Scale spokes

[Des]

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.

[Jim]

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.

[Michael Scarborough]

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

[Jim]

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.

[Des]

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.

[Jim]

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

[Des]

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.

[Gutzer]

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 

[Jim]

...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.

[Verbeek]

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!

[Des]

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.