' PIMP ' my Scope

[FlashDrive]

I recently ' withdrew ' my Orion ED80 from sale with the bright idea of ' customizing ' it.
My idea is to remove all components... focuser / dew shield / optical lens /...etc ... go back to bare metal, choose a colour .. probably powder coat it ....manufacture a ' handle ' for it ...would be bolted on top of a ' rail ' secured on the ' OTA's rings ' ..... and so on.

I've seen plenty of ' dob and newt' custom job's ... some very good one's to.
Has anybody customized their Refractor from its original state ...?

Any links to previous threads relating to this would be appreciated .. or photo's you have of yours.

Ideas also welcome ......colour etc ...what you might do yourself

The Scope in question is shown

' Pimp my Scope ' ;)

Col......

[cometcatcher]

If it belonged to Lewis it would end up in Tak colours. :D

[MortonH]

David Nagler (Al's son) had his TV-85 chromed. Looks awesome!

[Chris85]

I'm actually in the process of repainting my WO Sd66 I purchased off Lewis a while ago. He suggested when painting it to just go straight over the top using cans of car paint and long waiting times between layers. I've instead decided to strip the paint off mine using an orbital sander I have access to at work, starting at 80 grit and working my way up to 800. The bare aluminium looks awesome, so now I'm torn between polishing it up and just clear coating over the top, or to send it off and get powder coated. I'll update with a few pics tomorrow :-)

[MortonH]

Sounds cool!

[FlashDrive]

Sounds good Chris .... look forward to your photos so I can ' steal ' some ideas ...:D
I have a number of ideas ... but need to try and visualize my final intentions.

Col....... :D

[MattT]

Cherry Red Col. Gonna redo my 100ED, torn between white or cherry red.
Had a bike that was cherry red and chrome…beautiful.

[FlashDrive]

:lol: ... mind you ... it did look pretty good .....

[cometcatcher]

It wasn't too bad actually.

[blink138]

you have just reminded me matt i had a custom paint job on my 1982 katana 1100 done in a deep cherry red........... wonderful bike and distinctive colour, everybody in perth knew whom it belonged to!..... as for flashs' paint scheme if you are going to pimp it why not go the full monty and do it gold, you would have the added pleasure of getting a reaction from p. crake ha ha!
pat

[FlashDrive]

Gold eh ...!! Good as Gold .... eeeer ... not sure
A reaction from Peter :D ... he'd probably never talk to me again :lol:
Flash...how could you ....:poke:

Cherry Red is the front runner so far.....

Col....

[gbeal]

I'm stuck for words Flasher, and that's a rarity as you know.
What is this, a mid-life crisis?? LOL.
Scopes should be white in my mind, although my two refractors are not exactly "white" more an ivory colour, one of them a grubby ivory given it's age.
Gary

[FlashDrive]

:eyepop: Mid life crisis .... could be ....I'll just check with the Mrs's .. she'll know :D ... she know's everything ( she told me that ) :shrug:

White colour ... go Vixen White... now there's an idea... ' offspring ' from the NA140..... pearl white maybe ... dunno yet...

Flasher ....

[LewisM]

If it were me, considering the focuser on it, as we discussed this morning, I would go red. Either a deep red like Ford Monza red (I think that is the name), or Ford Vixen, which is what I always use on my adapters/spacers.

Don't go pure white - would look like one of those cheap Chinese things. I'd do an off-white to even a very white/light beige like Vixen used in the late 1990's.

[ZeroID]

You want one of those automotive colours that changes with the angle you view at. Lowered springs, turbo upgrade ... Ooops, wrong forum ... :lol:

[Chris85]

Hi Flash, here's a couple progress pics of my build so far. First shows the tube sanded up to 800 grit with a quick go of the Scotch Bright over the top. The other shows the dew shield which I started this morning using 80 grit.
Cheers!
Chris

[dannat]

go Hypercolor -like the t-shirts of the 80's, that when youll know when its cooled down & ready to go

[FlashDrive]

That looks like the way to go....strip it down to metal first.....:thumbsup:

Flash..........

[gbeal]

Perfect, dual use for the colour, great idea.
Gary

[LightningNZ]

I have a bit of a thing for nickel plating. I love the warm look of it, almost a pale coppery-bronze. Somehow it's different and eye-catching without being as "cold" as chrome.

