forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

WW1 Aircraft Modeling => What's New => Topic started by: Des on April 16, 2015, 02:53:40 PM

Title: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 16, 2015, 02:53:40 PM
John Vojtech has informed me of his range of spoked wheels now available and in stock at a special price. Wheels are available in 1:72, 1:48 and 1:32 scale, the 1:72 wheels come with black tyres only. I have used four sets of John's wheels and must say that they are vey good, I have just ordered another two sets for my next scratch build.

Gotha G IV
DH.2
DH.9
Fe.2b
D.V
Nieuport 28 with triple spokes
Nieupot 17
D.VII
D.VI
Dr.1
E.III/EV
SE.5a
Spad XIII

If you are after a good set of spoked wheels for your model at a very realistic and affordable price these are the wheels to buy.

Des.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: WarrenD on April 17, 2015, 09:12:49 AM
Des,
      So, the a/c listed are available in all three scales?  How does one order from him?

Warren
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 17, 2015, 09:40:47 AM
Go to this site  http://www.scalespokes.com/  where you will find ordering instructions, also a full list of his products.

Des.

Here is a portion of the email John sent me;

ALL FOR 20USD

all scales in stock  1/72   1/48   1/32 with extra tires for 1/48 and 1/32 scale. 1/72 only black tires (very small)

 

Gotha V IV

DH -2

DH -9

FE.2b

D.V

NI-28  Triple spokes as original

Ni-17

D.VII

D.VI

Dr.I

E.III / E.II

SE 5a

Spad XIII
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: WarrenD on April 17, 2015, 10:03:26 AM
Thank you very much Des!

Warren
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Ssasho0 on April 17, 2015, 06:36:15 PM
I'm going ot get some 1/72 spokes for my Gotha :) Thanks Des for showing the way to the shop :)
Title: Scale spokes
Post by: James on April 17, 2015, 11:32:12 PM
These look really, really nice. I do have a question, were these wheels ever left open like this or were the spokes covered?

Thanks,
James
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: WarrenD on April 18, 2015, 09:08:00 AM
James,
          Some were, some were not. For the most part, it's a case of looking at original photos of the a/c you want to reproduce. Some folks like these in case the a/c in question was photographed without the covers in place, and this enables them to reproduce that with much less pain.

Warren
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 18, 2015, 09:18:28 AM
Warren is quite correct in what he has said, but I will also add the a lot of the pre-war and early war machines did not have wheel covers. I personally prefer no wheel covers as it gives the model an air of elegance, but that is just my opinion  :) :)

Des.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: WarrenD on April 18, 2015, 09:29:35 AM
Oh, truly it does lend a lot of elegance!

Warren
Title: Scale spokes
Post by: James on April 18, 2015, 10:59:16 AM
Thanks so much, Warren & Des. I agree as well that the spoked wheels do lend a lot of elegance. Would be cool to use them on the Gotha, even though they had wheel covers.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: WarrenD on April 18, 2015, 11:16:16 AM
Well, you can do one of two things James:

1) Find an image of a Gotha without wheel covers, or

2) Build the Gotha with wire wheels, and scratch-build some wheel covers and have them laying to the side as if they were taken off for maintenance. (Just like exposing an engine, etc.)

I'd vote for the latter, but that's just me.

Warren
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: fredjocko on April 21, 2015, 04:39:25 AM
Thanks so much, Warren & Des. I agree as well that the spoked wheels do lend a lot of elegance. Would be cool to use them on the Gotha, even though they had wheel covers.

James:

You could do a Gotha from the 21 Destroyer Squadron, in 1920 Poland.

Thanx,
Carl

(http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff336/fredjocko/Gotha_zpsu7pszfvv.jpg) (http://s537.photobucket.com/user/fredjocko/media/Gotha_zpsu7pszfvv.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: jknaus on April 21, 2015, 06:03:41 AM
Thanks for posting this up Des. Will have to get some i think.
James
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Michael Scarborough on April 21, 2015, 06:44:07 AM
Two thoughts: how do these compare to Steve Robson's spoked wheels...which are really, IMHO, like Swiss watch parts. I just wonder if the vast difference in price represents a vast difference in quality?

