I heard somewhere that ductile cast iron was once used in the manufacture of items like crankshafts. But being that crankshafts are subject to high stresses when in use, wouldn't cast iron be more subject to breakage? Granted, when building a model engine which will not be subject to heavy use, modelers can get away with using materials not normally suited for the moving parts of an engine. Case in point whenever my dad builds models he almost exclusively uses 12L14 alloy free machining steel for the cranks and the cams.