Late lamented Unitron Polarex rare refractor

[F15Rules]

I once owned a really interesting and very rare Unitron Polarex 4" F15 refractor..at the time I didn't know what it was, or it's rarity, and I posted a while ago on SGL's "Show us your refractor" thread the story of how I came by the scope..and how, unwittingly, and in my ignorance, I had the scope modified in a way that destroyed it's historical and rarity value. You can read all about it here:

In the post above, I included the only photo I have of the scope in it's "post modification" stage.. 

Well, today, going through some old family videos, I came across a short (c 28 seconds) sequence in which I had filmed the scope sitting proudly in our lounge. I thought it might be of some interest to colleagues on SGL, so I am posting this below. Please bear in mind that the original video was recorded almost 30 years ago, by me, on a home video camera in the living room of the house we then lived in..it was part of a video of our two young children playing, which of course I've not included. So today I simply filmed the video showing on our TV with my Android phone, so I apologise in advance that the quality of the film isn't the best..but I think it's good enough for you to see what the scope and mount looked like after it was modified with the new, long tube..

Also, I now know that the scope in it's original, folded short tube form was known as a (extremely rare!) Unitron Polarex Model #132c. This is where the memory starts to hurt more! - I found a very interesting video on YouTube of my exact scope, as I bought it in either 1990 or 1991, from the Scope City shop in Liverpool. You can see the video of the original short tube folded refractor, identical to the one I had, here:

I believe it was in c late 1991 or very early 1992 that I had the scope altered by Orion Optics (at that time based in Crewe).

I should stress that OO did nothing wrong..they actually made a nice job of the conversion, (including the UNITRON and Polarex tube decals), and offered back to me the original parts which were removed as part of the conversion..but I told them to skip most of them as I a) had no idea of the rarity of the original folded design and b) I had no intention of ever restoring the scope to it's original state! 

Anyway..I've attached the above link to the YouTube review of the original folded design scope, as I think it will be of interest to refractoroholics like me, so you can see the scope in it's "before" and "after" states.

I should also add that the equatorial mount and tripod were never modified and remained original. That mount and tripod were an engineering work of art as I hope the videos will show..the machining and design was just beautiful, right up there with Takahashi IMHO.

I hope you can make sense of all of  this and enjoy the story🥴😊.

Thanks for reading.

Dave

Edited August 23, 2021 by F15Rules
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[jock1958]

Thanks for sharing Dave, your right its a very unusual design. Times like this that you wish you could wind back the clock 😩

I know it’s of no consolation but looks to me that OO did a very tidy job in converting it into a classic refractor! 

[F15Rules]

Thanks Iain..

Yes, you're right, the new tube was very nice and, as I thought at the time, made the scope look more like a "proper" refractor..

I just didn't realise then how clever (and how rare) that design was..for instance, I had no idea that the focuser was rotatable - an unusual feature in those days! Everything was just so well thought out and engineered, as was all the equipment designed and built by Nihon-Seiko in Japan at that time.

To think ( according to Dave Trott, owner of the 132c in the YouTube video) that only c50 of these scopes were ever made, is what makes me sad about what I did to the scope.. purely through my ignorance at that time.

If you watch the video, the sheer attention to detail on the mount, too, such as the threaded counterweight bar to make ultra fine balancing adjustments so easy, just weren't seen at that time.

Thankfully, people like Dave  had the foresight to recognise and preserve some of the other 49 examples...and, you could argue that my example, which I hope is still out there, is an even rarer example - being #1 of only 1 ever made!😂

Dave

[Saganite]

At the time you were not to know, and you still had a fine telescope at the end of it which you used quite happily.  It might have ended up in a collection, unused, so at least you gave it a life....

[F15Rules]

Thanks Steve, I do agree that scopes are made to be used first and foremost, but of course many of them are so lovely to look at as well..."droolableness" and "lickability" are also key "what counts" factors..just ask JeremyS and MikeDnight!!😂

Dave

[RobertI]

A fascinating story Dave and a really interesting design of scope. I really sympathise with how you feel about your actions though. When I ruminate over my past ‘mistakes’ I need to remind myself that it seemed the right thing to do at the time based on the knowledge I had. Don’t beat yourself up! You may have destroyed a rare original, but it wasn’t exactly a ‘looker’ and you created a thing of beauty in its place which is hopefully still being used  🙂

[Chris]

20/20 foresight would be great and all, but I can only repeat what others have said - You were not to know and did it to use it how you wanted to at the time... plus you can't help your addiction to those long tubes, Dave.  If it's any consolation this is a top notch post, very interesting!