@.@ Gold as an element is pretty soft as a metal, and thus, like others said, would be pretty impractical as a material for toymaking.
It would, but would depend on what the die-cast pieces are made of. If they're an iron or mild steel (and they're magnetic most times, so they likely are), gold would be slightly worse in this respect, but if they were a tin or lead alloy, chances are gold would actually have less mold shrinkage during cooling. Gold would also have a pile of problems with deformations and shape defects during cooling that iron and steel parts might not have, and would likely be harder to stamp or forge pieces out of. Fun fact, gold plating often doesn't actually contain any gold. It can, in which case it's usually been electroplated, which is time-consuming and expensive, though it may be what was used in at least some of the Lucky Draws. It could more likely (esp. in the mass-produced SoC stuff) be a gold paint, which can use anything from yellow pigments and mica flakes to aluminum powders to iron pyrite to get that lustre.
Gold plate I 'spect. Still even 10 Karat gold is $21.09 a gram. And even WST is going to weight a 100 or so. Do the math that's $2100 of materials alone.
This reminds me of a great commercial pushing Buffalo mints. They make it sound like you're getting a great deal on gold, pure gold coins, and then they say: "clad in PURE 24 KARAT GOLD!"
Like I said, gold electroplating is used sometimes, but its timeconsuming and expensive. It also chips and flakes really easily. Suitable for stuff like the SoC line, given the cost, but most often "gold" details aren't gold. It also works somewhat better on metal pieces compared to plastic, which are somewhat more prevalent in the SoC stuff.