Also, if you've not been to John's other website, http://www.umm-usa.com/, have a look. He is quite a fine model builder. As a supplier, I have never had a complaint about any of the model building tools I have purchased from him.

Cheers
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: fredjocko on April 21, 2015, 07:06:15 AM
Two thoughts: how do these compare to Steve Robson's spoked wheels...which are really, IMHO, like Swiss watch parts. I just wonder if the vast difference in price represents a vast difference in quality?

Also, if you've not been to John's other website, http://www.umm-usa.com/, have a look. He is quite a fine model builder. As a supplier, I have never had a complaint about any of the model building tools I have purchased from him.

Cheers

My understanding is Steve is no longer doing spoke wheels; so unless you're doing them yourself, Spoke Wheels is the only option. I purchase a couple of John's wheels when he first started doing them and they look like spoke wheels to me. I never had the pleasure of purchasing Steve's so I cannot compare the two.

Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 21, 2015, 07:47:25 AM
It would be like comparing a Roden kit to a Wingnuts kits.  Steven Robson made excellent wheels, very accurate in scale and very strong. John's wheels are also very good, the last four I purchased from him are of good quality and look very nice, once painted and fitted to the model they really look the part, and only a fraction of the cost. Unless you want to make the spoked wheels yourself there is no other option at present (but be prepared, I have a feeling that the Steven Robson wheels will make a return but under a different builders name  ;) ;))

Des.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Jim on April 24, 2015, 10:57:11 PM

Also, if you've not been to John's other website, http://www.umm-usa.com/, have a look. He is quite a fine model builder. As a supplier, I have never had a complaint about any of the model building tools I have purchased from him.

Cheers
Just make sure you are aware of the additional costs if, like me, you are an international customer. I got surprised with a rather hefty 'extra' postage fee after placing my order, and this was after I entered my address details prior to ordering.

While the ordering info section provides a notice that additional postage will be charged to international buyers, it's not expected or made apparent when actually placing your order.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Michael Scarborough on April 24, 2015, 11:13:10 PM

Also, if you've not been to John's other website, http://www.umm-usa.com/, have a look. He is quite a fine model builder. As a supplier, I have never had a complaint about any of the model building tools I have purchased from him.

Cheers
Just make sure you are aware of the additional costs if, like me, you are an international customer. I got surprised with a rather hefty 'extra' postage fee after placing my order, and this was after I entered my address details prior to ordering.

While the ordering info section provides a notice that additional postage will be charged to international buyers, it's not expected or made apparent when actually placing your order.

That stinks! I can't imagine that is legal and I would demand a refund. Thanks for letting me know.

Michael
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Jim on April 25, 2015, 12:15:12 AM
Michael - To be fair I did have the option of cancelling but decided to proceed with the order. I was just surprised and disappointed that international shipping costs were not included up front in the order, given the shipping rate when initially ordering was already pretty expensive.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 25, 2015, 10:53:50 AM
With all the wheels I have ordered from John (Scale Spokes) he always sends me an email with the cost of the wheels plus four different posting options, these options are entirely my choice.
For my latest order which is for two sets of Spad wheels the post options are as follows:
$7.50
$20.95
$42.95
$52.95

Naturally, the dearer the rate the faster the shipping and insurance is included, tracking is included on all the rates. I have used the $7.50 rate on a few occasions now and recieved the wheels within a week, that's pretty good from the US to Australia. John is up-front with his post charges and leaves it up to the customer to decide which service they want, there are no hidden charges from what I can see.

It is important to contact John first with a list of the wheels you want, ask him to send you an invoice for the wheels plus postage costs, this way there is no confusion with postage charges. I am sure that John is trying to give his customers the best deal possible.

Des.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Jim on April 25, 2015, 07:42:51 PM
Des - From what I understand insurance is not included with the first postage option and for the other options, only covers up to a certain value amount depending on which option you choose. The first postage option was also not initially available given my order exceeded a certain amount (although John offered this option to me afterwards, I decided it would be better to take the hit to the wallet to have at least some recourse if my order doesn't turn up!).

