First off, thanks! Still working hard, but still waiting for parts!!
Was going to wait until finished to do some reviews, but thought I should try to help you out with what I've learned so far...
The best postage rates I've got from overseas thus far are from arcadeshop.de, and Jan is easy to deal with; though I would advise make sure you can pay via paypal (e.g. order enough stuff!!) As there's a minimum order cost to pay via paypal. I'm still waiting on the bits to arrive, but I will say; he dealt as efficiently as his Germanic stereotype would suggest with me, so hopefully the stuff I get back is good quality
https://www.arcadeshop.de/To get the best postage costs, it's worth getting a US PO forwarding box, however this means instead of waiting 3 - 10 days, you'll be waiting up to 6 weeks depending what you order. Various companies can set this up, and they all have varying costs, even NZ Post do an option now. Sadly; I can't make recommendations as I have been to impatient to set one up, though in retrospect, I have now added up my final post bill, and wish I'd had more patience and set one up!!! Still, next time!!
Gremlin Solutions are awesome, but a bit over priced depending what you're getting, again; postage doesn't seem so bad from the UK though, so kind of compensates.
http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/Tornado Terry's rock; so much cheaper than buying direct from HAPP, and one of the first companies I found, so had to tolerate all my questions!! Though I would say; this is the perfect example of needing a Post forwarding box, as this is expensive postage (heavy items though)
http://myworld.ebay.com/tornadoterrysdot Game on Grafix are just awesome to deal with, I've had a couple of hick-ups with them, but would never have any fear buying from them again, and for the overall quality of the vinyl, I just can't recommend them enough; even with the time consuming mistakes; it happens, just seems that I got the short straw on a couple of occasions, but I'd never complain about Scott because he's so easy to talk to, and he really does go out of his way to make things right, everything I've read about him is spot on! I spent about half an hour talking to him on chat one night after the first marquee arrived, and after the mess up with my artwork, I found out he was on holiday after I sent my e-mail, but he still took time out to reply to me personally, and my new artwork is on the way.
http://www.gameongrafix.com/Unfortunately up here in Auckland; the vinyl printers seem to be a bunch of pirates that can't resist a huge profit, and with the high NZD (only +15% to get US prices right now!!!) it works out just as cheap to buy from Scott, who I have complete faith in for the quality of work. I'm really glad you've found a good printer though, as they seem to be worth their wait in gold! I'm keen to find a local supplier, but have yet to find one that doesn't want to charge more than I paid to Scott, even including postage.
Mitre 10 Mega have been as good as ever with the tools I've needed along the way, Bunnings for whatever reason just seem to want to charge more, which is odd, as everybody repeatedly tells me they're cheaper, maybe I just got the good sale prices in Mitre 10 (can but hope!).
For the bits that use vinyl, I found a seller on trademe that did auto grade vinyl which seemed to work well; it's not a final solution by any measure for the control panel, but it's a first solution, and it works for me for now, though eventually; I think I want to artwork the control panel up.
Computer bits for the main part came from PB Tech, (ex lease for the main part) or relied on donations.
The hong kong company that sold me my amp were really easy to deal with, and postage was almost a week ahead of predicted, so can't grumble there, and I ended up using a set of 4" car speakers even though I had a donor set, as I wanted everything to look and sound as good as I was able to make it. Cabling & Speakers came from JB, but again; with Post Forwarding, there's no reason you can't get everything in one go to avoid heaps of freight costs.
The absolute best person I've dealt with though, without a shadow of a doubt has to be Vlad who does the custom artwork for Game on Grafix, and has created mine for me; he's just wonderful to deal with, though I think I just happened to click really well with him, as he liked my idea! At the moment, I am still keeping that under wraps, because I want to be able to add photo's of the finished cab, so I can put the full effect on here
You can contact him through Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Custom-Grafix/111293578954130?fref=ts or through the custom artwork request on Game On Grafix, and he is amazing! His interpretation of what I asked for far exceeds what I was hoping for, and looks really spectacular! His work doesn't come cheap, but as the saying goes; you get what you pay for!
I will also add the obvious caveat with these reviews that your mileage may vary; I obviously can't guarantee these will be awesome providers to deal with, but they've been really great with me on all counts
even the people I have contacted, but not purchased from have been great, and it shows how good the community is that people are so easy to deal with.
Anyway, hope that helps you out some
If there's anything at all I can do from Auckland, let me know and I'll try and sort things out for you... I think this hobby (especially outside of the US) really does rely on us helping each other out as much as possible.
Also; welcome to the game
hope you have as much fun as I'm already having!!!! & if I offer just one piece of advice; before you even buy anything; thoroughly think through what you want to do, and check out your options on here if in doubt, and ask many many questions. The biggest (glaring) mistake I have made is the trackball, but, as with everything; in time, this can be resolved, so nothing to worry about, and it was a learning curve for me
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Topic: The New Zealand Story... (Read 10396 times)
