46 replies to this topic

[clamchip]

My wife says Hobbyland (my room upstairs) is a telescope junkyard and it smells like rotting magazines.

Like all junk yards yes I do have multiples of many makes and models.

When I find Edmund Scientific scopes (my favorite) they can be mistaken for junk to the average person.

These Edmund instruments have got themselves in an temporary embarrassing predicament and it's up to me

to put them back on their feet, give them a normal life again.

There are no rotting magazines, that is my model airplane magazine collection. Printed on pulp paper and they

have plenty of air circulation and I'm a HVAC contractor, there is no mold in Hobbyland, just to let everyone 

know.

Robert

 

[tim53]

Oh, yeah.  I also have 2 Cave 10" f/16 DKs.  One I parted IN from an initial OTA missing the mount, to adding a mount that had to have been from a Newt due to the short pier, to adding a 4 ft. aluminum pier (steel would have been a lot more expensive to ship, go figure).  I need to rewire the HC for it and check out (or have checked out) the drive corrector I found for it.  But it'll be a complete scope, as sold in 1965 (or very close to that).  Optically, it seems okay, though these are notorious for having inferior optics.  The optics were made by Tinsley for Cave.  The other DK is earlier, though there is no date on any part that I can find.  The optics don't have any engraving on them.  The coatings are pristine, so it's possible they're not the original optics.  I may never know.  I put this scope back together from parts I bought over a couple months from a swap-meet seller who buys up abandoned storage units.  He's at the Golden West College Swap Meet every week.  First thing I bought was the mount and pier.  I alerted him to search for the legs and OTA, which showed up at subsequent swap meets, along with a Cave 6" f/8 OTA. and a few other odds and ends.  The DK was missing the focuser, so I haven't viewed with the scope. yet.  It's an early 60s model, at the latest, with the shorter saddle than all the later 10" caves.  It has an aluminum pier and legs with the round holes in them (like later Parks, who made castings for Cave).  The mount was painted black.  But I have a can of the brown-toned Zolatone I had special-mixed for the 8" f/6 Model B that I sold that the buyer didn't want the paint.  I plan to use that paint for the DK.

 

-Tim.

[Terra Nova]

My Brother-In-Law who I sadly lost two weeks ago used to have three Triumph TR-6s, one for rallies and Sunday drives, one for racing, and one for parts. It seemed to make sense at the time. Well maybe??? Kinda-sorta? No, it made no sense when he and my sister parked their regular everyday cars outside and the Triumphs took up the garage. Nuff said!

Edited by Terra Nova, 17 January 2025 - 12:17 PM.

[highfnum]

Endumd mount neefs some tlc

[mfalls]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have three Dynamax 8", though one is a B&L.

If it makes you feel better must confess to four Dynamax 8s, three celestron comet catchers, two edmund 3 inch/f6 newts and a partridge in a pear tree. 

[brian dewelles]

I have a Modest Mizar collection. Two of the three are more or less identical 85mm f/10 newtonians the unmounted ota is factory stock, the mounted one had a mangled front end of tube that I cut down a couple of inches so it's shorter and I added Mizar 1.25 inch focuser, they are both sharp and fun to use. My Mizar refractor is 60mm x 800mm and also fun to use.

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[Kasmos]

I'd once thought of starting a 'Do You Have Any Twins?' thread.

Now I see that it appears to be fairly common.

 

My oldest set of Twins

 

The Black and Silver APL Manon could be a step brother ...

 

...and the ATCO 1252 could almost pass for a Twin to the Mayflowers 814s

There's also the Kenko TA 710 which is actually very much like the 1252.

 

Two C5s plus their little brother.

There's also a C8 that didn't make the family photo

 

A  SP-C80 and a C80 Polaris

 

I use to have two of these Sky Chiefs but now deSitter has one of them.

 

The Soligor and the 114 sure look related.

I also have two other 114 Mounts and Tripods.

Edited by Kasmos, 18 January 2025 - 03:38 AM.

[Soundboy121]

2 Celestron Comet Catchers and i love em both

[bremms]

Had three C8’s a couple of times. Usually had two. Restored a few.  Only one sandcast now. I’m paring down a bit. Still have a lot of equipment. Had two 6” F8 Newtonian OTA’s just one now.

[grif 678]

I'd once thought of starting a 'Do You Have Any Twins?' thread.

Now I see that it appears to be fairly common.

 

May-Twins-700.jpg

My oldest set of Twins

 

BS-Manon-in box.jpg

The Black and Silver APL Manon could be a step brother ...

 

ATCO-Palms.jpg

...and the ATCO 1252 could almost pass for a Twin to the Mayflowers 814s

There's also the Kenko TA 710 which is actually very much like the 1252.

 

2-C5s-&-C90.jpg

Two C5s plus their little brother.

There's also a C8 that didn't make the family photo

 

C80-Twins.jpg

A  SP-C80 and a C80 Polaris

 

Sky-Chief-Twins.jpg

I use to have two of these Sky Chiefs but now deSitter has one of them.