What irks me most about this is when I placed my order, I received a further email notifying me of the extra postage cost regarding international shipping after payment was already processed. While John's online store does contain information about international shipping rates if you care to look, this information it is not provided on the order page itself. I've placed orders from other online stores before and international shipping is always added to the order, so you just don't expect it to be added after.

To ensure no other forum member makes the same mistake, I thought it appropriate to point out the additional cost for international orders.

Regards

Jim
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 25, 2015, 08:09:54 PM
Very thoughtful of you Jim to inform the other members, it is always good to have a head-up before we dig into our wallets. I have questioned John as to why he operates the way he does when it comes to international orders, I'm still waiting for a straight answer.

In the mean time I will continue to buy his wheels and use them on my scratch builds.

Des.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Gutzer on April 27, 2015, 12:15:21 PM
It would be like comparing a Roden kit to a Wingnuts kits.  Steven Robson made excellent wheels, very accurate in scale and very strong. John's wheels are also very good, the last four I purchased from him are of good quality and look very nice, once painted and fitted to the model they really look the part, and only a fraction of the cost. Unless you want to make the spoked wheels yourself there is no other option at present (but be prepared, I have a feeling that the Steven Robson wheels will make a return but under a different builders name  ;) ;))

Des.

That sounds intriguing Des.  I'm looking forward to see what turns up! 

P.S. I have tried contacting Steve via his Facebook page to see if he might be interested in making a pair of wheels in 1/16 for the Camel...but no response  :(
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Jim on April 27, 2015, 07:26:10 PM
...While John's online store does contain information about international shipping rates if you care to look, this information it is not provided on the order page itself...

I had a look again at the UMM-USA website and noticed the information about international shipping rates is actually included at the start of the order page, so must have missed it when I was placing my order. Apologies to John Vojtech for my lack of observation.
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Verbeek on April 27, 2015, 08:32:16 PM
I'm also interesting in buying some wheels.
But I'm afraid of the extra shipping cost.
And also about the extra cost like 21% tax and about €13.00 handling cost to get it by my home.
But it must be look great, on a Fokker E.IV!
Title: Re: Scale spokes
Post by: Des on April 27, 2015, 09:04:45 PM
To try and clarify the shipping issues regarding international shipping from Scale Spokes I wrote to John and here is his answer:

Des.

Thank you for your email and your interest in our wheels.
First I would like to apologies for the confusion, we do not have any hiding prices.
We notify on our website and order form that international customers will be charged extra for INT shipping.
The reason is that our website was made only for U.S. buyers and we never thought that we will sell internationally.
But today we are and our site is not set up for that.
The second reason is that we offer the cheapest international shipping for regular and priority mail.
We have to do all manually, but it is good also for customers. Even our new website will not have automatically set up for that, because the shipping will be very high. By manual set up you can keep the shipping cost low.
We are also offering many different options and even if the customers do not like it, they can always cancel their order.
So I am really doing my best, I know today everyone wants to be in a hurry even if they ordering, but we would like to make all sides happy.

Now about your other question about shipping.
For one or two set pairs of wheels the price for regular mail  without insurance will be $6.50 to 7.95USD. Total of all shipping cost.
Mail with insurance call Registered the price will be $20 to 22.95 USD total , mail will be insured up to $47.00 USD only

Order for 3 to 5 sets wheels the regular price will be $8.95 to 10.95 USD.

Mail with insurance will be 22.95 to 26.95USD again Insurance only up to 47 USD

IF  customers choose priority mail and order will be up to 1 pound the price will be around 40 to 45 USD wit insurance up to 200USD.

Express mail will be around 48 to 54 USD up to 1 pound.

All information can be takin from www.usps.com

Now we have new wheels and we are starting on our new product.

NEW WWI wheels.

Gotha 1/72
Gotha 1/48

Ni-28 1/48
NI-28 1/72

ALL SCALES

DH-2

DH-9

E-II

D.VII D.VI D.V

New item called BONESHAKER French bicycle new item will be displayed soon. Scale 1/48

We will update our website soon with this new products and ACCESSORIES.

So, thank you again for your interest and Happy Modeling.

John V.