Hello,

well, Lutz is not my friend and he is also not Mr. Kern. But I wonder that somebody from Netherland is writing M-ä-rklin and not M-a-rklin and the translation of Mr. Kern's name in english is not Google's "nuclear" but core.

Well, I really don't know who MärCo is but I do not believe that he is Mr. Kern.

Hi Sander, DT, David et al.,

If Maerklin is planning to have more locomotives produced than in previous years and use non-German manufacturing locations then a small investment in an X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer at each location would alleviate their quality control issues with metals for diecasting. German quality and efficiency was at one time second to none.

These days it seems most corporations (here in the USA) want to eliminate older experienced employees and outsource the work overseas. Seems like Maerklin may be following USA's Corporate example. Upper management is never to blame!!

Hello,

Mr. Kern is Mr. Sinus, he wrote the patent application. I don't think that the Koef made him to a scapegoat. In an interview he pretended that it won't be easy to produce all the new stuff.

Thanks for that additional information Charles. Guus makes a valid inquiry. Are any other new models affected?

Why is it that the work force in India, Mexico, and China are sought as the saving grace for corporations? Are there no competitively priced and largely educated populations to tap from in the former eastern bloc countries where quality control can be better managed? Maybe the corporate greed can't be as greatly and quickly satisfied then. All we read is how labor is such a cost and yet the prices don't reflect the decrease in labor costs associated with manufacturing in third world markets. It's a cop out. When all that is available comes from these cheap markets then that becomes the norm and we should just accept it? Why not just sell Maerklin at Wal Mart along with the Bachman items and be done with the middle man? They've taken a premium item and cheapened it considerably. Like it or not.

Hi all,

As a German I could not resist to answer to the Statement that Germans (workers) are to set in their ways. First off, German Management (or International) has learned all the bad trades of their American Counter Parts without adopting any of the good trades as well.
When I was working in Germany ( oh so long ago ) a good German worker was well rewarded for a Job well done this is no longer the case today. Manager and CEO'S of the German Companies have now the same attitude as the Folks who run Enron into the ground.
Daimler Benz is a prime example of this scenario, The CEO is being paid what I consider a obscene ammount of money while at the same time the quality of the Cars are suffering due to shortcuts in MFG and the layoffs ( buyouts) of good Workers.
Should Marklin follow the same path it will no longer be a World Leader in Model Trains ( just another Bachman,Piko etc). I stated long ago in this Forum that almost 60% of all new Marklin Items are made in China ( be it Parts,Accessories or finished Product ) and I have the feeling that Kingsbridge will bleed Marklin try and then sell it off to the highest bidder.

Just my 2 Cents worth. Martin

Hi all,
As some of you might know,certain problems have spread through out the internet.This topic,has caught 'fire' on the Marklin Bar&Grill,a rumour perhaps,...
Then there is the question of Roco spare parts,at least in the US,...
This thread has sparked hersy about what happened at Marklin and the 'zinkpest' ,a 23 year worker got told to shove off,Marklin,of course will not explain,and the whole thing is a bloody mess,for all,....
Tomorrow I'll tell you the whole 'truth ' on this,until then,...


Dr Dirt

It's amazing how much speculation there is on the web as to who this engineer may be.
On two German forums I have visited one points to this forum as the source of the "story"

All pure speculation ofcourse and not so nice towards the forum members whose names are mentioned,I think.

Guus

At least there is a positive side to all this: apparently Märklin *is* listening to us, here on the internet

René

Guus,

I am in full agreement with you on this completely.

I don't give a f u c k about that. I said: the Germans there that they make Marklin kaputt and that Marklin better can leave Germany will it survive. I said that two years ago and see I am right again.
All big German trainfirms are leaving Germany.
And the reason is not only the high wages.

But what the hell at least 2000 more people unemployed is for Germany peanuts. Germany the country with millions of people which must life the rest of their life from unemployed benefits.


Fleischmann is also leaving Germany and Piko will follow.

Lutz Much to your surprise I agree with your post. I do think M have problems but the zinc and Mr Kern are probably not going to make much difference to any of us. From the dozens of Marklin items I have bought only one had a fault which was put right immediately. Although I am a Banker I am not an Investement Banker and if an Investment firm takes over then profit is king and us enthusiasts will come second.

Davy ; I am disappointed with the language in your post which degardes the points you make.

David

Fully agree with Lutz in this matter...

@ Davy: First of all; no offence intended. I know that we dutch are usually regarded is somewhat direct, but this slanging-match does definitely not contribute to a nice image of us Dutch people... So would you be so kind as to stop that kind of posts? However, I do partly agree with the point you make, I made a similar point somewhat earlier in this very same tread.

@ Mike C: I think you might be confusing some different models here, the models produced by Brawa are much older and had the article code 3680. These models are not affected. The only Köff reported to be affected with the "Zinkpest" is Märklin 36805 (SKW Trotsberg) which is Märklins first in-house Köff production, of a much later date, different moulds, different model. So, no worries about Brawa relating to this discussion.

And here it is... Halfway down the page, you can see a picture of the Württ. C. I referred to earlier. It can be clearly observed that there's something wrong.

http://www.worldrailfans...storder=asc&start=20

What do you think, is this Zinkpest?

