Love Casting

Model cars that were made by the Franklin and the Danbury Mints from die cast metal are heavy but not magnetic. I don’t know what the metal composition is, but it’s too heavy to be aluminum. I’ve also seen some with corrosion. I asked this question in the toy/hobby category and got no answers. A friend suggested ‘potted metal’ which is another metal I don’t know. Anybody?

Most die castings are made from non-ferrous metals, specifically zinc, copper, aluminium, magnesium, lead, pewter and tin based alloys, although ferrous metal die castings are possible.

The metal used (for toys) is either a lead alloy (in the first toys), or more commonly Zamak (or Mazak in the UK), an alloy of zinc with small quantities of aluminium and copper. Lead, as previously so widely used for cast metal toys, or iron are impurities that must be carefully avoided in this alloy, as they give rise to zinc pest. These alloys are also referred to casually as white metal or pot metal, although these terms are also confused with the lead toy alloys.

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