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Have you chosen a scope on looks alone?

F15Rules

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ChrisLX200

ChrisLX200

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To give an example of added styling... I've been looking for a suitable 12" astrograph, premium optics and good build quality. I like the sound of the specification of the RiDK 300 made by Officina Stellare but Oh, that Italian styling just leaves me cold. I keep trying to look through all that and concentrate on the underlying optical and mechanical qualities which are undoubtably of very high quality but the thing simply looks Micky Mouse to me. What do you think? http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_product.php?id=1418

ChrisH

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Earl

Earl

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To give an example of added styling... I've been looking for a suitable 12" astrograph, premium optics and good build quality. I like the sound of the specification of the RiDK 300 made by Officina Stellare but Oh, that Italian styling just leaves me cold. I keep trying to look through all that and concentrate on the underlying optical and mechanical qualities which are undoubtably of very high quality but the thing simply looks Micky Mouse to me. What do you think? http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_product.php?id=1418

ChrisH

if it was all in black it would tidy its apperance up a fair bit

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m1dlj

m1dlj

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To give an example of added styling... I've been looking for a suitable 12" astrograph, premium optics and good build quality. I like the sound of the specification of the RiDK 300 made by Officina Stellare but Oh, that Italian styling just leaves me cold. I keep trying to look through all that and concentrate on the underlying optical and mechanical qualities which are undoubtably of very high quality but the thing simply looks Micky Mouse to me. What do you think? http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_product.php?id=1418

ChrisH

It certainly looks well engineered and functional, but you're going to need these:

post-37345-0-73411200-1411147032.jpg...post-37345-0-34721800-1411147253.jpg

Ray

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russ.will

russ.will

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:eek: People! wait until you see and handle lovingly crafted and finished Italian alloy in the flesh, before passing judgement.

They make OOUK look like parts bin specials. There's probably naff all difference in the optical prowess, but that is to miss the point.

Russell

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philj

philj

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To give an example of added styling... I've been looking for a suitable 12" astrograph, premium optics and good build quality. I like the sound of the specification of the RiDK 300 made by Officina Stellare but Oh, that Italian styling just leaves me cold. I keep trying to look through all that and concentrate on the underlying optical and mechanical qualities which are undoubtably of very high quality but the thing simply looks Micky Mouse to me. What do you think? http://www.iankingimaging.com/show_product.php?id=1418

ChrisH

Nah its not a proper scope anyway, its got mirrors in it :-) :-)

Seriously though I personally dont object to styling as its called these days. Its been around for centuries. A fashionable style comes in trend and all of a sudden just about everything takes on that style. Art deco and nouveau for examples. When these styles hit everything from kettles to houses was made with that style. Cnc machining every square mm and bright coloured anodising is now the IN style, from cars to pushbikes to telescopes.

Most of us admire the form of victorian engineering where form mattered equally with function and I think this modern style is a modern take on that. I personally am not taken with this new styke but then Im old fashioned :-)

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timwetherell

timwetherell

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I think many of us would love "...to have a look at/through it." at some point. It certainly is a beautiful looking instrument.

Thanks guys :) Yeah, sadly it was a matter of space. Our new house is really nice but has a limited garden and an observatory big enough to house that scope would be out of the question. But the good news is that I've made a 7" short focus version that will be coming with us. It will use the same mount and pier so the two are not that different aesthetically. We're also planning a tiny, but hopefully beautiful observatory to house it in. And of course once it's set up, visitors will be very welcome :)

The new scope also fits on a portable AltAz mount, so hopefully we'll be able to bring it along to a couple of meets.

post-37954-0-32255300-1411344788.jpg

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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I prefer the looks of a 4" F/15 refractor to my 4" F/6.5 Vixen I think but, and it's quite a big but, the faster focal ratio makes the scope much, much easier to mount and the faster focal ratio coupled with the ED doublet objective makes the stumpy little Vixen more versatile than the, undoubtedly lovely, F/15 would be. I'm starting to feel similarly about my 6" F/12 too I'm afraid and would probably move to 6" ED doublet of around F/7-F/9 if I had the chance. I guess practicality is winning over aesthetics for me :undecided:

Wow John, a 6" ED doublet.  What are the chances?

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Vox45

Vox45

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My 5 yrs old daughter was adamant on the fact that her first scope should neither be black nor white. I then discovered with horror that there are not a lot of choices in colors for scope. I was fortunate that red was a populare one... close enough to her original choice of 'pink'

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nicoscy

nicoscy

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Ruud, I have one on order from Mark @ Moonraker and I will probably go with the gold and chrome aluminum look as well.

The man is obsessive compulsive. He sent me a photo of the findershoe he polished a few days ago and when I commented that I wanted shorter screws his reply was "these are just there for show, I am making custom screws for the findershoe"...

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Vox45

Vox45

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Good lord are these for real ? I am blown away by the look of these Moonraker scope. Their motto should be "if we can build it, we can chrome it"

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Ruud

Ruud

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Ruud, I have one on order from Mark @ Moonraker and I will probably go with the gold and chrome aluminum look as well.

The man is obsessive compulsive. He sent me a photo of the findershoe he polished a few days ago and when I commented that I wanted shorter screws his reply was "these are just there for show, I am making custom screws for the findershoe"...

Wow, you ordered one! I bet you'll have the most beautiful telescope on the island.

A pair of white cotton gloves might come in handy.

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russ.will

russ.will

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I spent a fair bit of time at IAS playing with both Moonraker and Skylight scopes and both were worthy of the title of 'engineering as art'.

What I really like is that you can ignore the options on the respective websites, choose an objective of your own and get an OTA made to suit. Got a WO LOMO 80/480, but less than fussed about the mechanicals? Both offer an option that isn't UKABS.

Russell

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Helen

Helen

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I think my new-to-me Telementor is a work of art  :grin:  optics and engineering - and the dozen astronomers who stood around it in a field in Herefordshire on Saturday seemed to agree.  Even my parents who know nothing about scopes think it looks great.  And the views are wonderful too.  But I also have more functional scopes which may not be as good to look at but do what I need them to do (my battered Borg being a classic example)

Helen

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ChrisLX200

ChrisLX200

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Good lord are these for real ? I am blown away by the look of these Moonraker scope. Their motto should be "if we can build it, we can chrome it"

Here's a man who loves machining, making things, making scopes in this case. He isn't going to let anything out of his shop which isn't perfect in his own eyes so you can be guaranteed superb workmanship. I have to say the product is a little OTT for my own tastes but no-one can deny the workmanship that goes into them. Collectors pieces all, and worthy of display just to be looked at and admired as well as looked through.

ChrisH

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