Starmaster has landed!

[Sunshine]

I posted this originally in the lounge, sorry it should have been here.

Well, after much excitement and anticipation, a 7 hour round trip, and too many roadside coffee stops, I have my Starmaster and it is HUGE!! For a 10” it’s larger and stands a fair bit taller than did my 12” lightbridge!.

The beast is built like a tank!, but boy can I notice quality when I put it together, smooth as silk, and quick to assemble. So the story goes that this was one of the first scopes Starmaster made, hence the eight truss bars. Later, they changed to 4, I guess for cost cutting reasons or another, so apparently it’s sorta rare I guess? Regardless I love he eight truss look.

The man who parted with it, old fellow, also has two obsessions and a second 11” Starmaster so one had to go, he assured me that I will keep it for life, he said and I quote “you wont envy 12 inch scopes with this 10 inch Zambuto” such is the quality of the grind I am told, he says I should be sitting for first light because the stunning contrast will weaken my knees lol.

Boy is this exciting, I kind of feel like a kid again, just as winter is looming here and bitter cold is a month away. I am told that The fellow who started Starmaster still answers the phone when one calls the number on the plaque, riveted to the scope. I may have to ask a question or two soon enough. Apparently the scope hold collimation like a champion because the spider and springs are heavy duty and once set, the springs hold well unless the scope is jarred.

Anyway I won’t ramble on too much, I tend to when I’m excited, I can’t wait for first light, if anyone has any suggestions to improve my experience then please fire away as this is my first wood made scope of this type. I will surely be posting my first light experience.

i will share some photos below, thank you, fellow SGL’ers!

[John]

Fantastic looking scope and, judging by the mirror specs, it will be a fantastic performer as well.

My only tip is to exploit the optical quality of the optics as much as you can. Don't be afraid of using high powers to tease detail out - I've been using nearly 500x tonight on Neptune to see it's moon Triton with my 12" dob which also has nice optics.

You might find a light shroud is worth having, if you don't already have one for the scope. Keeps dust, body heat and stray light out of the light path which maximises the peformance.

Look forward to your reports on the scope !

[Uplooker]

Lovely looking scope and a bit of history to boot!

Look forward to reading your first light report.

 

[ShrewView]

That looks really good!

Can feel your excitement from here. Good luck with first light and let us know how it goes.

[niallk]

That is a wonderful buy!  A beaut.  Magnificent looking mirror.  Enjoy + looking fwd to reading a 1st light report

Just out of interest - how is the mirror supported - what kind of cell design is it?

[Sunshine]

46 minutes ago, John said:

Fantastic looking scope and, judging by the mirror specs, it will be a fantastic performer as well.

Thanks! i have no idea how to interpret those graphs on the sheet lol, im glad you do, i'm told they're decent parameters.

[Sunshine]

11 minutes ago, niallk said:

what kind of cell design is it?

ill post a pic of the rear cell soon, thanks!

[SIDO]

Very nice to look at too, well crafted these are indeed....

[Sunshine]

13 hours ago, John said:

Don't be afraid of using high powers to tease detail out - I've been using nearly 500x tonight on Neptune to see it's moon Triton with my 12" dob which also has nice optics.

Funny you mention this, you’re right indeed, the previous owner made a point to say that he ran out of power at 500X on some objects while still maintaining great image quality. I will certainly push the limits, I’m mostly excited about some of my fav objects like Hercules and the double cluster, at lower powers, must be beautiful in a good scope.

[swamp thing]

What a great looking scope.  

Congrats 

[estwing]

Very nice indeed , congrats. 

[garryblueboy]

Very nice beautiful scope 

[JOC]

The specs mean nothing to me, but you are clearly ecstatic with it and I hope it lives up to expectations - it certainly looks the part.  I hope you have fun with it.