With the heater off overnight, the first tube has cured to a non-tacky surface. I can see along most of the edge joints that the resin has penetrated by a mm or so and darkened the hardboard. In addition to wrapping the tissue around the circumference, I will cut and fold around the end baffles and daub it in place. With the tissue and after sleeping on it, I'm quietly confident...

I've screwed a length of twin-slot shelving support to the door frame with a few brackets on which to rest the tubes as the resin cures. I will seal off the door and frame up an enclosure around which to wrap a tarp. I'll add a small shelf at the bottom in order to pre-warm the resin before adding the hardener. I'm currently using kitchen sponge scourers to wipe on the resin - I don't have any styrene thinners and so I'm not going to waste brushes.

In hindsight, I should have cut a few extra baffles and made up the 5-inch test tube, to trial the various stages - it's the first time I've used resin, for example.

With any luck, it's all systems go. I'm away camping over the weekend so I'd like to get the tubes done tonight and give them at least an hour or so each in the "warm room" :D

Wrapped one of the short tubes - messy job. Trying to fold the snipped overlap at the ends round in behind each baffle is very tricky - the fibres that come away from the tissue cause it to pull away when you take your hand away. Will try a brush rather than a sponge - should be a bit better. Will leave this one as it - a ragged inside edge and a couple of air bubbles. I want to see what it's like to work with once cured - sanding, snipping, rewetting, etc...

Easy to snip/trip the cured tissue, in fact it's very brittle and tears easily. Bubbles suck. All in all, not great. The external rings will serve one purpose well, namely to hold the tubes in the round at the ends but I'm concerned about the other forces to which the tubes will be subjected.

I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'm wasting my time. I've over-ordered the aluminium channel so I'll have options - I may roll hardboard tubes around a form, instead.

In the meantime I'd love to buy a pair of 15x70 bins, but given the spend on these scopes, I can't justify it to myself - let alone to the other half. :(