130mm travel dob project?

[Hypernova]

I have been thinking about buying or building a more compact 'scope to take with me on holidays where luggage space is at a premium, obviously the 200p dob is very large a cannot be handled when I have a load of camping gear to take on a train.

I think though that the time has come as something has popped up for sale at a reasonable price. It a 130p OTA and is for sale in SnS astroboot for the princely sum of £12, obviously there's a catch and the catch is that the mirror is damaged. The description is quite vague but it say that the primary mirror is badly chipped and there a slither of mirror missing. There is no close up shot down the tube so I can't really see how bad it is. If it is only a few chips that there aren't many of or are around the edge it may be possible to blacken them with a marker and minimizing their effect on the image quality.

There is also a collection of cobwebs installed and a variety of dead insects according to the description so it will need a good clear out and service.

The only picture that I could get hold of is the little thumbnail below but a little searching in the astroboot should provide with a full-size image and description.

So if this isn't in too bad a way, would it be a good starting point for a homemade dob?

[Lux1]

I looked at that advert, it worth it at that price. Carefully inspect the mirror and like you say you may be able to blacken out the chips. I once heard of a mirror that was in terrible condition with several scratches and chips. It performed fairly well on the moon and planets.

In the worst case, you have a tube, spider and focuser. I'd buy it tomorrow but the wife would kill me as I don't need anything else (yet)!