scale artillary the rest of the story

[buzz36]

For those (sorry DD) who i have chatted hear and off the board about  Austin and scale artillery issues
I just want to say 2 months wait but i finaly got my refund from him

[Doc Brown.]

That great. What u going to spend the money on?

[KABAR2]

Well I am glad he came through, not defending him but sometimes things pile up on someone and they can't do the right thing as time demands it doesn't mean they won't do the right thing it just takes longer than we'd like.

[Double D]

For those (sorry DD) who i have chatted hear and off the board about  Austin and scale artillery issues
I just want to say 2 months wait but i finaly got my refund from him

Buzz,

I am glad you got the matter resolved. Patience and good manners will always prevail.  I do hope you go to the other forums on the net where you posted about your problems with Classic and post the  results there also.

[buzz36]

so true Kabar
yes Austin live pretty close to counting pennies but he is trying  and last we chatted his business is picking up witch is a good thing our deal fell apart for several reason mostly coz  he would not ship the item
I have seen his work and it is very good i think if he could  get his money troubles settled he be a very good source
I do have to say i would order from him agian if he has an item i may desire but  i would only pay COD
and yes DD as i have time  i going though to  post  on other boards about the outcome but im waiting for closer of something befor i post all over the net I however decided i post here first coz i had the most off the board chat with memebers here about it thoughout this ordeal
 

[5kwkdw3]

I'm truly sorry that some of you folks have had difficulties with Austin in the past and am also glad to see that he's catching up with those.  I had no idea about any of this when I posted a want of mine in the form of a Thunder Mug.  He spent I don't know how much time programming his CNC machine to make what he thought I was after and sent my email a copy for my approval.  I didn't exactly like the outside contours of the mug and suggested more of a straight taper from the end of the chamber section to just below the muzzle ring.  Now mind you I had not sent him a penny and he was doing all of this programming work on the possibility that I might buy something from him.  I approved his second rendition and he simply asked for $100.00 to help get the materials he'd need and to start work (no time frame given only that he keeps to three projects at any one time and two were ahead of me).  I sent the $100.00 and a copy of the last drawing email saying go for it.  Less than a month went by and it was at my door with pictures and status updates along the way.  I always knew where he was in the construction.  He then had something to test fire and work up a load that consumed all of the powder (something that I could have never done on my own).  One more call to me to ask if I would prefer a bolted on stabilization plate rather than welded (weight being one of the issues).  I said that the bolt on feature would do fine and the next thing I knew was FedEx was knocking at my door with a steel five gallon paint bucket that the Thunder Mug rested tightly in the bottom and more shredded paper that I've ever seen packed so tightly that I had to get a screwdriver to loosen some up to unpack the Mug.  Now see what not knowing something about someone did for me.  I garnered a friend.  Someone that I'd easily contact whenever I was wanting another piece of ordinance, and one heck of a Thunder Mug even better than I first dreamed up.

Austin relayed some of his operational problems and what sounded like being taken out of context in some of his dealings.  First thing to remember is his family is NOT supported by his cannon making.  He has a real job out in the real world that he has to answer to as well as providing support for his family.  Quite often when an order is made, his one third up front is so he can purchase the necessary material stock to make the item and then it's crafted into the wishes of the buyer (I'm a prime example of that).  Any extra money if at all that he makes in his "Hobby" goes back into the hobby in the form of new machine (or new to him) tools so that he can do the work himself.  The material for my thunder mug was so large that he had to drive several miles to a friends house to use his band-saw to get it into a workable size.

He really is a nice fellow once you get to know him and he loves to create new and different items in his shop.  My Thunder Mug design is all captured in CNC programming code so he could produce an exact copy any time someone asked for it.  He has a continuing to increase library of program codes for various projects he has and is building.  He is definitely worth another look.  Smithy.

[buzz36]

Smithy  your right he is a good fellow and i can say this with a kind heart as well
our dealings went along just fine up until he went to ship my barrel he had  place exsposive lable on the box hopeing that would  make UPS or fed X handle it safer as he said he was having lots of trouble with damage. then he would not follow up  to get it corrected adn he refused my offer to send a will call tag to have it sent or send him money to correct this issue next thing i know the barrel is at a pawn shop but by this time I was  very upset in that his lack of or ablity to check or follow though to finish the deal
I may try to work with him on another prodject in the future as his work is very good but for now i wish him luck

[5kwkdw3]

I have a golf ball cannon and carriage, all of steel and was advertised by a place that offered several different types of cannon/mortar both new replica's and used as well.  It took me awhile to figure out that the folks I placed the order with were not the one's making the cannon.  When I sent my "Yes I want one" email in I received a snail mail letter a week later saying to send a chunk of money to the folks I'd been talking to, but then to also send a really big chunk of money to another fellow I never heard of (maybe the builder?).  I found out later that the other party didn't make the cannon's either.  Apparently a retired machinist was making the cannon, a next door neighbor was selling them for him through a third known cannon seller on line.  I got confused something awful.  Then the shipper said that he could NOT ship to a home address only a business address?  Swore that's what FedEx told him.  I then contacted the first guy and that's when I found out the little triad that was going on.

After a little belly aching we found out that the "business address" problem was taken care of with a ten dollar bill (some surcharge FedEx had due to the weight.).  Then when I got the cannon, the knob was busted off the end of the barrel.  It went from bad to worse.  The shipper offered to make good on it but do to shipping charges I was better off fixing it myself.  That's when I had a local machinist cut 3/4" off the end of the barrel, face and chamfer the end, and drill and tap for a towing ball.  With the use of Brownells Acraglas epoxy filler I was able to permanently attach the trailer ball to the cannon and repaint it flat black.

There were several time's I got a little ticked during our dealings, but in the end I got the cannon I wanted and the shipper refunded me all the money he collected from FedEx so I knew he was aware of the problem and trying to get a good result.  One thing that did happen was the advertiser chose not to carry the product anymore (his loss really) and now they are being sold on GunBroker.com.  Smithy.