Classic Refractors

[Towa]

I know the forum has some admires of classic refractors, so below is a picture

showing mine.

On the right is my Kenko TA-1250, 76.2mm f/16 O.G. this one is circa.1964.

It is fitted with the standard 6x30 finder and 31.7mm draw tube. These scopes were

sold in the U.K. under the Dixons Prinz Optics No.660 brand name.

In spite of some breakdown in the lens coatings (well it is nearly 50 years old) this scope

still delivers the goods on planetary, lunar and double star observing. Splitting delta Cygni

with this scope is no problem at all.

I took a hacksaw to the scope and shortened the tube length by 6 inches, this enabled me

to use my binoviewers without a barlow lens. The views of the moon at 39x in binoviewers

are stunning. Back in November this scope also showed detail on Mars when it was only

8 arc seconds in size. In spite of its length, the tubes are extremely light in weight.

On the left, is my Towa 339 80mm f/15 O.G. circa.1995. This scope came from one of the

last batches produced by the Towa factory. While it might be younger than many 339's out there

(Towa started production of these back in the 1960s), the condition when bought was terrible,

the previous owner had totally abused the scope. The focus mount was broken, the tube stank of

damp and mold and the lens was covered in so much filth you could not see through it.

I fitted a Sky-watcher 2" rack and pinion focus mount and GSO 8x50 finder to the tube, totally stripped

the lens down and cleaned back to its former glory. This now once ugly duckling is now the graceful

swan it should have always been. The good thing about the new focus mount is that I can use binoviewers

without a barlow and without having to cut the tube length down.

At the eyepiece, this scope is a real Gem. Planetary and Lunar views are outstanding.

It might only have an 80mm lens, but during 2009 it was my most used scope, delivering wonderful views of

Jupiter, the great red spot and hollow were no problem with this scope. Tight doubles are simply

taken in and spate out, with their reputations in tatters. Even Venus was unable to hide its subtle

cloud features from this fella.

In my book, if you only buy one classic refractor, then the 339 is a solid performer. If possible then get one made after 1980,

as Towa where knocking out lenses that were a notch up on previous models.

The price paid for my scopes when added together came to less than the price of a Baader orthoscopic eyepiece.

The small scope on the ground is an 80mm APO scope that is sat on a copy of Astronomy Now magazine.

It's a nice scope but lacks the quality of views that I get from its longer cousins.

[kniclander]

ooh they look lovely . who makes these small long focal fracs these days ?

[kev 102 42]

Stunning set up Thanks for Shearing............kev

[F15Rules]

Hi Towa,

thanks for the post, those are beautiful scopes. Might we have some more pix please? I remember seeing your 339 before on (I think) a HEQ5 or similar/

I agree with you about the 339 being a great scope. I have one, sadly I have it up for sale as I just have too many scopes and need the space. Mine is shown attached. They had the longest slo motions I have ever seen, making tracking very easy from almost any angle.

With a hybrid diagonal available for £10 I can use my Baader Orthos and as you say, on doubles, Luna and the big planets the long F15 FL really kicks in with super sharp images and very little false colour.

I remember the Prinz 660 well, though I never owned one. In the 70s Dixons had a range of them (I still have their brochure showing the Prinz line up), and the numbers went 100, 220, 330, 440, 550 and 660. The 660 was the biggest,at 76.5mm, all the others were 60mm although they varied in focal length. For Christmas (I think) 1971, I had asked my parents for the 220 as my main present..it was around £22.95, quite a lot in those days, and to my delight, my Dad went and got me the 550, which was £39.95 - not far off a weeks wages for him in those days! I was over the moon. I used that scope for hours and hours. It was a 60mm F15 on an equatorial and also made by Towa Circle T. A great little scope which gave me my first proper views of the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

The "big" 660 I never did quite get to, but it used to dominate the showroom window of my local Dixons shop and I used to walk past and stand there for ages just gazing at it. At £59.95 retail it was just so expensive..

thanks for bringing up the great memories:hello2:

cheers

Dave

[Towa]

ooh they look lovely . who makes these small long focal fracs these days ?

I guess the nearest scope these days is the Planet Hunter.

AstroProfessional

Dave I'm tempted to buy your scope, is having two 339s greedy.

If anyone wants a super performing lightweight scope, then get in there and buy Dave's scope. The 339s are real crackers.

Below is an image of the 339 with the Sky-watcher focus mount. This up-grade is well worth making, but you will have to make

an adapter flange. I made mine from a piece of old hardwood on a wood lathe.

