Nakedgun

8 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Not the biggest or the best but it's all mine.

Nice shop, too.

8 hours ago, faulksy said:

Home made

That is certainly what I would regard as a "full-thickness mirror"!

26 minutes ago, John said:

The 11mm is the only T6 Nagler that I have not owned or used oddly.

 

I think with me it's more a desire to have the set (2.5 - 13mm) than any real need for that particular f/l, although I do use 11mm from time-to-time.

Better late...

Welcome!

TV discontinued their 11 T6 some time ago, apparently because of this ep release. Because I did not buy one when they were current I substituted an ES 82° 11mm instead. Had I known...

My first dob was a 10" Coulter Odyssey red tube that I bought used for $200 in the late 90s. I don't know if I have a photo anywhere, perhaps I'll stumble upon it sometime. Coulters had crude hardware, but that was the scope I used to gain my first view of Pluto at a star party near here known as RTMC (now defunct).  

Having aperture fever at that time, I spent way too much money (just ask my wife!) on my then-new hobby by ordering this Starmaster 18, w/Zambuto f/4.3 primary, ProtoStar secondary, FeatherTouch focuser, and Sky Commander/Sky Tracker goto, as well. I saved some money by not ordering the transport handle option from Rick Singmaster and fashioned a pair myself (this did not assuage her).

The heart of the beast: (transport box included with scope)

Mirror cell:

Operator's station:

A relaxing pastime:

The largest scope I will ever own, this instrument showed me a great many deep-sky wonders (blue supergiants in M31, no less), but after 16 years I finally grew tired of transporting it to dark skies, the setup and teardown (the mirror/cell in its box weighed 75lbs) and sold it off to a good home.

Do I miss it? No question, but I have no regrets.

On 01/03/2020 at 12:14, Telescope40 said:

Hello. Second first light for my SW 150 ED. 
Panzerfaust on a Skytee 2 ! 
Regards.  John 

Tell us you're not forced to observe with that obnoxious light from your neighbor!

Looks brand-new!

Mfd. by Towa, should be a good performer, by reputation, but be sure to star test it to confirm before beginning any restoration labor. Hybrid .965 / 5/4" diagonals are available to allow modern ep use. Fun to use old gear if the optics are OK.

Good luck.

Back in 2003 I was at the local landfill (an employee, no less) when one of my colleagues brought to my attention that someone had discarded a telescope, so I hurried over to have a look and found a Meade (Mizar) model 320, an 80 f/11 achromat on a GEM. When new, these retailed for around $650 as I recall from the ads I've seen, rather expensive.

Its condition made it obvious that it had sat outside somewhat exposed to the weather. It had a straight-through erecting prism in place of the 5/4" visual back and with the landfill's proximity to the ocean I surmised it had sat on a balcony and was used as a spotting scope to look over the beach and ships passing by. The wood tripod legs were scuffed up, the aluminum mount had surface corrosion and other metal parts had some rust from exposure to salt air and the OTA has many light scratches on its exterior. No finder was present so I added one from a previous find.  

To my delight, I discovered all these blemishes wee superficial, and that it was mechanically sound. These packages were well made, the OTA even having a collimatable lens cell.

This scope produces the best images I've seen through an 80mm achromat, and the mount is so smooth that during high-power viewing the object can be kept centered in the eyepiece almost effortlessly. This is the smoothest GEM I've operated by hand. When these were current, I would not have spent the kind of money they demanded, so if not for this find I should never have experienced just what Japanese builders were turning out for this genre of astronomical gear. 

Sometimes, one gets lucky.

That's quite an extension on your finder, certainly moves it up out of the way.

What sky atlas is that on the table?

Having heard much about the three-inch Tak I thought adding one to my backyard arsenal a good idea, so in April 2014, I did. My Borg 76ED stays in, and is used when, I take the travel trailer out to the desert alongside my dob (or if the sky conditions preclude setting up the dob at all), and unpacking it for use at home is more trouble than bringing this Tak from the house. I have no complaints about the views the FC-76 DC f/7.5 provides. Tak 6x30 finder in blue.

