Finally did it

[LewisM]

I have been vacillating over this scope for a year. Almost bought it twice, finally did last night. The slight mold issue in the objective put me off, but after contacting Roger and he said it would clean just fine, I went ahead.

The FAR from common Vixen DED108SS 108mm f/5 astrograph - Vixen's attempt to crack into Takahashi's niche FSQ106 market (Vixen failed :( ). These scopes are now pretty scarce, as the production numbers are SMALL.

The corrected image circle is huge. Look at the size of the drawtube to start with! I will have a light cone made for it like the newer refrac astrographs, rather than the custom made one on there now (which is correctly spaced to a Canon DSLT chip).

Weight is 6kg, so my beloved GPD2 will handle it just fine. Sold my newly acquired MN190 to afford it, but what the heck!

More when it arrives in my eager hands. Hurry up Mr DHL :)

[brian nordstrom]

:) Well done Lewis !! , I remember when these hit the market and like you said they just quietly faded away :question:.
Looking forward to hearing how it performs , very good I would say going by what I read about these beauties when the first come out .
Brian.

[Camelopardalis]

Looks a lovely scope :thumbsup: look forward to hearing how you get on with it.

[Kunama]

Very nice scope Lewis, now you have to explain it to Alesia!
(Run Forrest Run !!!! )

I scored myself a Little Tak yesterday now we have clouds from horizon to horizon !!!!

[LewisM]

Matt, already have. Rolling of eyes, mouth twitch... "WHY?"

Only took 10 minutes.

All OK now... after I explained I sold one scope to buy another... just have to hide the "shortfall" from my account for a few days :D

[LewisM]

More pics of the ACTUAL scope (you can see the mold behind the objective - not MAJOR, but definitely needs Roger's touch). Nice lot of baffle rings too :):

[LewisM]

William sent it Fed Ex today - now the nervous wait begins.

Never received a scope from overseas before, so I have a certain sense of anxiety :)

[el_draco]

I had a c11 shipped from the U.S. using Fed and it arrived still fully aligned, hardly a mark on the box... good luck. Looks like a nice scope.

Rom

[LewisM]

If ANYONE has a manual, period brochure/catalogue WHATEVER about these, PLEASE let me know. I'd love a scanned copy. I can find NOTHING on the net, and Vixen has yet to respond (I have heard I may be waiting indefinitely for ANYTHING from Vixen, worse luck).

[strongmanmike]

Have you tried contacting Steve Massey, their agent in Oz?: ASTRO SHOP (http://www.myastroshop.com.au/)

Nice looking scope :thumbsup:

Mike

[Kunama]

Not much info out there Lewis, you might be able to get some from Markus Ludes at APM he had them 12 years ago. Markus posted that he thought they were optically the equal or better than the FSQ.
"
I have the first imported 108 DED in stock. The lens design is an petzval
like the Tele Vue 101. The DED use an full size ED Douplet in front and an
big douplet ED in the giant 4" Focuser.
Backfocuse is rather small.

The scope is designed like FSQ and Pentax 100SDUHF as an astrograph

Optical quality in my unit is rather good , superior to any pentax I saw so
far and superior to any FSQ i saw so far.

Colorcorrection is similar to the 4"F/9 douplet Vixen ED.

If you are looking for the best 6x7 astrograph, than the Vixen 108 DED is
the way to go . If you are looking for pur visual scopes, than you would go
with something else

best wishes

Markus "

[LewisM]

BIG thanks there Matt! I may contact him and see what he has.

Most dealers I contacted had no idea it even existed.

As to the similarity to the TV 101, I read on another refractor forum that there is a destinct reason why the TV101 and the 108 share identical designs... remembering a LOT of the TV EP's are made by Vixen under contract to TV... ahem....

[LewisM]

FedEx economy is slow... It JUST left Guangzhou... knowing FedEx it'll probably route via Singapore THEN LA, THEN Sydney, then Brisbane...

GRRRR. The interminable wait.

[LewisM]

It's in Australia at least - in Alexandria, NSW....

So, how long will FedEx take Sydney to QLD :)

[LewisM]

IT's in my sweaty hands.... it is a VERY nice scope - beautiful glass, MASSIVE focuser. VERY smooth R&P (looks adaptable too - a few screw holes etc).


The mold spore is GONE after a 5 minute UV bathing in SEQ's HARSH UV index today, so will leave it alone for now, and store it with silica gel packs. WIlliam included some very professionally made adapters too, so almost set for AP right from the get go (I do want a specific light cone with rotator made... that'll go to Ubique :) )

EXTREMELLY happy. Now to star test it tonight... first up will be The Jewel Box just to get colour and collimation checked out.

[rmuhlack]

pics??

[LewisM]

Was hoping to put it on the SXW tonight, but only the head arrived today (DAMN YOU AUSTRALIA POST!), though will justput it on the GPD2 tonight.

Pics in a sec - just got home again.

[Kunama]

You been home for 5 minutes ........ where are the pictures !!!!!

[LewisM]

OK, here it is :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

And a little bit of Matt "Kunama" in the picture too :)

[LewisM]

And yes, I took a deep breath, and cleaned the rear face of the objective.

6 locking screws around the objective cell perimeter, then unscrew it as usual (after I marked the original position of course). Blew it with a squeezie blower, then carefully wiped with hydrogen peroxide (6%, not usual 3%), to kill and neutralise the mold, which was not really any longer visible, but I wanted to make SURE. Polished off, and reassembled. And now the objective is that gorgeous green again.

Of course, it is now cloudy, so will be content to view distant trees for tonight :)

[LewisM]

It's interesting also where this one departs from the usual Vixen construction, especially considering the time frame.

Firstly, there is a combination of the gorgeous "pre-2000's" Vixen hammertone green (lens cap) and post-2000's white. The focuser knobs are silver anodised aluminium (not plastic thank goodness or black cast aluminium), that are strikingly Takahashi, though more solid. The focuser has 2 tensioner screws (I intitially thought one was a focuser rotator, which it is not. The focuser will rotate, though unscrews if you take it too far :) ). One screw seems to moderate the rearward travel, one the forward travel. Interesting. The focuser is silk. Pure perfect R&P silk - won't ever be changing that one!!! And it holds a TONNE of weight - these were made to hold the 6x7 film cameras of old :)

It's heavy enough at 6kg, and a really solid tube. It is VERY well baffled and seems like flocking, not just paint.

Overally, until first light, I am deeply impressed by it. It is a RARE beast, and very little documentation remains about them, and I am very glad to add it to my Vixenclassic refractor collection. Time will tell if it is as razor sharp as it's longer sister, my FL102S.

[Kunama]

Very nice scope Lewis. I am still waiting to hear back on a possible lead for a manual on them. I'll let you know if it comes about.

Look forward to seeing it in person. I might be coming up to the coast to do a few scuba dives before Xmas ( I used to be a Dive Control / Rescue diver up there).

[LewisM]

Matt,

I contacted Markus, and he no longer has any documentation. He suggested I contact Vixen Europe, which I did, but just like Vixen Japan, USA, and Australia, I am not holding my breath for even an acknowledgement. Ah well... c'est la vie.

Hope to see you soon - seems it won't be til February we move now, which complicates things badly. Again, c'est la vie!

[LewisM]

For the first time today, I looked through it visually.

I won't bore with details, but it was mind-blowingly spell-bindingly brilliant! Better than the Taks I have looked through. INCREDIBLE contrast, INCREDIBLE colours (no fringing, of course :) ).

Wow. Imaging tonight :)

[LewisM]

Windy and smoky. Scratch tonight :(