Show us your Frac

[surfindogg]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Lovely looking piece of kit. With the older scopes I tend to be of the view that they should be kept as original as possible. I would either live with the scratches or respray in a similar colour.

I'm not against carbon wrapping scopes but tend to think it's more appropriate on more modern kit which has got a bit battered, or is a colour you don't like eg the old skywatcher blue perhaps.

In that case I shall just give it a gentle rub over with a duster. 

[mikeDnight]

An observing buddy called round this evening to show me his new mount. When I heard he'd bought an AZ3  to mount his Takahashi Sky 90 on I was borderline horrified. However, after we attached the scope to the mount, I was pleasantly  surprised  how stable and secure it seemed to be. He's knocking on a bit now and wanted a lightweight mount with slow motions. We changed the flimsy tripod for a slightly better model with greater spread and it all works well.

Mike 

 

[mikeDnight]

Here's a close-up ?

[John]

The AZ-3 works quite nicely with a short tube scope and it's extremely light. I've used a 5" SCT on one with some success.

I'd like to try the Vixen Custom-D mount that the AZ-3 was modelled on. My guess is that the Japanese made Vixen version would be rather nice

[spaceboy]

It's no secret that I have always regretted letting my blue tube Evostar 120 achro go and even though the views in my Evostar 150 are far better, a 6" f/8 refractor can be quite the handful so it was only a matter of time before another 4.75" frak made it's way back in to my collection  

[John]

Very nice scope indeed !

After having a number of 6" F/8 achros and playing around with Chromacor's to remove most of the CA/SA I moved onto to my ED120 and found I didn't miss the additional aperture at all.

 

[spaceboy]

I'm not going to miss it either John as despite having a couple offers on the EVO150 I found myself withdrawing the avert yet again  It's just something about having a big refractor that I find appealing. The ED will accompany the EVO rather than replace it although in truth the EVO probably won't see much use now other than on those nights when the seeing permits some seriously close double star splitting??

[Anderscn]

Hi,

Here are my guns:

4" and 5" Achromatic doublets, both F/12 optics from Istar.

The 4 inch´er is here ready for the May 9´th Mercury passage.

 

BR,

Anders

[ajohnson]

My Esprit 80ED purchased about a year ago, my recently acquired Evostar 150 and ST80. The 80ED usually sits on my EQ6 with cameras, guiders other kit. The Evostar was being sold at a silly price and just had to join the family, the ST80, seen here on one of my Newts recently had a crayford focuser added, I would not have bothered but for a tenner (BNIB) from a car boot I couldn't just leave it there.

[Stub Mandrel]

Looking down on my small scope tracking the transit. Note the 'advanced solar hood focusing aid' lying on the grass...

[spaceboy]

On ‎18‎/‎06‎/‎2015 at 10:08, spaceboy said:

Here are a few from my collection over the years both past and present.

My first refractor was an f/8 Evostar 120 which I still regret selling...

This was replaced with a Celestron f/9 C100ED which despite having no CA, for me never lived up to the EVO so is pictured here on the chopping block..

Purchasing a used GOTO AZ mount I found myself with a SLT 60 f/10 which actually ended up as being one of my most used scopes for daytime WL, terrestrial spotter and quick grab and go lunar double star scope. This now belongs to my son.

Getting the refractor bug again an f/10 EVO 90 entered my collection along with a well corrected Antares sentinel f/6 80mm for wide field grab and go..

Soon to be joined by one of my most favoured but heavy refractors the Bresser AR127L...

 

AND to my current collection ...

ST120 For solar white light, rich field and grab and go

ED120 to replace and upgrade my much missed EVO120

Evostar 150 because it's the biggest refractor I can afford and does a superb job at splitting doubles ..

[JemC]

Without going back through this thread, there is a chance this particular ST120 has featured on here with it's past owner/s, however it's now mine  and i thought it was time i introduced it ,

so here it is, not had it's first light proper yet with me, but hopefully that won't be to far off

[t0nedude]

My Vixen SP-102m from early '92 newly assembled just after unpacking:

And yes, that is a 14" Binatone B&W CRT TV in the background, itself about 10 years old, at that time!

Tony.

Edited May 22, 2016 by t0nedude

[John]

Lovely scope Tony - brings back nice memories of 1980's and early 90's scope catalogues and what I then could only dream of

I hope you still have the green tupperware accessories container !

You scope must be from the same era as my Vixen ED102SS - the logo is exactly the same style and positioning.

[t0nedude]

6 minutes ago, John said:

Lovely scope Tony - brings back nice memories of 1980's and early 90's scope catalogues and what I then could only dream of

I hope you still have the green tupperware accessories container !

You scope must be from the same era as my Vixen ED102SS - the logo is exactly the same style and positioning.

Unfortunately I had to let that scope go to help fund a FL102s, and the green tupperware container left with it, I did ask them if I could keep it but they refused  Seriously though I still have a slightly newer (by a few years) one that came with the fluorite.. We should create a new thread titled 'Show us your green tupperware container' 

Tony.

[John]

14 minutes ago, t0nedude said:

Unfortunately I had to let that scope go to help fund a FL102s, and the green tupperware container left with it, I did ask them if I could keep it but they refused  Seriously though I still have a slightly newer (by a few years) one that came with the fluorite.. We should create a new thread titled 'Show us your green tupperware container' 

Tony.

Ah, so that one was the SP102M then. I had one of those way back when but mine was branded "Bresser" and had a matt black tube which showed fingerprints wonderfully well. As you can see from the photo (scanned from a 35mm snap) I had the Skysensor GOTO handset which was like a pale green brick with red LED characters. Not very user friendly !

No green tupperware box, alas

 

[mikeDnight]

Here's a pic of my baby all snuggled up in her new TENBA bed.

Mike 

[A McEwan]

3 hours ago, John said:

Ah, so that one was the SP102M then. I had one of those way back when but mine was branded "Bresser" and had a matt black tube which showed fingerprints wonderfully well. As you can see from the photo (scanned from a 35mm snap) I had the Skysensor GOTO handset which was like a pale green brick with red LED characters. Not very user friendly !

No green tupperware box, alas

 

OMG Look at the size of that hand crontrol box!

Sharp looking setup though, very nice.

 

[moriniboy]

I kept the green tupperware tub and sold the scope, liked it that much!

[t0nedude]

57 minutes ago, moriniboy said:

I kept the green tupperware tub and sold the scope, liked it that much!

Indeed, the tub has generous aperture too...

Edited May 22, 2016 by t0nedude

[A McEwan]

1 hour ago, t0nedude said:

Indeed, the tub has generous aperture too...

It's a Light (green) Bucket...

 

[John]

Usually I introduce scopes that have come into my possession as "new to me". In this case though, this one is literally brand new and fresh from Japan. Takahashi FC-100-DL

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by John

[iPeace]

9 minutes ago, John said:

Usually I introduce scopes that have come into my possession as "new to me". In this case though, this one is literally brand new and fresh from Japan. Takahashi FC-100-DL

 

Really rather excellent.

[mikeDnight]

1 hour ago, John said:

Usually I introduce scopes that have come into my possession as "new to me". In this case though, this one is literally brand new and fresh from Japan. Takahashi FC-100-DL

 

That is SO Sexy! 

[A McEwan]

I admit to being a bit Tak green myself... with envy!

I'm aiming for an FC-100 myself, but if I'd known in advance about the 100DL model's existence it would probably have just upset me - or prompted me to pre-order!

Congratulations John. Can't wait to read First Light report!