To kind of "redirect" this thread, is anyone doing any kind of restoration / modification
of these small vintage scopes right now? As mentioned, I am working on converting
a Tasco 4VTE to astronomical use with interchangeable .965" oculars and possibly
remounting and adding a finder to a very early 50 x 600 mm Milben refractor.
(Here is a thread that talks about / shows a similar little refractor, although mine did not
come with a box. https://www.cloudyni...is-this-milben/ )
Like Kasmos, I generally resist moding a nice original scope, especially if an uncommon
one, but some of the are so plentiful, like the Tasco 4VTEs, that I don't feel that I am killing
off the last of the species, lol. Likewise, I also have some representative versions of these
scopes that I am keeping in their original state.
Here is a little 40 mm Selsi "spyglass" refractor that is pretty much identical -- right down
to the paint colors -- to the one that I had (my first telescope) when I was about ten or
eleven years old.
After all these years, I still remember looking at the moon with the original version of this
telescope. (Many years later, the metal parts of this OTA got converted into a 7 x 40 mm
finder for my home built 6" reflector. An early example of adaptive reuse.)