Polished ally is even bluer than chrome, though I like it too. Have a look at these beauties from Mark Turner: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/6513257/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

Cheers,
Cam

[FlashDrive]

Yes I have seen those.... what stops the Alloy from oxidation .... does one have to ' polish ' these from time to time to retain their ' gleam ' and finger marks ... the oil in our skin ( fingers ) tend to ' tarnish ' the areas where we handle the Scopes.

Nice looking Scopes tho'

Flash .....

[Kunama]

Once you polish it you don't let anyone's greasy mitts near it.
My brass refractor only gets handled with cotton gloves.

[Chris85]

Yeah it was pretty easy, and I reckon it only took around 30min to get it ready for polishing/painting.

Cheers!
Chris

[ZeroID]

Gun Metal 'Blue" !! that deep blue sheen on polished steel .... Mmmmmm

[N1]

Nice one Matt

[brian nordstrom]

If you polish alloy its a good idea to put a few coats of clear on it , stops it tarnishing and allows handling without print marks , like I clear coated my iStar's counter cell seen here , goes well with classic pearl white and gloss black , ;) I think .
Whatever you decide Flash , the ED80 deserves it , these are special little scopes . :thumbsup: .

Brian.

[MattT]

Brian, I reckon your Istar will be in for a paint job 'if' we ever get the Istar decals….that 'Saxon' will have to go!

Any decision Flash?

[FlashDrive]

@ MattT ... Any decision Flash?

aaah ... not yet .... but that Monza Red or the Cherry Red are in the lead here.
Thinking about a ' chrome ' handle for it....but if the OTA itself is painted either one of those ' red ' colours ...I'm undecided on what to paint the ' OTA Rings ' ....what colour would be a good with the ' tube ' being red.
RED ' rings ' with Red tube is too plain ..... how about white rings on a Red tube and a chrome handle on a ' bar ' secured across the top of the rings

Can u visualize that ..... I could ' run ' with that I suppose.

BTW....this ' pimping ' of my Scope is not something that's going to happen o/night ..... I only want to do this ' once ' ...... no stuff ups and re-stripping again. :P

:hi:

Col............

[MattT]

Gotcha Col. I have been thinking on a paint colours since making my 6" refractor last year.
For my 100ED I'd like Cherry Red and Gloss Black everything else, rings, focuser.
Also like white, and black everything else :D
Personally I dislike white rings etc…. like Skywatcher and the Black Diamond scopes….did they get that wrong colour wise or what! Reckon someone was looking at a Unitron negative when they decided on that scheme.
Two colours goes with the KISS principal :thumbsup: As long as they are the 'right' colours.
Happy deciding
Matt

[LewisM]

Being an old Vixen fan, I am fond of hammertone green rings:)

Red with black. Looks GREAT. I't what I did with the CF tube R200SS I had. Black tube, red rings. The opposite would look great too.

White rings is so refrigerator :D

[FlashDrive]

Decided it was time to make a ' start ' on this .. .. ..still undecided on colour.. ..

Col.

[FlashDrive]

Finished it off ... quite like the outcome...!! :thumbsup:

This ' was ' ( and still is ) an Orion ED80... stripped back to ' bare ' Aluminum ... repainted and re-fitted with a FT Focuser.

I hand sanded the tube and dew shield with 3 grades of ' wet & dry ' ....600 / 800 / and 1200 to finish off before painting..... ' Takky Green ' ;) :rolleyes:

Scroll down to see the original Scope.... start of this thread.

Col.....

[MattT]

'Takky Green' :rofl::rofl::rofl:
:hi:
Nice one Col ;)
:lol:

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Nice one Col , looks a lot like one of the old 'Brandon' 91mm APO's from the 80's it has very nice lines .
Oh yes I like the mount :D.
Brian.

[FlashDrive]

Thank You Matty ....:D



Thank You Brian ....:lol:

Considering fitting the 4" inch TeleVue Clam Shell on the Scope.....better balance on Mount then.

Col......:D

[FlashDrive]

Clam Shell fitted...... I can put a ' finder ' on it now....:rolleyes:

Col....:)

[Larryp]

Looks good, Col :thumbsup:

[FlashDrive]

I changed things around a bit.... that handle comes in handy for carrying
Scope to and from mount.

Comments please..... should I leave it like it is now ... or ... put it back the way it was with the Clam Shell Mounting....
Like to know what ' others ' think they would do it..

Col.....:D

[omegacrux]

I Like the rings and handle
btw colour looks nice !
Shame some factory colours are naff

David