Just had a chance to properly read through this thread now. Thanks to everyone for the positive messages!
To put it simply, the main safeguard we have is Dave Jones from DJ Models; he has a longstanding relationship with the Chinese factory we will be using and he knows the people on the ground there, which is a huge bonus for us.
We sat down with Dave back in August for a comprehensive discussion about the project and among the topics covered was contingency plans for 'disaster' scenarios. This included everything from substandard finishing to securing the moulds in the highly unlikely event the factory shuts down.
On the point of substandard finishing, Dave will provide an extra stage of quality control between the factory and ourselves, so if something like that happens it will be returned to the factory for re-working without ever landing on our doorstep.