32 replies to this topic

[bobhen]

The wood tripod is also from AP. The blue OTA, the mount, the guide scope and the finder all seem to be what AP offered around 1985-1986 or a few years later.

 

Here is a picture from AP's mid-late 1980s catalog. It shows the wood tripod, what AP calls the 706 mount and a white tube 7" F9.  It appears that all of this was purchased from AP. So, if it's all in good shape and the lens is original, it's a really nice find. The brass Cheshire 6" and Byers 58 combination is actually rarer than the AP.

 

Depending on how the lens in the Cheshire performs, if needed, one could also get a 6" F8 ED lens from APM and cut the tube down and have a modern ED lens in that brass tube.  That would look rather nice on that Byers 58.

 

Bob

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Edited by bobhen, 23 April 2025 - 07:39 AM.

[bobhen]

Likely is, but should have markings on the lens perimeter which would be easy to see. Use a laser to see if its a doublet or triplet, air spaced or oil spaced. A really interested buyer could DPAC it to see if it has the optical pedigree of an AP.

The 178mm F9s were all triplets and oil-spaced except the last run, which was air-spaced. They all used short flints and none had ED glass.

 

Here is a section from Thomas Back's AP article...

 

This design used the same flint as the older Astro-Physics scopes,
but to increase color correction, two abnormal dispersion flints were
used. I can't tell you what the two other flints are (as a designer, they
are too good for me to let the public know, and to keep Roland's design
proprietary), but it is sufficient to say that the violet correction was as
much as 5x times better in the new StarFire design. There was a 4"f/8
($1195); 5" f/8 ($1660); 5.7" f/7 ($1850); 6"f/9 ($2395) and the king of
production StarFires, the 7" f/9 at only $3600!

 

In the last production runs of the larger non-ED StarFires (around 1991), he air-spaced the design and also allowed the six different radii to vary on each surface. These last
production StarFires' were almost the match of the current ED Astro-
Physics scopes, and the final price was $4495.

 

Bob

[RichA]

Likely is, but should have markings on the lens perimeter which would be easy to see. Use a laser to see if its a doublet or triplet, air spaced or oil spaced. A really interested buyer could DPAC it to see if it has the optical pedigree of an AP.

Unfortunately, you need to remove the lens hood (likely with straps to unswer it) in order to really see the lens edge.  A friend has one.

[CHASLX200]

Likely is, but should have markings on the lens perimeter which would be easy to see. Use a laser to see if its a doublet or triplet, air spaced or oil spaced. A really interested buyer could DPAC it to see if it has the optical pedigree of an AP.

Mine was a 3 lens deal and very top heavy.

[starfinder123123]

Why is the price not updated? And why are they still for sale?

[RichA]

Why is the price not updated? And why are they still for sale?

Link is gone. 

[photoracer18]

Finder on the AP is an early Celestron by Vixen and has a reversed SCT finder bracket on it.

[luxo II]

...I took some pictures and have attached them to this post and created an album. 

Couple of nice mounts, whoever buys those will have a nice rig.

Edited by luxo II, 03 May 2025 - 07:48 PM.