To be fair, Marklin have had problems long before moving some production to China. I have a couple of early plastic-bodied wagons which both suffer from distortion, in one case this has led to a crack opening up on a bodyside as the chassis no longer fits inside the shell (I think it's a 4605, bought it unboxed. It's an SBB four wheel van with a brake cabin). The other wagon (SNCB side-dump wagon) has distorted sides and the base wasn't properly assembled, leading to one end being noticably higher than the other. I suspect it had left the factory like that however many years ago!

It's not Zincpest at all. It is merely a new and special feature whereby the loco shape morphs by itself automatically over time into a different body. Similar to "Transformers", it is the latest in model railroading trends for younger people.

Osterhun

Could you please reduce the size of your pictures to the recommended size in topic:


https://www.marklin-user...ault.aspx?g=posts&t=1067
about 600X 400
Ta.

Makes easier viewing.

Nev

Mine has the same bubble at nearly the same place. Funny isn't it? It has not been there when I bought it two decades ago. Märklin will have a look at it.The engine is on the way to GP. I also had to replace the decoder 3 weeks ago. Light changed but direction of driving stayed. now I have put in an ESU mfx which was in my spare part box.

Dear buble owners!



I have an older model of the SBB 'Red Arrow'[M3125]with the same sort of buble!
I don't know of it was there already from the time that I have bought the model as a new one (year: 1986).
But the buble is there at the moment already any years not only on the outside, but at the same place inside too!







What it is?
I don't know it!

With greetings from Dutchman

Given that you state that there's a similar bubble on the inside at nearly the same spot; it has to have to do with the shell itself, and a paint flaw is likely to be excluded. Hence, it is hard to exclude "Zinkpest", although I can not confirm it is.

Dear Sander,



Meanwhile I have in my message put a foto of the inner site of my 'red Arrow' too!
Zo you can see that there is a buble on the same place!

With greetings from Dutchman

Our resident specialist on the HAG forum assures me that this is not "Zinkpest". Take a look at his airplane model picture here with a couple of bubbles more:

http://hag-info.ch/hag/f...wtopic.php?p=22854#22854

Dutchman:

You sent me an email in error. Looks like you were trying to reach 60904 instead.

I certainly don't ask for your personal view as it's, well, personal to many. But so far I've not even understood what Märklin's official reason is. Or do they not have to have an official reason, well grounded or not?

/Lars

Zinc pest yet WAS a problem with the post war Maerklin materials.. To be read in the early KOLL catalogues.

So theme is right: "zinc pest is back.."

<ouch...>

Zinc pest is an intercristalline corrosion/cristalline expansion related to drifting/wrong mixtures of the zinc forming metals / materials, tin etc.

Problem seems also to be related to temperature, humidity and age. The damage (cracks, further failure and broken parts) is IR-RE-VER-SI-BLE.

This means: is_ defect= will_ be_ defect_ until_ forever_ or_ melted_ down.. There is no cure for this beneath of replacement.

I (a german and technician) am fascinated (sadly, horribily..) that an experienced company like Maerklin again ran into this type of trouble which seemed to have been solely a problem of the late 1940ies.

A statement to the ever-Maerklin-believing NL guys:

Maerklin IS part of the so called "globalization" - AND is part of the problems caused by this. It is always human behaviour. The Maerklin guys seem to be guilty in this respect - not to have watched THIS type of risk, NOT to have checked the incoming goods for material specifications - and having assembled bad material.. It´s a desaster in reputation IMO. This said by a german Maerklin addict having bought around 120 new Maerklin locos, partly for playing, partly for investment purposes.. I am proud and lucky to have bought mainly "NOS" - new old stock. There are maybe some 15 oder 20 locos newer than.. But I would NOT buy (definitely NOT buy) new Maerklin locos until the company would send CLEAR and STRAIGHT messages WHAT they will DO (not say..) in the future to prevent quality problems like this..

To point it out: if I buy a new loco at a dealer´s store the loco will be unpacked, inspected and shortly put on tracks for a test run. But THIS type of inbuolt further damage you CANNOT inspect.. by means of a private customer. So it is a built-in risk for the future. You buy the full price - but you may have got a severe problem..

So be careful, and apply to Maerklin to get back ALL your wrongly produced China scrap stuff. Chinese quality mentality is ILL related to western quality standards. You normally DON´T always get what you have paid for. I do have metal manufacturing experiences (casting, welding, assembling) with the chinese since the early 1990ies..

German casting problems (high quality iron castings) is 100 orders - 6 or 8 bad german deliveries - 30 or 45 bad chinese deliveries. They DO produce scrap - and expect YOU the western customer to educate them technically.. AND get angry for being educated as the Emperor of China is the Real Emperer of the World.. And everyboy HAS to respect the chinese superiority..

A mentality which is ugly ugly ugly.. I am no enemy of the chinese. I worked with them and if you know how they "run" you can work with them. But - for "globalization" - it is NOT harvesting immediately. It is ploughing - feeding the seed - waiting - spending water - waiting - and THEN at any time later on - it is harvest. I don´t know if they know this in Goeppingen..

Be careful..