather than pure lead. The tin to lead ration can be varied to make a range of alloys and the higher the tin content the better the detail of a figure would be. The drawbacks are that higher tin alloys tend to be brittle (possible the cause of the weak ankles of some 15mm figures from a particular manufacturer) and, more importantly, are more expensive. High lead alloys are much cheaper! Higher lead alloys will probably look dull due to some oxidation of the unpainted surface if left around unpainted for years.
The problem likely comes with the quality of the metal which is used. It’s likely that many of us will recall from school history that in the 19th century bread would be adulterated with all sorts of rubbish – including the sweepings from floors – to bulk it out and reduce the amount of flour used. Anyone selling cheap lead alloy has very likely bulked out the material with lots of oxidised material – those who have cast their own figures will be familiar with the dross which forms on the surface and which needs to be skimmed off. That will be incorporated in cheap alloy and not thrown away. And doubtless lots of other rubbish as well. I recall being offered cadmium at about half the market price and being told I could have it certified to any standard I wanted it certified to! Such is the way of parts of the business world.
The result of all the ‘rubbish’ in cheap alloy is that there will be pathways from the surface along which oxygen can penetrate and cause further oxidation inside the metal. This will separate pieces of alloy by an oxide layer which will cause the object to crumble when its handled. This rubbish will also likely cause microscopic spots on the surface where paint and varnish will not cover and thus the paint will allow oxygen through to the alloy. Again, take a look at how painted steel (eg old cars) still tends to rust in places over time.
Despite various exotic materials being tried over the years for a ‘cure’, the problem is with the alloy and will occur again even if the object has been stripped and repainted. It’ll just be years before you see the results, the same as it has usually been years before the original problem was observed.
Sorry this has been so long!
Brian
Brian Cameron (Brian),
DeleteThank you for the very informative explanation of the causes of ‘lead rot’. It sounds as if my thinking about the quality of the alloys used being the cause is about right.
Some time ago I had a long chat with a director of Geo.W Neale Co. Ltd., one of the biggest suppliers of casting metal to the wargames industry. He was regaling me with stories about how difficult it was to obtain regular supplies of the best quality raw materials used to manufacture casting alloy … and how some manufacturers were easier to deal with than others.
All the best,
Bob
Maybe there should be an appropriate form of words to decommission these figures before you bury them (or appropriately dispose of them) such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Martial Elegy for some Lead Soldiers https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/rls-martial-elegy-for-some-lead-soldiers/
ReplyDeleteMark, Man of TIN,
DeleteWhat an excellent idea! Thank you for making it.
On a related topic, it was not until yesterday that I discovered that RLS was in Samoa during its civil war and wrote a book about it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Footnote_to_History:_Eight_Years_of_Trouble_in_Samoa). I suspect that it is the sort of conflict that might appeal to you.
All the best,
Bob
A very nasty disease - my only casualty to date was an ancient skeleton fantasy stand from t first D&D days or yore, when I unpacked the box (some twenty plus years later) I found a crumbled leg and arm (truly decayed to dust as I scratched away at it) - I repaired with a modern plastic appendage and copious amounts of superglue .. best go check to see if teh other half has now gone!
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteThe thing about D&D is that you could get away with fielding hideously deformed figures in an army and very few people would either notice or comment.
Years ago, the late Eric Knowles was at a wargames show selling figures from the fantasy range that he used to manufacture to go with his rules entitled THANE TOSTIG. Because they had had problems with the centrifugal casting machine the night before, he had arrived with a pile of figures still attached to the casting sprue, and he was still cutting them off just after the show had opened. He was throwing the miscasts into a separate box to take back with him to be melted down when a passing gamer asked what they were, and how much they cost. Eric - who was renowned for his quick thinking and sometimes sarcastic wit - told them that it was a new figure in the range of a disfigured swamp monster, and that it was twice the normal price of the rest of the figures.
The bloke bought the lot!
All the best,
Bob