65 replies to this topic

[jragsdale]

I purchased this scope recently through a FB marketplace ad across the country. The seller was willing to ship, so I ponied up the $70 extra for shipping to get this unique beast from Pennsylvania to Idaho. The box arrived today, which wasn't packed in cardboard, but wrapped in a thick vinyl type wrap and duct taped together. This wouldn't have protected it from a corner drop, but fortunately for the box, it looks like it was fairly well handled during shipping. As haggard as the box is, I don't think any of the damage is from shipping. The only damage that looks to have occurred in shipping is the focus shaft was severely bent and might require a replacement, I'm still not sure how this happened in the box, it was packed very tight and even the counterweight couldn't move much. Perhaps during packing?

 

Overall condition is mixed. The wooden case is nearly completely destroyed and will require a full rebuild. The Tripod wood is good, hardware quite rusty. Mount looks fantastic, just the usual dust and grime. OTA looks good, only a few dents and dings, glass is dusty but no clams or scratches, and it comes with the dust cap and an undented sun shield! Accessories look complete and after the full royal restoration, I think this scope will be a dream! I'll start a new thread once restoration is under way.

 

Enough jabbering, I'll let the photos do the talking!

 

https://www.amazon.c...8fHcTqnYP1cxtXV

Edited by jragsdale, 05 May 2020 - 08:52 PM.

[Russell Smith]

That is a unique one. F26? Really? 

Well the tag does say 800x.

Just wow.

Planet killer 

Edited by Russell Smith, 05 May 2020 - 09:02 PM.

[jragsdale]

That is a unique one. F26? Really? 

Well the tag does say 800x.

Just wow.

Planet killer 

f/21.33 if my math is right. I'm going to measure the cell to see if it is really 75 or just a stepped down 80.

[TOM KIEHL]

What part of Pennsylvania may I ask ?

[TOM KIEHL]

That is strange 75mm. ? 4384 ? ...... This one came out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ... a 80mm X 1600mm 

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[jragsdale]

That is strange 75mm. ? 4384 ? ...... This one came out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania ... a 80mm X 1600mm 

Erie. I know, weird the 75/76.2/80 differences. I may need to get some more photos of your wooden case in order to reconstruct mine.

[ccwemyss]

That focuser knob is one fo the worst I've seen. But talk to Neil (apfever) or search for some of his threads. He's been pretty successful at straightening them. 

 

There was one of these on eBay a while back that someone here bought and was going to restore. The telescoping tube with the giant compression ring is such an interesting design. 

 

I once had a shipper just wrap a Sky-Chief Junior box in a thin layer of cardboard. They actually cut a hole for the handle to hang out. I think that may have saved it, because it probably got used to move it, rather than being picked up as a plain box and tossed. 

 

Chip W. 

[jragsdale]

That focuser knob is one fo the worst I've seen. But talk to Neil (apfever) or search for some of his threads. He's been pretty successful at straightening them. 

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, this one wouldn't even turn, obviously some kind of shipping related damage as the video I was sent prior to shipping looked good.

[mattyfatz]

Great find! Those objectives are supposed to be fantastic. Can’t wait to see the finished product. I bet you can just pull those knobs off and replace the heated shaft. Good stuff here

 

https://www.mcmaster...nd-pinion-gears

[jragsdale]

Nice to have a stamped envelope from Compass Instrument & Optical Co. (Monolux) dated Dec. 20, 1960, that dates the scope pretty well!

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[jragsdale]

Here is the shaft with dimensions, does anyone know other compatible scopes that have this same size shaft? I think I'd rather go with replace vs. repair as a first option.

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[strdst]

Hey Jordan,

 

I have this ridiculously straight OEM one I'll trade you for yours.

 

Just PM me a place to send it.

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[jragsdale]

Hey Jordan,

 

I have this ridiculously straight OEM one I'll trade you for yours.

 

Just PM me a place to send it.

Whoa, that's incredible! Thank you, PM sent!

[jragsdale]

Thanks to strdst for getting me this perfect straight pinion shaft, works perfect! Cleaned up the focuser drawtube area, polished the rack/pinion gear and the focus knobs. Uh oh, I made a clean spot, time to get to work on the rest of this thing...

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[jragsdale]

For a little fun I put my Stellarvue SV70T in front to see what a 70/420 looks like next to a 75/1600.

 

And I measured the scope, with the tripod legs extended to the midpoint (still captive in the upper clamp); at zenith, it is 92" (7'8") tall to the edge of the dustcap, and with a diagonal, the eyepiece was 22" off the ground. 

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[jragsdale]

Also trying a few different techniques for cleaning up the tripod legs, I am using the "Tibet Almond Stick" method proposed by Jim (jsiska) in the "Classic tasco wood case restoration" thread. Here's a little before and after, like 5 seconds of rubbing the stick on the leg and it almost disappears!

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[jragsdale]

I'm starting to chip away at a full restore of this scope, it isn't high priority, so I'm randomly tackling single jobs until I can get to the main things like repainting the mount/tube.

 

I decided today to strip and repaint the diagonal as it was in beyond poor condition. As you can see from the photos, there was corrosion, pitting, bubbling, chips, dings, etc.

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[jragsdale]

I first dipped in mineral spirits and gave it a heavy scrub with a small stainless brush. That removed a lot of the loose paint and corrosion.

 

Then I used a combination of sanding and a dremel wire brush to remove the rest of the paint. I also filled some of the pits on the bottom plate with bondo. Now it's ready for the paint!

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[jragsdale]

I used a flat primer followed by an enamel gloss professional spray paint, then baked it in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. I think the gloss is a little much, probably would go with semi-gloss next time, but it certainly pops and looks a million times better than it did before!

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[jragsdale]

Ready for use!

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[Terra Nova]

Looks great!  

[jragsdale]

Got in some 2.9" rings with a 13.2" dovetail to mount up the 4384 onto my EQ6-R Pro.

 

Nice stability, tracking and goto. Views of the moon were nice and crisp as expected with no indication of chromatic aberration. Got up to about 200x before I thought it got too dim for my liking.

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[jragsdale]

I've been restoring the wooden case from this scope lately. The top and bottom were totally shredded and falling apart so I had them professionally replaced and reinforced. Unfortunately, the original paper inventory and packing map wasn't salvageable from the original top on the case. So tonight I decided to make a near pixel perfect copy of the original using MS Word and MS Paint. It actually turned out pretty good! I'll just get some nice vintage looking paper to print it on and it should be as good as new to attach to the new top panel. If anyone needs this in PDF format shoot me a message!

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[apfever]

Do you have a scan of the original before processing?  I've made touch ups of old pages before but not as 'like new' in detail as your redo above. I don't scan much but I do make a careful copy of originals for my paper files along with the touch up prints. Sometimes I only take a photo like your original above, taking care to center over the page for minimal distortion and taper. Your original photo above is well done. I've stored a copy of both of your photos on my comp. I think the copies will do me well for any future printing. 

 

Nice entry, nicely displayed photos. Thank you.

[jragsdale]

Here's a direct scan from the page, this is what it looked like when I started after just a few small edits to increase contrast. Also attached is the raw final image.

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Edited by jragsdale, 30 May 2022 - 10:31 AM.