Here it rides on a Meade LX70 mount, a nice lightweight and smooth GEM, they could be had at substantial discount during the recent discontinuation of them.

Pictured is the Baader prism diagonal, but I would like to try the Tak 5/4" prism to see if it differs at all.

Last image with the Tak Extender Q 1.6x for nights when the seeing is best.

On 21/02/2020 at 14:04, Stu said:

Just fitted an original Vixen MD-5 single axis drive to the Super Polaris mount for my Vixen FL102s. Looking good, perfect for some nice relaxed planetary and lunar viewing.

The matching color scheme throughout is pleasing to the eye.

William Optics products have a visual appeal to me entirely separate from the item's function.

I have two Kowa spotting scopes, both 20 years of age, one kept on a tripod ready for instant use, the other in a case with other items ready for transport. New, both had a somewhat spongey exterior surface which aided grip, and at around 15 years the surface of the exposed scope became a sticky mess but it is slowly drying out, the material shrinking slightly in the process, the cased scope not having this problem.

Clearly seen in the images are permanent fingerprints and dust and lint stuck to the body. I never tried any chemical solution, and any silicone-type product would not be an improvement, in my view, as I hate the slick surface they leave behind.

Kowa produces extremely fine optical systems but how they got this part wrong baffles me. Perhaps long-term testing of this skin was not conducted prior to adoption.

I'm going backwards in aperture with this post as this scope just came back into my possession. It is the same 60 f/11.7 achromat as the road find I posted elsewhere, and though a different mfr. it is the same, optically and mechanically, as that other. 

This was a birthday present given to my younger brother by my folks during the mid-70s, and it had the same wibbly-wobbly mount that was common, and frustrating to use, like most of that period. When my brother went to his reward some time back I took this and passed in on to a neighbor woman, in her 70s, to whom I introduced observing the Moon and planets.

Vixen U.S. is blowing out their 70mm alt-az package currently, so I bought one and gave it to her this week. Using the Vixen is much easier than the old scope so the classic comes back to me.

A 10" dob can provide a lifetime of objects to view. My recommendation, as well.

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Amazing set of scopes @Rainmaker, lovely!!

Here is my humble Zeiss Telementor II, the second one I've had and one I'll hopefully hang on to.

 

The tripod in the night shot is unlike anything I've seen before, curious as to its make and vintage.

After looking at what was available in my price and experience range at the time I decided to buy my first Borg scope, the 76ED f/6.6 in June '01.

It has never ceased to provide pleasing views, and like all Borg scopes I have owned, its light weight means mounting options are numerous and uncomplicated.

I think I found this Tele Vue Up-Swing mount at a star party swap meet soon after the scope came to me and is quite convenient.

All but one of my Borgs have helical focusers which are robust, without creep and keep the design tidy and sprightly.

The focuser range is increased by a drawtube section to which it is attached. Chrome knobs on either side of the OTA secure the drawtube at the desired location.

The handle came from an old tripod and I made the attachment for it from a piece of scrap aluminum.

At ~4lbs. without diagonal/ep my Tak Sky Patrol easily carries it when I want tracking.

17 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

I hope this is what you're looking for @Nakedgun, it's a long thread to sift through but has all the details of the initial problems @John encountered...

 

Thank you, an informative read.

Have a link to the issues encountered here?

I assume an angled spotter is what you are contemplating. I have one on a tripod ready to deploy at a moments notice to observe day or night. My 20 - 60x zoom is very handy and will show Saturn's rings. Although I have a semi-permanent red dot finder on mine, I agree that a Rigel Quickfinder would be the best option.

Good luck.

Yes, a nice looking scope, to be sure. If the performance equals its looks you've got a winner, winner, chicken dinner! 

Do you plan to mount them for use, if so, how will you attach them?

13 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

The FOA60 is superb, I foolishly sold mine to friend......... I have just replaced it with the FOA60Q but it hasn't had first light yet due to our bushfires....... at the moment my scopes are all sitting around waiting for a clear night...... 

I elected not to get the Q module but don't know if that was the best decision - never looked through one with it. Whether my joy could be increased sufficiently through its acquisition will remain unknown, for now.