Also below is an image of the Kenko tube with lens removed. Because of the length of the tube, Kenko did not paint the middle section and two middle baffles. I knocked the baffles out, painted the tube with flat black paint and re-fitted the baffles. The picture shows the newly painted tube, the picture on the right was with the flash on.

There are four baffles in there, compared to the single one on my 339. The section of tube I cut off is also shown, I cut it 20mm short, so had to make a second cut, which turned out much better than the first go.

As a kid in the 70s I always wanted a telescope but I never got one, they were just too expensive.

[F15Rules]

I don't think greed comes into it, it's just a kind of addiction to beautiful things, in our case Astronomical things..my wife would probably disagree though!

You're clearly very handy and it's fascinating to see what you have done with your scopes. What is your biggest astronomical regret?

Mine is that in the early 90s I inherited some money from my late Dad, who said "buy yourself a nice telescope" -we had discussed it while he was suffering from cancer and he wanted me to have a good one.

Anyway, there was a shop in Liverpool at that time called Scope City. I was up there on business and called in and in the window was a fascinating telescope, in as new condition, on one of the most beautiful equatorial mounts and solid hardwood tripods I had ever seen.

It was a Polarex 4" folded refractor. I had never heard of them, but the shop guy told me that Polarex was the European name for Unitron scopes. I think the model was 142, but it came with loads of accessories, 5 EPs (0.965"), superb 40mm finder, diagonal, barlow, erecting prism, sunscreen with amazing fittings to connect it to the tube etc etc, and a unihex rotating eyepiece holder to hold them all by simple friction fit!

The OTA was an F15 but as it was folded, ie using 2 flat mirrors to bounce the light path, it was only about 18ins long and a fat tube like a Mak or SCT.

I got the whole lot for £495 which seemed a lot of money but i could tell the quality was there.

To cut a long story short, I had the tube rebuilt (destroyed, actually) and made into a long F15 compatible tube by Orion Optics. They did a great job but of course I wrecked the collectability of the orignal, in my ignorance. The lens was ok, not great, but the engineering on the thing was unbelievable. In the end I sold it for £400 when I had my young kids and was skint!

If only I had not changed it and if only I still had it! The guy who bought it (From Sky at Night mag classifieds) almost ran out of the house!! I have often wondered where it is now...

[philj]

Very nice scopes Towa, you know I like the 339 from previous posts but that Kenko looks the biz.

I have a Giro 2 altaz mount and Sunday night I had the Towa on one side and my Meade 127D on the other, looking very similar to you set up.

I am also very tempted to do a similar mod with the 339 when I can get a 2" RP focuser off someone.

2x339? I agree with F15 not greedy at all.

Philj

ps

Whilst on the subject of classic scopes, anyone here get the Unitron on ebay today? I was tempted but was not surprised when it went for £368.

[Tony.S]

Heres a few photos of my lovely old 1980's Vixen.

[Towa]

Tony. S, I had a Vixen 102M, sold it, and now miss it. The day I stop liking Vixen kit

is the day I get tired of life.

Dave, what a scope that Polarex must have been. I think I've seen them mentioned

on cloudy night forum, but I've never seen a picture of one.

Regrets "I've had a few". Number one was selling my Vixen 102M on the Super

Polaris mount with full motor drives on both axis, I totally loved that scope, and I now

wonder what the hell I was thinking off when I let it go.

Number two was a now gone camera shop that had a mint condition

Zeiss scope for sale. The shop owner said he would take £175 for it, as it was taking up

to much room in the shop front, he could make more money out of camera bits and bobs.

I passed on the offer, only to go back a week later, by which time he had of course sold it.

Number three, my late uncle was a bit of amateur antique dealer, a couple of years before he died,

I found out by pure accident that he had bought a brass telescope for next to nothing in the 50s.

Talking with my dad, I found out it was a long focus 4 inch refractor. Sounds interesting I thought.

Off I go to see my uncle, he had sold the scope a couple of years previously for a good price.

Who was the maker, yep, Alvan Clark.

Arrrgh!!!!

[Tony.S]

Tony. S, I had a Vixen 102M, sold it, and now miss it. The day I stop liking Vixen kit

is the day I get tired of life.

I've been toying with the idea of selling my Vixen,now that I have got my 12" Orion but the Vixen does give some great,clear views with the original 0.96 EP's

I have just bought a new diagonal that takes 1.25 EP's but due to the weather,I have not been able to try the larger EP's on it yet.

