Tim,
Right now, Gene's castings seems to be the exception. I maintain that all that folding and fitting of all that lovely photo-etch he includes would not go over well in a factory.
I'm almost finished Jon's latest O Scale offering and has good as his work is, some fitting was required to join the roof casting to the body cleanly.
I suspect that in the end it comes down to numbers. If there's enough demand for a car to warrant sending it offshore, it's worth it now to run it in styrene. That seems to me to be the market right now.
Then we get into another aspect, which can not be addressed by a factory. Many of my clients have specific requirements and expectations for their rolling stock. Working one on one with a custom builder is how you can be assured of getting exactly what you are paying for.
Now if the Chinese factories would stop putting on reweigh dates and include a decal sheet that allows one to date the car according to the desired time frame then we're starting to talk.
Pierre Oliver
www.elgincarshops.com