So,im getting on with the mirror,currently at 25 hours from start to where I am now,between 2 and 3mm sagittal on the front so I thought I would go through some plans.

my friend damian is building the shell for the scope with his woodworking and engineering skills and im helping where I can and having him show me how to do some woodworking so when I come to build my next scope(26" f3.5ish) I can build a bit more of it myself.im hoping to add a few personal touches to the design as everyone likes things a bit different to other people so here is a small list of things that will be mounted onto it.

Focuser-http://starlightinstruments.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=35&product_id=50

I currently have,and love my moonlite but once I have the paracorr in it and a big 2" 100 degree eyepiece inserted,it sticks out miles and has a little flex which you can adjust but it makes the focusing a bit stiffer than I want.the feathertouch with SIPS is much stiffer and lower profile so that fulfils 2 targets straight away.

finderscope-https://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16703

im currently in two minds here between getting this and the straight through focuser as a stand alone focuser as I don't star hop well with a right angled finder.or.........keep it as a right angled finder for close up galaxy hopping and get a smaller secondary 9x50 finder for the initial star hopping or just a RDF or telrad.Im just wondering if having two finders would be too much clutter.The weight wont matter too much with the big heavy 20kg mirror at the bottom.

eyepieces-no change needed really as I already have the 20mm,14mm and 9mm Explore Scientific 100 degree ones and a 2" 2x focal extender.realistically it would be nice to have something a bit wider than the 20mm as with my focal length of 2016mm is 100x which to mee is a little narrow for low power.the 25mm ES 100 would give a better 80x but they aren't highly rated and the exit pupil will be getting large.plus the paracorr magnifies things a little.I wanted to keep my 30mm ES 82 but its exit pupil is over 8mm so that wont be a good experience.

luckily whatever I get I will have the sale of a 16" modified Lightbridge with dew kit and moonlite duel speed,a paracorr2 and the 30mm Es 82 to contribute.infact it should pretty much cover the price of the bits and coating the mirror and secondary so I wont have much to put to the scope really.

hopefully do a mirror update at the end of next week.

clear skies