I haven't done anything over the last week, except clear out a tall metal cabinet to serve as a curing cupboard. With a fan heater, I can get the air temperature up to 30 degrees with plenty of ventilation. So as soon as I've done some other jobs around the house, I'll get back out there and apply resin and tissue to some more of the tubes.

Aluminium channel has arrived - I deliberately over-ordered but won't start cutting until I've got the external rings, mirrors and focuser mounted and can weight the various parts and determine the balance point for each. Then using Robert Royce's spreadsheet, I can work out the strut lengths required.

Fitting the external rings will be a case of starting with a template-cut ring, marking for intended position and then hand-fitting each ring to each tube and pin/resin them in place. Then drill and fit the threaded inserts and start to fit the struts.

The resin/tissue on the first tube is not the smoothest. It would take a lot of sanding to improve this. One concern is that due to the way that I clamped the tubes together, the sections are, if anything, slightly concave. Over sanding would risk removing thickness from the edge joints where strength is needed most. Once painted up, it's not going to be the prettiest of finishes.

But scopes are typically used in the dark, correct?