Thanks!

I been in and out of China for 25years and never ever heard anything about slavery at all . I can Assure you that China has some of the hardest working people in the world and there is a lot of money in China and is the fastest growing country in the world .it must more updated then the United states . I don't know where Americans get some of this crapp Heck Vietnam Saigon is more updated than most of the cities in America stop with the Crazy propaganda

Thanks, Mike - we will keep it up!

The glue is CA or super glue, just like we use in our own workshops here. The workers are just very good at using it!

skill yes but probly paid less then the usa min wange.

Up until I read your comment, I never thought about it . Why would you ?

You'd be back.

Thanks for your insightful comments. Many of the people making the comments see a Chinese factory and the blinkers go on - they can't see beyond their own expectations and/or prejudices. We've had to delete almost half of the messages because they were either overtly political or just downright racist.

p

Max Supercar

Thanks for your kind words!

Our factory employees are very skilled at what they do.

Thanks!

Actually they represent a fraction of the price for the actual train, when you buy a train, unless it is a popular one sold in several hundred thousand units. most of the price goes to the tooling, cutting the mold and paying off the equipment. if you removed that from the equation a locomotive would be about 10 bucks and the rail cars even less. ( Source, I have been in contact with independent model train factories about a model train I tried to release some years ago )

No model trains sell several hundred thousand units, except maybe Thomas & Friends. Our raw cost, not including tooling, is far higher than $10, even for a freight car. Your friend is either mistaken or his information is very out of date. But you are right that the amortized tooling cost is a large portion of the overall product cost.

It was around 2009. I have forgotten the exact cost in the quote but remembered it to be somewhere around that, I could be off by a few dollars. My hundreds of thousand units example was hypothetical to illustrate a large number of units to split the cost on. I know that around 4000 to 1000 units is a more realistic run for model trains. My model in N scale was a passenger multiple unit with fairly few external details to be mounted, 3 colors on the body and only one color to be stamped on in the pad printing. I remember that the price difference between the tooling and Assembly blew me away. I did not intend to bullshit you guys but since I could not find the quote (I deleted my old emails to save space) I have lost my proof and can only rely on my memory. And you are out in the fields of this industry so If you say so, I stand corrected :-)

No worries - as I said, you got a big part of it right. -Jason

Very few. Their money goes to the same things western young people spend money on. Fancier mobile phones, travel, hairstyles, etc.

@@rapidotrains are they paid equitably? Is Rapido a Fair Trade company? I love the products and would be even more proud to run them if I knew every employee was paid equitably for their work.

Thanks and my pleasure, Richard! -Jason

Midland Compound 1000 I know they do

Midland Compound 1000 10h/day for around 200$/month

There are many reasons. A toy car is produced in hundreds of thousands. A model train is produced in hundreds OR thousands. And low thousands at that. A toy car has a handful of parts. Even an N scale boxcar could have more than 50 parts. The quality control for a toy car is a quick glance. On a model train it is easy to spend 20 minutes doing QC on one car, including cleaning up the printing and painting to make it perfect.

Our pleasure! Glad you like it!

Everything they do can be automated. It may not be cost effective, but it can easily be done. Look at how cellphones are now made, automated from start to finish.

It's a lot of work.

This factory is owned by Rapido

Yes, and models back then were a lot less detailed/realistic. People want better without having to pay for it.

And they were strong and built to last.

and they were cheeper too XD ill bet they dont cost a quarter the price to make them than they sell them for

@@cup_and_cone Have a look at the Roco's European factory. Better quality without exorbitant pricing kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nbV8ZcR5r8imcYE.html

@@BananaBug Toys for kids are less detailed, stronger and cheaper. The models for adults are more detailed, expensive and fragile.

Thankfully our models are wiped down before they are shipped. But the occasional fingerprint gets through! 😄

Maybe one day!

👍

It's more cultural than anything. They will skin a living dog on the street and not think anything of it. Or they'll see someone dumping toxic waste into a stream and no one will say a word. My guess it will take a couple generations before they start to make significant change...once their families and loved ones start feeling the long-term effects. Be it not being able to swim in a polluted river or beach, lung cancer from the smog, ridiculous high food prices on over harvested and diminishing supply, etc.

Hmm... but they also know what communism was/is like... so they wont want to go back to that either...

Invest in Chinese models, the price will only go one way just as Japanese brass did.

Thanks for your kind words. The APT-E was made at our other factory.

To them it means "I have to finish 20 more of these before lunch." 😆

One day we'll get high speed trains on this side of the pond!

See my comments on a previous comment. I have footage of UK models in the painting and tampo rooms, but nothing in assembly so the visuals are limited.

Perspective... Just 25 years ago most of these kids parents were living in mud huts and farming. Now they're working in factories, living in buildings with modern plumbing, and playing on smartphones.

We aren't very knowledgeable on Indonesian trains, but who knows, maybe one day!

I hope rapido train can make it happen. thank you very much for the comment. Greetings from Indonesia.

Usually it's just a soft cloth. That does the trick.

👍

And if you promise to order 2,000,000 model locomotives we'll set one up for you.... ;-)

It Depands how you spray it. ofcourse. having breathing/eye protection is Always better. But these people know what they do.

The trouble is that the British models spend weeks and weeks in printing and only about two days in assembly. So unless I happen to be there on one of the British model assembly days, there isn't a lot to show! -Jason