Well its back from the powder coaters and its looking GREAT! Not quite the colour I had imagined (a lot brighter
).
The guy at the powder coaters said that when he found out it was a telescope he made an extra effort to sand the bare metal with fine paper after the blasting so that I would get an extra smooth finish! Not something they usually do. Final cost $70.
And it worked! It has made the scope feel and look much better. The standard GSO finish is really nasty, I would rate it 2/10. I now rate the finish 9/10!
When I got it home I gave it a coat of wax to protect it then set about masking off the holes so I could spray the inside with Krylon Ultra Flat Black.
It took about 1.5 cans and two coats. Its really black.
Here are some shots. I'm assembling it now so more photos to follow once its back together!
For Part 1 see
here: