[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I've also noticed that despite the excellent internal baffle rings inside the OTA of this intes, occasionally with the Moon I get an internal reflection. I've been wanting to investigate whether further modification of the dewshield is possible in order to further control these internal reflections and even further improve the length of time the corrector stays dew-free - so far even though dew has not defeated me, by the time I've finished my lunar sketches this scope, dew was just beginning to form. With my SCT, I would have had to used a hairdryer numerious times.

With this in mind, I made a second dewshield that fits over the Corflute, and fit a baffle ring to its aperture opening. This secondary dewshield can fit all the way down along the dewshield part of the Corflute, and it can also slide further up the Corflute in order to extend the dewshield and seek to reduce reflections and further improve contrast. This is the first part of the pimping process of the dewshield.

The inside of this secondary dewshield is painted matt black. The outside of course is varnished and painted white. However, just a straight white finish isn't particularly attractive or inspiring. So here was presented an opportunity to let the creative juices run with some decorative elements. The inspiration here was the two major forces that opened the space frontier, the USA and Russia.

I've always had a fondness for old Soviet propaganda posters. The design elements are striking & forceful. By design they had to be dramatic in order to catch one's eye and inspire patriotism. Font selection was also important and carefully considered for the message being transmitted.

What I did not want to do was just rip off and existing design. I had to consider the overall white colour scheme of the dewshield, so I came up with my own take on the design elements that are often seen in old Soviet posters. Though I did want to use a well known Soviet era element, the "Monument to the Conquerors of Space". I also did not want to use an inflamatory propaganda slogan, so I came up with my own quirky "Soviet-esque" caption that translates to "Human Cosmonautics" - a phrase that is neither English or Russian, but still has that Russian Soviet edge to it.

On the other side of the dewshield, I put what for me is one of the most significant spaceprobes launched by NASA, Voyager. Just the probe, stark and prominent. Its own statement of strength.

The pics below show both decorative elements, and the secondary dewshield both retracted and extended.

First light with this whole set up was most promising. Short lived though as clouds rolled in only one hour into it. The forecast for next week is much more favourable, so I'll be able to give this rig a proper thrashing.

Alex.