Alfian

Oh heck, you mean that's a myth too? When our food processor kicks off its sounds like a B17's Cyclone radial engine starting up so I thought ......... oh no. Shine a light, The Tal, the mixer, what else - my whole life could be a lie....😂

Some time ago I bought a Baader fringe killer and it worked pretty well on reducing CA on the luna limb but found the yellow cast distracting. I've just bought a s/h Baader semi-apo filter to play with so it will be interesting to see how it works out. In all honesty the CA on the Tal100 and the Vixen is not at all bad anyway but the ST120 and the little Optic Star 90 will be a useful test. Will report back when weather plays ball.

You've been busy! The 12" will be quite something. Rifling just means that looking down the "barrel" of the pedestal tube it will appear as if it has large guage spiral screw down it's length. Rifling spins the bullet/shell as it leaves the barrel which I think increases velocity and accuracy tho' others will probably be able to give a better answer on that. Like I say it might be all nonsense anyway! It might be just a fanciful extension of the "built like a tank" idea.

An old photo of my Tal100r objective showing the very blue hue. I'll hopefully post a better photo shortly along with a few others in the collection.

Thanks for those useful and interesting comments Stu. Thinking about comparisons with the solid tube 150p I was wondering what the secondary size is? Figured it could be smaller given the 1.25" focuser which I assume it is. I was also pondering whether something like the little Baader helical focuser could somehow be made to fit making a fine focus possible.

A very good and extensive report Stu, thank you. When I had my Heritage 130 I was quite impressed with it's performance (much better than the Celestron 130eq) but despite the tape tweak on the focuser it was a niggly source of irritation and I eventually passed it on. I've assumed the optics on these scopes are the same as the SW solid tube variants but whether or not you have a good one and of course also a good and experienced eye which helps considerably.

I would have preferred to have painted mine but it was cold and damp with no sign of it changing, and had no where out of the house that was dry where I could paint , so C/F effect wrap it was. Managed to find this photo from an old post of mine.

When I revamped my Tal1 I used black carbon fibre wrap which didn't work out quite as well as I would have liked but it was OK. Wrap comes in various colours so could lend itself to a more creative finish.

Forgive my sometimes perverse sense of humour but thinking about voicing the outwardly "undesirable" for some reason the song by 10cc "I'm not in love" came to mind. "I'm not in love, so don't forget it, its just a silly phase I'm going through ..." etc. So ... the 102F11 ED I've happened to sometimes mention a few times, its nothing, so don't make a big deal of it, "don't make a fuss, don't tell your friends". And as to the picture of the Takahashi FC100 I have on the wall it just "hides a nasty stain that's lying there". - cue hushed whispered voice "be quiet, big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry ..."

Well done, great job. Love the green but as has been intimated it might blend in with the folliage, perhaps a discrete reflective strip here and there! I have a real soft spot for the Tal1, optically they punch way above their now lowly agricultural type image, though not their weight! I did a renovation/modification job on the Tal1 I had.Mine was a later model 1997/8 I think and was white. Flocking the tube is a relatively easy job on the Tal1 and does make a difference. One of the nice things about the Tal1 is that you can easily remove both the primary mirror/cell and secondary mirror and spider, do whatever and replace them because both primary and secondary collimation is so easy. I'd read somewhere that on earlier Tals the pedistal tube was rifled as they were recycled tank gun barrels. I don't know whether this was true or just a popular myth. Mine wasn't just wondered if your is?

With a short focal length like that, as things stand, it's going to need a small focal length eyepiece to keep track of the silver/black machines.

A twist on Johns above - making plans to do something else safe in the knowledge that the weather forecast is awful only to find that there has been a clear spell at home.

Agreed. "Grab 'n' Go" always implies spontaneity but in practice, at least in my experience, there is always a certain amount of anticipation which allows time to prepare a little. On a night that just might work out, it only takes a few minutes to put a scope as small as the 127 Mak somewhere it can acclimatise for a while.

Just a passing thought. In terms of a wide field of view. IF you limit the exit pupil to 5mm, (which I do on account of my age but also personal preference) the Startravel with a 24mm/68 gives a nice 2.7 degree fov. Something like a 25mm/60 Starguider will give 2.5 degrees. OK you can get a 2" ES 24mm/82 which will give give over 3.25 degrees but that's a big money EP. The Evostar at F8.3 will take a 2" 40mm/68, something like the Aero ED, which will give the same 25x 2.7 degrees as the 24mm in the Startravel. This might seem strange coming from someone who has the Startravel but there you go! (I do like its easy manageability)

I appreciate you have narrowed your selection to the 32 or 40mm plossl but an alternative would be a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece such as the Explore Scientific 24mm as linked or if you can find one a second hand ES Maxvision 24mm which is essentially very similar but in a different casing. (I think the Meade SWA 5000 24mm is similar). The 24mm will obviously give higher magnification a smaller exit pupil but as near as matters the same field of view which is as mentioned the largest you will get in the 1.25" format. I have both a decent 32mm Plossl (Revelation/GSO) and the ES Maxvision 24mm and I find the latter better to use and it is optically very nice. Its also reasonably well corrected in terms of pairing it with a fast-ish scope such as an F5. Definitely more money than a 32mm plossl but a good investment - especially if you can find one second hand.

The ST120 is very good at wide field low power views of DSO's in a compact but quite hefty package whereas the Evostar 120 at F8.3 is a longer scope to mount but is undoubtedly the more versatile of two in terms of better all rounder.

Yes, they are sharp little beasts. My ETX 90 is a cracking little scope, despite giving a little in aperture to my 102 mak on Luna it does feel to have the edge.

I have the 700D and use a SanDisk 32Gb and also a Kingston 16Gb.

Interesting thread. I had assumed given the all I had read on the topic and my age that I would have a maximum exit pupil of about 5mm. After various attempts using different methods it consistently came out at 5.5mm (+/- a tad) which I was quite pleased with. In reality it's a bit academic because although I do like the more contextual quality that wide field views can give, I prefer the darker background that something less than a maxed out exit pupil gives. I go for a 4.5-5mm max' exit pupil.

Love this shot, really has something, quite arty.

Isn't it good how threads like this really bring out the passionate enthusiasm that the good people on SGL have for astronomy. I have a liking for refractors but a view of the Leo triplet through a 22" truss dob (wow on both accounts) on an evening of less than ideal seeing left a lasting impression. Size does make a difference! Getting the best out of what we have is a worthy goal in itself but its perhaps inevitable that we always want more.

Ooooooo! I'll be surprised if you will get away with that!😉

@ScouseSpaceCadet that's a neat setup and a useful list of bits used. I remember doing a focuser transplant on my Tal1 which involved similar surgery. One of those careful "measure twice (or so) cut once" jobs that seemed a bit daunting at the time but not so in retrospect. As to a fixed primary, I have a 114p which I bought mainly for the Skywatcher Avant mount. Collimation hasn't been a problem at all which surprised me as its an F4.3 scope. Even after a few modifications it only needed just a very minor tweak of the secondary. A surprisingly good little scope for the money.

Just beautiful!

As much as I like Tals, imo £230 is way too much. As said an 8" dob (or even a 6" dob)would be a better prospect and would be my choice.