Repro Autos Can Melt Plastic

Wow.  Thanks.  That is something I am glad to say I have not seen before!

Very interesting. It reminds me of something that happened in my home office. I put a plastic "magic rub" eraser in a plastic drawer and, a couple of months later, I noticed that the ribbed plastic lining underneath the eraser had been melted away. I can only conclude that some chemical (probably a plasticizer) leached out of the eraser, and out of Carl's repro tires, and softened the plastic in the surface below. I believe we have a couple of industrial chemists on this forum, hopefully one of them will see this thread and tell us more precisely what happened. 

I also have repro cars, but fortunately they are all sitting on metal platforms, not on the surface of the flatcars. I still have the eraser (those plastic erasers are way superior to old fashioned rubber ones) but it now sits on a piece of paper. 

Carl,

This is very similar to a problem LTI had during the 1990's with the flats with the Ertl loads. The treads and wheels would melt right in to the plastic. Lionel solved the problem by adding a clear plastic shield to go between the load and the car. I was told by Lionel that the melt was caused by a reaction between the rubber used for the tires and treads by Ertl, and the plastic used by Lionel for the body. I kept one of these cars until recently and the tires melted almost clear through the body.

Regards,

Randall

It is indeed a chemical reaction, I wish I could explain better but when I asked my cousin why he put cardboard under the tires of die cast vehicles he collected, he told me the tires would melt overtime, into the plastic display cases.

I've seen this before and also had it happen to me but I never would have known that! I thought it was just the heat.

This is not just these repro cars as the op mentions but for perhaps any vehicles with rubber tires.

Maybe newer plastics and rubbers don't have this same problem now as in the past .but it's a good idea to put something like cardstock (like a business card) anyway.