American Models now tries to build and paint everything in the U.S.; but difficult, time-consuming work such as applying intricate paint masks, is done overseas because of the cost of labor is less. Molding parts is fairly automated. Assembling multiple parts and painting take a lot of delicate time. In the U.S. the increase in minimum wage now being demanded yearly means that a novice, no matter how clumsy or unreliable or unskilled, will get a wage that was once earned over time by people who worked for it. If my own company does not automate and displace workers, we will be driven out of business. Wages in China have also increased, but I suspect that there are levels that award greater earnings to skilled workers while allowing lower wage earners to prove themselves over time.
I have six of S Scale America's 40-ft intermodal cars, and I'll get at least one of the 3-car articulated versions. Now that Lionel has cancelled the Berkshire I had ordered, I may get more than one set of the Maxi-IV car sets to make an intermodal unit train.
