The 42281 set is the 'Good Luck' F-Zug train used around 1955 (era IIIa) and not the Rheingold though.

...However, it turns out that the remedy is far worse that the illness. It was the plastic film that reacted with the paint somehow and melted it.

This problem may be encountered also in the case of Le Capitole, the Senator, VT11.5, VT08, the Henschell-Wegmann, and the horrible Gottardos, as they all come wrapped in this flimsy plastic film from the factory.

you also don't know if the previous owner/seller used some sort of solvent based liquid to clean the cars at some time, and residue reacted with the plastic or paint in a tight enclosed box.
I've not seen this problem with any of my stuff. Marklin is not the only company to package trains this way either.

the only paint damage I've ever seen was on the EMD F7 set, and there was no felt patch protecting the nose of the logo and the metallic gold paint wore off. that set was sent back.

...oh, really? Reading the posts above reveals that our member bought the set five years ago!

Dear all,
I am very dissapointed with the quality of some Marklin products that just will destroy them self. I have the 42281 set of cars wich is a MHI product, they are four DB passanger vagons made of metal, actually they are the Rheigold vagons in Era III.
The BIG problem is that the protective (or destructive) plastic insert that comes in the bottom of the box has made a kind of chemical reaction with the paint of these vagons and now all four vagons have horrible scratches on the paint, all in the same place. I have taken some photos of the plastic insert where you can see the marks of the vagos. Only the sides of the vagons in contact with that plastic where damaged. Please review your models this can be a big problem on any model with the same plastic protective material.
I will send a letter to Marklin about this.






Regards
Eduardo

Hi Mike, my answers in yellow

I have not responded to this thread so far (until now). I would like to ask Eduardo a few questions about his item:

In the last photo posted in your original thread, you show the box with the four coaches, and none of the coaches show any damage. This made me a little curious:

1) Did the damage occur to the top (facing up) side of the coach or to the bottom side of the coaches?
Damage occured to the bottom side of the coaches. There is a protective transparent plastic film in the bottom of the box that film caused the damage.

2) Does this item come with a styrofoam cover piece or just the cardboard box on top of the main cradle?
It comes with a styrofoam cover piece.

3) It appears that the damage is almost identical on each coach, following the same pattern. Normally, I would expect coaches to have slight differences in damage due to pressure points not being exactly the same. How was the Set stored, was it stored vertically or horizontally (flat)? If flat, how many other items were stored on top of it?
The box was stored horizontally (flat) and it had about 4 or 5 other sets on top, only one was heavy the 3600 set of three locomotives. May be this was the cause but it looks rare that the damage is in the bottom of the vagon and not the top. Another thing is that the problem is only where the plastic film is and there is no trace of paint, it looks like a chemical reaction like acid.

4) If the damage occurred to the side of the coach facing the bottom of the cradle (box), Could you post a photo of the styrofoam insert showing the point where the damaged area of the coaches would have contacted the cradle?
The styrofoam is in perect condition no marks, the marks are only in the plastic film that was in the bottom of the styrofoam box, see my the third photo, in that photo you can see some white marks.

5) Was the item moved or otherwise handled before the time the damage was discovered? Was there any signs of abrasion on the top or bottom of the carton that would indicate pressure. Repeated rubbing due to motion and pressure could potentially explain the type of damage that occurred.
About 3 month ago I discover the first damage only in the red vagon, at that time I thougt it was an accident or a crash, but last night I discover that the blue coachs where damaged to.
The box has a styrofoam cover I will see if there is any mark and I will take some more photos.

As a general precaution, make sure that you are not stacking your Maerklin (or other RR) boxes too high... The downward pressure on the bottom boxes can result in abrasion damage over time. Where possible, store your items in an upright manner. If this is not possible, make sure that you limit the weight placed on any particular item. Also, when replacing your items in their box, make sure that the item is properly inserted into the cradle, so it does not allow the weight of other packages above to be transferred to the item and to potentially cause abrasion.

Thank you for this tip, I will storage my items upright.

If you want to replace the plastic foil strips that have been used by Maerklin to line the inside of some cartons or to protect the items, you can purchase a package of Medium size Glad Freezer Bags and insert each locomotive, coach or car into a bag before placing in the box. I have found those bags to be similar to the ones that Hag delivers it's locomotives in. For coaches, you may have to use the Large size.

One last thought... There are many items in daily life that include some form of alcohol or other chemical that can damage paint, plastic and other products that can be found in or on model RR items.
Make sure that if you are using a Window cleaner, cologne, perfume or any aerosol spray, that your items are not exposed to residue, as this can lead to problems.

I look forward to hearing your elaboration to my queries, and hope to be able to narrow down the cause of this problem so that it can be averted in the future.

Regards

Mike C

All 4 cars are plastic.

SHEEE 1T!!!!!!!!

Off to buy plain towels........

Un-bleached ones perhaps, Macca?? Now I'm getting paranoid!

[Yes, I noticed this thread was idle for nearly 3 years.

Polyethylene Terephthalate

http://en.wikipedia.org/...lyethylene_terephthalate