Thanks for the comments. Took it to the Central Star Party near Hastings this last weekend but never got to see even one star! Being a semi-retired toolmaker/machinist helped a lot but I had great resource of all the ATM and bino makers on the web for ideas. On the aesthetics, I still think it hard to beat Jaques Civette's bino
http://www.astrosurf.com/altaz/460_bino_e.htm