Looks like a bit of a mix up while the heading is for Treating White Rust on Zinc Based Non Ferrous Zamak Metal containing that particular information on how to deal with that problem and not removing decals?

Some very old Britains 4.7 Naval Guns which were made of Lead Alloy comprising of Antimony for hardness while Tin adds to the strength and the fluidity. Britains stopped using this lead based alloy around 1966 regarding safety reasons and the rising costs of lead and moved gradually towards plastic and zamak.



This 4.7 inch model gun has the Patient date on the side of the trail 1918 while the other gun that has been painted is a much early gun from around the early 1900's. So far I haven't come across any oxidation with any of Britains toy soldiers or guns, tanks and vehicles. My son has a good collection although when he is not displaying them they are kept in plastic storage boxes.



The two wagon spoke wheels are soft lead without any additives to make them hard as with lead alloy used in the naval gun.

Below is the 1900's first version modelled by Britains founder.



Compositions of Die Casting Lead Alloys.

Lead Antimony.   90% lead and 10% antimony.

Lead Antimony Tin 80% lead and 5% tin with 15% antimony.

While there are other alloys such as Lead SAE 13 and 14 I doubt that this mix was ever used to make toy soldiers.

While lead does have certain resistance to most chemicals and acids it is interesting to note that Oak Timber may leach out gasses that may affect lead components if stored for long periods of time without circulation air which in-turn could cause oxidation of the alloy mix or is it the pure ferrous metal and not the alloy mix.

I do  know that ancient mariners and boat builders used to coat the heads of the copper nails used in ship building to stop electrolysis for eating out the copper nails. Now days they use Zinc blocks on the side of the hulls of ships for that purpose.

Interesting indeed.

 

Looks like Solido does have a problem with their zamak die-cast metal that they used in making some of the production run toys. I found this one on eBay being up for auction and I decided to give this lot a wide berth and passed on by.



Far too much fungi growing on this one for me.

Cheers

That looks quite severe - probably wise of you to let it go. Even if treated, there'd probably be lots of pitting. On an even surface, this would be negotiable (provided the item gets a full repaint) using putty, but far too many small details and corners here to get a good result, I think.


I've never seen anything like this on Solido, so don't you think it's possible that this gun has simply been left under horrendous conditions for an extended period? Sand box, damp shed, unwrapped in an uninsulated attic in contact with other metal parts?

I think you're right about the damp storage. That has been mistreated, left in a damp location and had time to interact with some other metal toys or in a metal box. Was there a breech pin on this at one time? This isn't one of those cap gun type that shoots blanks is it?