Since the solder modellers use is a by-product of the electronics industry, many modellers are worried that this will mean there will be no solder. One trader is claiming that lead based solders are illegal, although this isn’t strictly accurate. What the rules say is you can’t sell an electrical item, such as a computer or more pertinently a model locomotive, if it contains lead based material. Hence my experiments with lead free solder.
Since the high melting point stuff is OK, I’ve turned my attentions to low-melt as used to build whitemetal kits. There isn’t a lead free alternative for this so if it looks like the supply will be disrupted for a while as people work out what is and isn’t saleable. I don’t use a lot to be honest, as I prefer to attach smaller parts such as chimneys and domes with glue. That way they come off whole rather than bending if knocked. A bent chimney is a nightmare to fix. One knocked off can often be stuck back on without even touching up the paint.
Anyway, I thought I’d better buy a little solder. I normally use the stuff from Langley models which I suspect is a by product of their kit business. Available in packets of 10 sticks I decided to buy 50. However postage is free on orders over £20 so I went for a nice round 100 – cost about 35 quid.
This is probably a lifetimes supply but it doesn’t do any harm to stock up on materials you expect to use a lot of now and then. Mind you, if it does become scarce, look out for some eBay sales in the future !
I could imagine normal lead-tin solder being made mainly for the electronics industry and hence becoming unavailable. But that might not affect the low-melt stuff; it's probably pretty specialised already and used for things where there's no real alternative - like your whitemetal kits. Still, if I ever need some then I know where to go!
ReplyDeleteIsn't whitemetal itself lead-based? I'm not a lawyer, but I'd have thought that the simple solution for model trains would be to sell the chassis containing all the electronic bits separately, then your body can contain as much lead as you like.
Whitemetal is lead based so you can't sell a working whitemetal locomotive if you follow the law strictly.
ReplyDeleteYour solution might work as long as the chassis doesn't have any whitmetal detail, such as sandboxes. What's more likely to happen is that kits will be made from pewter (like DJH) or resin.