 

Soligor-Unitron-In Boxes.jpg

The Soligor and the 114 sure look related.

I also have two other 114 Mounts and Tripods.

The longest Sky Chief is a great telescope. I have that one, and it has the best views of any 60mm scope I have ever owned. That would be 2 vintage C-60s, 2 unitron 114s, an orange tube vixen 60L, and a pollox 60.

[strdst]

Yes, maybe like three...but wait, there's more. Four of a kind! Read 'em and weep. Four Nippon Kogaku 65 X 980 kits. 

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Edited by strdst, 18 January 2025 - 11:53 PM.

[Bomber Bob]

My Brother-In-Law who I sadly lost two weeks ago used to have three Triumph TR-6s, one for rallies and Sunday drives, one for racing, and one for parts. It seemed to make sense at the time. Well maybe??? Kinda-sorta? No, it made no sense when he and my sister parked their regular everyday cars outside and the Triumphs took up the garage. Nuff said!

Makes perfect sense to me... But I'm crazy.

[Terra Nova]

Makes perfect sense to me... But I'm crazy.

I talked to fam yesterday on the phone and found that he was down to just the one pretty one before he passed. My sister intends to sell it.

[StarrySkies422]

Sounds like you’ve got a great setup with those 90 ETX OTAs! They’re indeed fantastic little scopes, especially for the price. Using them on a solid alt-az mount like the Unitron 114 is a great way to get the most out of them.

 

Having a few backups is a smart move, too—these OTAs can be hard to beat for the value they offer!

[Bomber Bob]

I talked to fam yesterday on the phone and found that he was down to just the one pretty one before he passed. My sister intends to sell it.

Nnnnoooo!!  Say it ain't true!  Is there no Young Person in the family to take this Classic Heirloom?? 

[Bomber Bob]

I cleared-out my duplicate model OTAs a while back.  Now, I gotta prune the duplicate type & aperture...

 

But, I do have 3 x Mizar EQs by design.  1 is for parts only, the other 2 have dovetail clamps for a large (uh, Too Many!) set of small Old Scopes:

 

 

... and, 2 x Meade StarFinder EQs, also by design -- Tall Pedestal & Short Pedestal:

 

[Terra Nova]

Nnnnoooo!!  Say it ain't true!  Is there no Young Person in the family to take this Classic Heirloom?? 

Alas no.

[Terra Nova]

I cleared-out my duplicate model OTAs a while back.  Now, I gotta prune the duplicate type & aperture...

 

But, I do have 3 x Mizar EQs by design.  1 is for parts only, the other 2 have dovetail clamps for a large (uh, Too Many!) set of small Old Scopes:

 

2 Mizar EQ Mounts - Complete S02.jpg

 

... and, 2 x Meade StarFinder EQs, also by design -- Tall Pedestal & Short Pedestal:

 

Meade SF - Pedestal Restores S03 (Both).jpg

I know what you mean. I’ve really trimmed my mounts and tripods down as well. They are now all alt-az, no more GEMs (with the exception of an iOptron equatorial star tracker for my Olympus DSLR.

Edited by Terra Nova, 20 January 2025 - 04:40 PM.

[Bomber Bob]

I do have a sorta-kinda pair of duplicate refractors -- Takahashi TS-65 Triplets.  But technically, they're different models -- P / 500 and S / 1000 focal lengths.

 

It's crazy, as my 1984 FC-76 outperforms the TS-65P, so this older Tak is redundant.  But... it's a fine old scope, and is perfect on my 1968 Tak S-1 EQ.  

 

 

Like I say, crazy...  I foresee a fire sale in my future...

 

 

 

 

[Terra Nova]

“Like I say, crazy...  I foresee a fire sale in my future...”

 

It’s definitely a process.

[N-1]

My Telementor I is actually 3 separate OTAs. The one I use regularly is in best shape, the other two are pretty beaten up from a hard life at school. My dad and I gave one of those a service a few months ago incl pulling the lens cell apart. Still looks ratty with its dented dew shield and all but gives great views. Plus enjoying a little father-son time was priceless. Neither of us are all that young anymore, so those occasions have a lot of value. 

[Steve Allison]

I have 2 Unitron 40mm, alt-az refractors. One is a very early model and was the subject of a YouTube video by Dave Trott. It appears to have a cemented objective. While the mount has slow-motion controls on both axes, big azimuth changes require the entire telescope to be lifted and rotated. It is really not that big a deal because of the telescope’s featherweight construction.
 

The other telescope has an air-spaced object glass and an easier to use, later type mount. The optical performance of both telescopes is amazing for their size, although the earlier example is noticeably dimmer (age and coating loss?).

 

If you want to see what a near-perfect star test looks like, aim one of these tiddlers at a bright star and rack the focuser in and out. And talk about a telescope punching above its weight, Mars actually displayed a polar cap and some surface detail in the eyepiece of one of my little gems!

Edited by Steve Allison, 21 January 2025 - 12:41 AM.