Like you though,I'm sure that if I sell it,I will regret it.

[kniclander]

Hi Towa,

I agree with you about the 339 being a great scope. I have one, sadly I have it up for sale as I just have too many scopes and need the space. Mine is shown attached.

Dave

Dave, can you post a link to your ad or tell me where it is?

Towa, thanks for the link. Set me thinking......

Dan

[F15Rules]

Dan,

Its on UK Astro, ad reference is 30117:

if you are interested pm me and I;ll send you more details.

cheers

Dave

[EssexMigrant]

Hi Towa,

(I still have their brochure showing the Prinz line up)

cheers

Dave

Hi Dave,

I just found your post while looking for anything on the Prinz 550 which I've just bought. If you still have this brochure, is there any way you could copy it and send to me please? I've got fast broadband so file size isn't a problem.

If you can do this I'll be extremely grateful. PM me if you prefer

All the best

Max

[nightfisher]

some lovely scopes on here, i got a really nice prinz 660 complete but never get time to use it so looking for a new home for it, see for sale section, mods sorry for the plug

[Guest]

I miss my first 80mm refractor from Scientific and technical in Tottenham Court Road,London.Bought when the shop closed in 1981.I never noticed colour.Sorry that I sold it.Is it true that a refractor of around 80mm and focal length f10 upwards would be less proun to abberration?I am considering this route with a web cam for planetary imaging.

Any one know anything about the Tal refractors with the upgraded focussers?

Martin

[johninderby]

The TAL 100RS is pretty good. I used to have one and it did perform well on the moon and planets. I'd say get one of the new ones with the upgraded focuser if possible though.

I've now got a Lyra Optics 102mm f/11 achro and would definitely recommend it over the TAL as it has better optics and better overall build quality with beautiful fit and finish, but then it is over £100.00 more than the TAL.

http://www.lyraoptic.co.uk/Telescopes.html

John

[F15Rules]

Hi Martin,

I've owned two RS100's and they are very good scopes. I can't comment on the Lyra scope's performance but John speaks highly of them and that's good enough for me...also, Glenn at Lyra is a straight, good guy who only sells gear that he believes in. Unfortunately I think his long frac is out of stock at the moment but drop him a mail to check when he expects them in?

If you find an RS100 in good condition WITH THE NEW CRAYFORD FOCUSER, then it should do well on the planets...the Lyra scope will probably be slightly ahead on CA due to it's longer Focal Length.

HTH

Dave :-)

[johninderby]

Have you looked at the Lyra Optics 80mm f/15 with Carton lens.

Definately, definately don't need it but.....

John

[Guest]

This is great advice.I ultimately want to have twio telescopes with my heq5 pro mount.One for planets and the moon.The other for visual widefield observing,perhaps the Skywatcher 200 pds.But alot of the short focal semi apos seem to have riden roughshod over the long focal length achromat refractors.When I had my old early 1980's refractor ,Inever noticed any colour distortion.Perhaps wityh this economic thing people will revert to less fasionable equipment.

[Guest]

Buy the way,anyone any experience with planetary imaging with these longer focal length achromats?

[JimiJames]

Hello everyone, I have just brought a Towa 339, 1970s classic, F : 1250 / D : 76.2. I have changed the stand for a tal-1 stand, makes a big differance, I'm hear for more information if anyone has any, I know these are well sort after and the images are sharp, It uses 0.965 / 1.25 and 2'' eye pieces, I brought the telescope from a car boot sale, when I saw I new I had to have it, now I'm just trying to find out about it, can you help...

Thanks James

[A McEwan]

Nice one James! I never see telescopes (decent ones) at car boots. Mind you, if I actually went to any it might help! Please don't tell us you paid £25...

I have no experience of using one but I sure would like to get my hands on a good one one day.

Ant

[JimiJames]

no I pain £35.00p, all in exalent condition and lots of bits and bobs in big wooden box,

[JimiJames]

I'm not sure how to up load an image, what does it mean enter the url ?

[A McEwan]

£35?!

To upload an image, reply in Advanced mode (click Go Advanced for reply). Then once you've put your tect in, look for the button that says manage attachments. Once yo click on that a second screen opens with browse buttons to find the image on your computer. Point it to the location and click upload.

Once that's done the title of the pic will appear in a list near the bottom of the picture screen. You can then close that screen and preview the image.

There are other ways but that's the way I do it.

Ant