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Unitron 114

Astro_Baby

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Well I am going to get killed this month - I saw a Unitron 114 (Branded Polarex) its a 60mm with a 900mm focal length on a damaged Alt/Az mount.

I thought the price reasonable - I can always sell it on to some rich American on the CN board I suppose :)

Anyway here she is - the tube is nigh on immaculate, the lens coatings are perfect and she came with a diagonal and some original polarex EPs which look ridiclously tiny in .96 fittings.

I am now coated in grease and loving it - forgotten old focusers were greased up ;)

Its a consequence of not being able to observe at the moment I suppose but expect calls for help in the technical section any second now ;)

She reminds me a little of my first scope - similar type of thing but much bigger. I actually bought in a complete whim - it was going to be for my sisters 40th but when I saw it I knew in my heart it wasn't being handed out a gift :D

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John

John

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Wonderful scope Mel and very collectable. One of those features in a number of photos in my favourite astronomy book, Terence Dickinson's Nightwatch.

My 1st ever scope was a sort of cheaper copy of yours - a 1960's Tasco 60mm refractor and that one is considered a bit collectable as well.

If you can get a hybrid diagonal and use some modern eyepieces they can deliver excellent views considering the limited aperture.

Great find !

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Lu - sssshhhhhh - I never told her - instead I am going to get her something more -ahem- useful. Giggles.

John - yes thanks for the link. The scope is also similar to my firts ever scope but a fair bit bigger (longer at least).

I didn't mention is has its original wooden box as well. The mount tripod is excellent but the mount head is going to need some work unless I get lucky and find a 128 mount head. Eeeek

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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I have now had a chance to give Polly the Polarex a go. Star tests showed perfect collimation intrafocus, slight drift extra focus. Considering the scopes older than me thats pretty good and the focuser is very solid and smooth. One of the major headaches using it was the fact that if you slot the scopes Barlow in you need to radically change focus length. The original EPs are best described as 'intersting' :) Nothing like parfocal by about 6 yards of drawtube ;)

With that said the views were very good - excellent in fact.

I had a go with the Moon and the scope showed a bit of color fringing - nothing nasty just a slight hint well within what you could live with.

The mount is solid as a rock. Granted the scopes quite lightweight but the mount even in its battered state (repairs now underway) showed very little vibration as the scope was manipultade about. I couldnt run the scope against mars as with the mount being knackered trying to keep a target aligned was quite hard work.

The dinky little finder is amazingly good - better in many ways than some modern equivalents. Clear, bright and sharp images through it.

When time allows and the mount has been repaired I'll do a full on review of it if anyones interested.

Anyway in the interim heres some pics - and yes I know the objective is dusty. That will be VERY carefully cleaned.

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haitch

haitch

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Was that from Richard at Skylight? (I got my Dob from him - really nice bloke) I would love one of his f15s if ever I could get past the other 1/2... once you stick a 14" dob in the corner of the room there's not much room for negotiation! :)

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John

John

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Lovely scope Mel.

The eyepieces are interesting in their own right, 2 kellners, a symmetrical (similar to the plossl design) and a ramsden - not names you hear these days.

An excellent buy I think.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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John - I had to look up the symmetrical myself as I had no idea what it was :)

The bigh one on the extreme right is a sun filter for use with a solar projection screen which was sadly missing. Doing some research it seems the solar screens are almost always lost or broken on these.

Yeti - I dont know the vintage exactly. Theres no serial numbers and the scope has passed through a few hands but if I had to guess I'd say probably 1960 something although they were still being sold in the 70s.

Haitch - no ut wasnt from skylight - private sale. Previous owner wanted space and already had other classic scopes. I was amazed it went so cheap myself and was on astro buy and sell for some time.

Sadly this one may well be up for sale as well soon - I have my eye on something a bit more upmarket. If it works out ( and that a really big IF) this one will be up for sale quite soon - as soon as I have done all the repairs to the mount.

The mount was wrecked by the couriers so I am working on that right now (aarrggg not another project)

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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The sym 9 brings back memories, used that a lot in my first 6" F/8. Had a lot of teensy 0.96" EPs then, including the polarex ortho 25mm (which was quite good), and ortho 5mm (which was a bit of a dud). I even had a "huge" 1,25" 40 mm monochromatic from polarex for wide field. Sold the lot long ago, and the HUGE 40mm would have been dwarfed by my Paragon 40mm now:D

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AndyH

AndyH

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Smashing pics.

Great looking scope and a fantastic case.

What's the black side plate for? Accessories?

Was the brand name Polarex used only in the UK, or europe too? Just wondering?

Good luck with the mount rebuild.

Cheers,

Andy.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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The black plate on the side is for mounting a pair of small holders. These look like a pair of finder bracket for a very small finder. In fact they were to hold a long thin rod on the end of which you put a solar viewing plate/card. Most Unitrons had a kind of double card. One which acts (I imagine as a kind of field stop to darken the dges of thge viewing plate) and one which is the plate itself.

These were rather similar to the things that TAL 150s have supplied with them for solar viewing. Mine has the fitting parts and the solar filter to cover an EP with but not the actual rod and the panel. I'm told very few Unitrons ever had the whole fitting as it was an accessory kit and very few survive as they were quite fragile.

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