Does anyone know where I can find a replacement chassis for a 1300 metroliner powered car? Can I 3d print one?  Or is there any way to salvage a rotted die cast frame with zinc pest rot?


I bought a new old stock metroliner set with a 1300 powered car and three 1301 non powered cars.  Once I opened the powered car box I saw the end of the car was broken open and the metal frame was bent. The rot was so bad it expanded the frame over half an inch beyond the end of the shell of the car. There is no way I see to salvage the frame. It's very brittle. 

That doesn't sound like new old stock, to be broken and tampered with like that.  There are shrink wrap machines today that can fool anybody. I remember seeing a steam engine from another company in a bargain sale at an LHS, an old model long out of production, but nicely wrapped up like it had never been opened. Something just didn't smell right about it. I didn't get it.

And for zinc rot to set in, man, how old does that thing have to be?  This is not a knock on the product, it's a warning to people who seek bargains for Model Railroad stuff which every time I look seems more and more a place to con people.

It's almost tragic, reading this forum and seeing almost every day how someone else has been taken in by some kind of endless chicanery with models, which ought to be fun and free from all this kind of concern.

Even after many years in model railroading, I too am a recent victim, via an online auction which selectively avoided the flawed area in photographs posted on the site.  So don't feel alone.